Run to Win

2008 has come and gone, and 2009 has started.

I was on vacation at the New Year this year, so my look back over the past year was delayed by a week or so.

In 2008 I ran 390 times for 2612.9 miles in about 14 days, 22 hours and 7 minutes of running. That’s an almost 38% increase in the number of miles that I ran in 2007, and a bit more than the 2300-2500 miles that I had predicted. I also averaged about 40 seconds per mile slower than I averaged in 2007, which I think has had a lot to do with my success and my relative lack of injuries. I have almost doubled my annual mileage since 2006.

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Should the government have a say in how much you weigh, or what your maximum BMI is, or how large your waistline is allowed to be? How many personal freedoms would you be willing to give up in order to have a chance to lead a healthier life, reduce the risk of diabetes and other degenerative diseases related to weight loss and to reduce the strain on the nation’s health care system?

For the Japanese, this is not a rhetorical question. At their annual checkups, Japanese men must have a waistline less than 33.5 inches around, and women must have a waistline of no more than 35.4 inches around. If the fail to meet those guidelines, then they need to have a second physical 3 months later at which time they are forced into taking a class on dieting and after six months may need to take further education on how to lose weight. Companies with overweight employees may face additional taxes if they can not maintain a healthier balance.
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2007 has come and gone, and 2008 is about to start.

This year, I ran just shy of 1900 miles, which is half again what I ran last year. I attribute that to my lack of injuries this year, with a short stint of achilles tendonitis that I managed to nip in the bud. I did not realize that I was well on pace for a 2000 mile year until right before I took 3 weeks off in November, which killed that goal.

My official total came to 1894.5 miles, but I decided to take today off from running so I will stay a little short of the 1900 mark. Next year I expect to run between 2300 and 2500 miles, helped by the number of trail miles that I plan on running to help hold off injuries.
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2006 has come and gone, and 2007 is about to start.

This year, I ran just shy of 1370 miles. Not a lot of miles, but enough to have kept me busy. I suffered two injuries, one of which was running related. In mid January, I pulled a muscle in my neck which delayed my real start to my training. Then this summer, I hurt my foot which dropped my mileage from a high of just over 50 miles per week down to 20 miles per week for the next 5 weeks. Getting married also contributed to my mileage dropping off around that point.

I ran two marathons at a fairly easy and relaxed pace. That brings my total to 8 different states now that Vermont and New York are out of the way. In 2007 I am going to aim at being more competitive rather than just having fun or experimenting.

I ran competitive 10k and 5k races throughout the year, but I am hoping to bring those times down next year. I think that with fewer distractions, such as buying a house and getting married, I will be able to concentrate more on performance rather than maintenance. The trick will be staying healthy and not getting injured.

My weight stayed pretty steady all year, in the high 130s to mid 140s. I was pretty healthy most of the year, so I did not have any huge weight swings. I was unable to gain quite as much in December as I had hoped to; ideally, the line at the end of this year would have been around the same height as at the end of last year.

You can see more details graphs of my weekly running and weight by clicking on the charts above. I wrote about 560 articles here at Run to Win, and I will be writing more than that in the coming year. Have a safe and happy new year!