Races 2011: A look back

Today is the last Friday of 2011, and what a year it's been!  I can't believe how many miles I logged this year.  According to DailyMile, I'm at 922 total miles - I have a 4 mile race, plus another 4 to do on Saturday to hit a nice, even 930 for the year!  I thought it would be fun today to take a look back at the races I ran this year.  Warning: it's gonna be a long post :)

January - miles ran: 47 (54 total)
I started off 2011 running a virtual race with the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans on Jan 8.  This was the same weekend a bunch of my girlfriends were running the Disney Marathon and Half-Marathon.  I ran "virtually" with Beki and Thea at 11 am that morning, clocking 6.3 miles (yep, went a bit long) in 1:14.

February & March - miles ran: 49 & 74 (52 & 77 total)

No races, but check out how many miles I logged just running :)

April - miles ran: 62 (63 total)

I ran my first official race of 2011 on April 23rd, The Striders Saturday Classic.  For some bizarre reason, I didn't do a race report and I don't have any pictures on my phone or laptop.  (Bad blogger!).  I remember being very sick for a couple weeks before the race and not running at all.  According to Athlinks.com (you DO use this site to keep track of your races, right?) I finished in 1:50:33.  Not a horrible pace (11:03) considering I'd been sick.

May - miles ran: 50 (62 total)

This was the month that I deemed "Marathon May".  I ran 3 races in May 2011!  The first race was my longest race to date, the Fifth Third River Bank Run 25k.  I remember finishing this race in 2:52:55 and being so proud of myself for blowing my 3 hour goal out of the water.  I maintained an 11:07 average pace and ran the entire race with a girl I'd never met before, talking and laughing the whole time.  

The next race of May was the Fitbloggin' 5k.  I traveled out to Baltimore for this amazing conference and to finally meet so many of my "sisters" in real life.  I had the time of my life and ran my first race in a tutu :)

My final May race was the Soldier Field 10 Mile in Chicago.  This race rocked for so many reasons: a personalized race bib, running along the beautiful lakeshore, finishing on the 50 yard line at Soldier Field, and finally beating my husband in a race :)  Also, I finished in 1:47:00 with a 10:42 pace, beating my last 10 mile race by 3 1/2 minutes!  WOOT!

June, July and August - miles ran: 41, 89, 109 (63, 118, 154 total)

No races, but it was this summer that I decided to tackle my first full marathon and logged my first ever 100+ mile month!  It was also in June and July that I got to spend time with one of my favorite people on the planet, Kirsten!  Of course we did some running while we were together :)

First in Michigan at my place

Then in Nevada at her place - my first run at altitude!

September - miles ran: 97 (105 total)

In September, I found out what it was like to run a race while training for a marathon.  I ran the 10 mile Bridge Run in my fastest race pace EVER!  I finished the 10 mile course in 1:40:56, at a 10:05 pace!  This was a whopping 9 minutes faster than my first 10 mile race and 6 minutes faster than the race I ran in May.  Who was this person????

October - miles ran: 60 (64 total)

On October 16, 2011, I did something I said I would never do.  I ran a marathon. 5:27:15 (12:29 pace).

November - miles ran: 35 (51 total)

I spent most of November recovering from the marathon and trying to decide what I do next.  I was restless and a little down, and my miles reflected that.  

December - miles ran: 58 and counting (all running)

This month I've gotten back into running.  I managed to convince my daughter to run her first 5k (or there abouts-it was a tiny bit short).  You can read her Whoville 5k race report and get a chuckle.  We finished the 3-ish miles in about 34 minutes and I was so proud to have run with her.

I still have one more race to complete in 2011.  Tomorrow afternoon is the "Resolution Run".  It's only 4 miles and will be my first race at that distance.  A guaranteed PR :)  I need to actually run 8 miles tomorrow, so I'm still trying to figure out how to work that out.  Needless to say, I'm very proud of what I accomplished in 2011.  For 2012?  Who knows where the pavement will take me.....

My goal for 2012?  Run 12 official (ie, timed) races and log at least 1000 miles total (1200 would be VERY cool, but I'd need to get on the bike a lot more!).  What are your fitness goals for 2012?