2008 Year in Review

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the official Snowman Says 2008 year in review.

In short, it was a great year. It wasn't easy. It wasn't perfect. But, I couldn't have asked for anything more.

At the beginning of the year, I really just wanted to find out if I could be a runner again. Well, mission accomplished. I'm not fast (yet), but I'm running regularly and feeling good about it. I'm actually enjoying it. That was really what I was hoping for. I hadn't really enjoyed running since...well, a long time ago.

When I started out, I said I'd be happy to be able to just go out and run for an hour. Just an hour. Well, I pushed through that barrier pretty easily, and I'm hungry for more. I did a number of runs over 2 hours, and in the process, I found out that I really like long runs. Plus, you get to eat while your running. I like eating.

Also accomplished two "life" goals this year: Finished the Appalachian Trail and ran a marathon. Not planning on hiking the AT again, but another marathon is definitely in order. Also ran up Mt. Washington...well, I walked a bunch, but I still go the bumper sticker.

It wasn't all rainbows and candy. I did strain my calves 3 times: right twice; left once. The first strain in my right calf was the worst and sidelined me for most of April. I'm just recovering from the latest, but I see to be back on the right track. Also, had a minor flare up with some plantar faciitis, but that was following our week on the AT in boots that should have been retired a couple states ago. Plus, a pile of creaks and pains on top of all that.

Of course, I couldn't have done any of this on my own. Huge thanks go out to Danielle...even though I still think she's trying to kill me. She'll no doubt try more elaborate ways to get rid of me in 2009. Then again, I keep volunteering.

Here are the numbers:
* Miles Run: 1053.5
* Miles Hiked: 309.5
* AT Miles Hiked: 279.3
* Hours: 330.75
* Ski Days: 36
That's an average of 2.88 miles per day. 54:13 per day for an average of 18:49 per mile. I'm not running and skiing that slow as hiking time is factored into that, and as you can see we spent a lot of time hiking. Overall, I think those are good numbers. I don't really have anything to compare them to. We'll see what I come up with in 2009.

And, speaking of looking ahead, my big goal for the year is the Pineland Farms 50k. My result in that race and my health will dictate my plans for the fall. I'm kicking a couple different ideas around, and I'll let you know when I make up my mind. I'm sure you'll lose sleep over it. In the short term, I'm still focused on the 10-miler on February 1, but I'm not anywhere close to where I'd hoped to be. I was hoping to get a lot more speed work in, but it just hasn't happened. As a result, I'm not feeling too good about my chances to run fast thus feeling less motivated to train hard. Vicious cycle. I'm still going to try to get in a few more speed sessions, and after those I'll readjust my goals. It's a small fish, so I'm not really broken up about it, but I'd still like to do well. We'll see.

So, here's to PRs and good health to everyone in 2009.