2011 turned out to be a pretty good running year.

I did not make my goal of 600 miles. I ran a little over 526 miles. Not bad, but I want to do better. Once again, I’m setting my goal for the year at 600 miles. 50 miles a month. I can do it if I stick to it.

I did run a lot of races this year.

5K – 1

8K – 1 (new PR, but only because it was my first 8K)

5 Mile – 1 (new PR, first 5 mile race)

10K – 2 (new PR – 1:18:45 at the Cold Turkey 10K. Had I known I was running so well, I would have actually pushed this race!)

10 Mile – 3

Half Marathon – 6 (new PR – 2:49:20 at the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon)

For those of you counting, that’s 14 races and 4 PRs (but really only 2).

I haven’t fully set my race schedule for 2012 yet, but I’m anticipating at least 8 half marathons, 2 ten milers, and a couple shorter races as well. Let’s see how my legs hold up!

I remain a terrible blogger.  Mainly because once I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is get on my computer and type.  It was one thing when I could blog on my lunch break, but this is a bit more difficult.

(Yes, I could just write the entry on my break and then post it later… but that seems to be too many steps for my brain.)

Still running.  Still in one piece.  Seem to have screwed up my wrist somehow, which is strange, since you’d think it would be my lower body taking all of the abuse.

Fall racing season has come to an end, with an amazing half marathon near the tail end. I’m pleased to be finishing the year with two new PRs – 10K and half marathon.  Of course, I still have never actually “raced” a 10K.  I tend to sort of lollygag my way through, chatting the whole way.  I wonder what my time would be like if I actually ran.

I’m approaching a challenging spring.  I’m registered for seven half marathons between January and May.  I don’t plan to all out race any of them – they’re all just for fun.  There were too many bonus bling opportunities.  I’m registered for a total of 8 races for next year, and expect to get three pieces of bonus bling (meaning an extra medal just for the race combinations):  Disney’s Coast to Coast (running Tinkerbell and Princess), Iron Girl Titanium (Frederick and the Iron Girl Half), and the Maryland Double (Frederick and Baltimore halfs).  Yes, that’s right, I’m really just in it for the bling.

Time to catch up on the race recaps.

Working backwards:

This past Saturday (October 15) was the Baltimore Relay.  This was my second of four races in four weeks, and my 4th of 6 in 2 months.  Yes, I’ve gotten a little crazy.

I was on a team with great friends – Jen, Katie, and Kim.  We ran in that order, with me taking up the fourth leg.  We were lucky enough to have three other relay teams from our running group, so we all had friends with us at the relay points.  That was especially welcome at leg four.  I didn’t expect to start running until at least noon (the race started at 8am).  Jen’s leg was a hilly 5.7 miles through the zoo.  Katie’s leg was 7 miles involving zombies.  Kim’s leg was 6.3 miles run with the Godfather, and I picked up with the last 7 miles.  No, that doesn’t quite equal 26.2, but none of the exchange points avoided any parts of the course, so we’re sure that it actually adds up.

I was ready for the long wait at the relay point.  We boarded busses to get there at 8:30.  (I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such a long caravan of school busses.)  We grabbed ourselves a spot by the race course, set out some trashbags to sit on, and waited.  I brought food and snacks with me, and wore multiple layers, which was definitely a good plan.  We joked that next year, we need to bring a BBQ grill.

The wait wasn’t as bad as I feared.  Why?  Because of all the runners coming through!  We could get in lots of cheering, which we definitely did.  We were on an incline, and the hand cyclists were really struggling, even the first guy in the pack.  But they all made it up!

This course had an 18 minute mile pace limit, and my relay team all runs sub 13:30s.  We were actually running faster that day, but I was still one of the last people out of the relay point.  I think that made me want to run faster.  At first, I decided I wanted to try to run sub 13:00′s.  I was doing well and mentally adding up the time I was gaining (“Okay, that mile was a 12:15, so that’s an extra 45 seconds…”) which is how I race when I’m trying to hit a certain average pace.  Then one hilly mile hit me at a 13:10, so I decided to aim for 13:15′s, but still kept trying to push myself.  I really wanted to get the team in under 6 miles.  I wasn’t sure when Jen started, so I was basing it off of an 8:00am start time.

I kept passing marathoners who were slogging through the last miles.  Lots of pairs of people, with one experienced runner bringing a newbie through the end of the race.  Very cool to see.  Lots of people still going strong.  Power walking, but going strong.  One girl commented that this was her first and she was from Florida.  I told her to pick a flatter race for her second marathon.

It was kind of funny to see mile markers that I’ve never seen before.  My longest race has been a half marathon, so this was my first experience with mile markers 19-26!

I kept powering through, though my heartrate would get too high, and I’d have to walk.  I was running 2/1s, but frequently, needed to walk about 15 seconds early.  I think for next weekend’s race, I’m going to try to run 1:45/1, and see if that helps.  It can’t hurt to try, though I should probably try it in training at some point before I do it in a race.  Or not!

I knew I was running faster than expected, so I figured that my friends wouldn’t be at the finish line waiting for me yet.  But I was wrong!  I rounded a corner and there they were, all cheering!  Now that was a great part of being the last one in.  Everyone was there waiting for me!

I finished the race and the clock said 5:56!  I did it!  I got us in under 6.  But little did I know, I got us in well under 6.  Our final chip time was 5:51:36.  We averaged 13:25, which is an amazing pace for us.  And my pace?  Well, I got a little ridiculous out there.  I finished my leg in 1:31:26, giving me a 12:30 pace!  I haven’t seen those kinds of numbers in a long time.  I paid for it later – by 6:30 that evening I was ready for bed.  But it was great fun.  Makes me think that maybe my half marathon PR (a 13:01 pace) isn’t going to be as hard to beat as I thought.  Won’t happen this year, but maybe next year.

I think I do better on hilly races.  I love the downhills.  My half PR is on a very hilly course.  Maybe I should be searching out the hills.