Happy New Year!

Best way possible to end the year! Surrounded by Frunners!

2011 is done. In the books. Didn't end like I wanted, as I had to drop down to the half distance on both days of the NYDouble, but it was otherwise a ridiculously amazingly perfect weekend. Tons of Frunners, time with the family, time with my closest non-running friends. It was stupendous from beginning to end. Before we get too far into 2012, I did want to do a final recap, so that I have it in one place.  I still have my report card on my 2011 targets to post, but that's going to take some thought. I also haven't quite crystallized much for 2012 beside the A race of the spring at the end of April, so I'm not quite ready for those posts yet.

However, it is illuminating to compare this year's performance against not only last year's but prior years' and see that really, on balance, it was still a pretty acceptable year of running. I have nothing to be ashamed of or feel bad about, even when I think about my half finish time from a year ago being nearly 40 minutes faster than the times I clocked over the weekend. That's just my new reality, and I only can improve from here on out, so that's what the focus will be. The here-and-now, not the used-to-be. Because, as we all witnessed over the weekend, the here and now? Is a pretty damn fun place to live.

So, here goes. Numbers afterward are for comparison, going back to 2007:

• Total miles for 2011:  1059. Compares to 1469, 901, 894, 1001
• Average miles/month:  88, 122, 75, 75, 91 
• Average miles/week: 20.3, 28.1, 17.3, 17.3, 21
• Highest weekly mileage: 39, 57, 37, 37, 35  
• Highest month: April 134; September 192; December 102, Sepember 123 
• Lowest month: June 49, March/May 71, July 50, May 38 

What this tells me is that this year is "disappointing" only in comparison to the monstrous year I had in 2010.  And anyone who knows me well and knew me at that time understands that the kick-ass running in that year did not come without a cost emotionally. Finding balance between running, family and personal relationships was a challenge in 2010, in many ways, so I'm not all that excited to jump back on that train again. And when you add in the considerations of major surgery & layoff, my father's illness and death, helping my mom deal with the aftermath of that (something that continues into 2012, I'm sure), I have to say I'm pretty good with this. Actually, when I think about it a little bit more, I'm pretty damn happy with myself.

FIGJAM