A New Year

I've been meaning to post some 2011 summary stats, but just haven't gotten around to it. I know that I came up a mere 11 miles short of 3000 for the year. That's painfully close, but a full 5 days off in the middle of December while dealing with my blocked salivary gland put the kaibash on any aspirations I had of reaching 3000. Heading into the final day of the year, I basically needed to run a marathon to reach 3000. While I definitely could've slogged my way through 26 miles, I just didn't really see a compelling reason to do so, so I settled for 15 instead.

Winter has been remarkably un-winter like around here. Temps have been anywhere from the 40s to 60s the last few weeks, making for some pretty great January running conditions. Well, up until yesterday, anyhow. We got a dose of reality yesterday with a cold front that brought in sub-zero windchill. But, it's supposed to climb back into the 40s this weekend, so it was a short dose of 'real' winter...for now. The most telling stat is how many times I've run on the indoor track this winter. Haven't been there once yet. Usually by this time of year, I've been there several times. I'm holding out slim hope that I can make it through an entire winter without having to run 200 some laps some morning, but the odds are probably against me on that one.

I'm basically committed to the Bighorn 100. Registration doesn't open until Monday, and while I'll probably hold off for a little bit, I'm basing my training around toeing the line in the Tongue River Canyon on June 15th. One thing I didn't do well this winter is maintain a weekly long run. I ran okay mileage throughout the end of 2011...between 50 and 70 miles per week, I just didn't do many runs of 15 or longer. So now I'm trying to ease my way back into it. The good news is that my body doesn't seem to have forgotten how to do it...kind of like riding a bike (haven't done that in forever either). This past weekend, the first "official" weekend of my Bighorn training, I ran 15 on Saturday and 16 on Sunday and my legs actually felt better on that second run and I ran it faster. Now we'll see what happens when those back to backs turn into 25/15 or 30/10 or 20/20 or 40/10.