All photos are from various races or training routes I ran this year. 

I had several 2013 running goals. Many of them I reached or even exceeded but a few I lapsed on or didn’t come near at all.

One of my big goals was to do a short – somewhere between a quarter and a half mile – cool down walk after each run over three miles. This really helped my legs feel less stiff and helped with some intermittent hip pain I experience. Problem is that come July I was getting pretty sick of people always seeing me only when I was walking. I would get the question, “How far did you walk today?,” usually followed by disbelief when I would say a half mile. I would then explain that I only walked at the end of my running to help my body cool down.

This walking, particularly when I run north from my home, is almost essential for the last third of a mile. There is little shoulder and there is a lot of traffic. Walking is definitely safer than trying to run on that side of the road.

When I finally got back to the cool down walk, my legs were happier with my miles.

I also aimed high with my  miles for 2013. I wanted to run 1500 miles and have a total – running, walking, swimming (I didn’t do much of this) and biking – of 2013 miles for the year. I realize now that this was way too much for me but I like to stretch myself on goals. I stretched but did not reach these goals. I still have at least one run left this year but am currently at 1161 miles for running. My total of all miles for the year is 1274 miles.

Now on to the running goal I met. I joined 13 in 2013. I needed to run 13 races in the year. I ran four races in January – three 10Ks and a 5K. February must have been about training as there were no races. March brought a 4 miler and a 15K. Then in the four weeks between April 14th – the day before the Boston Marathon – and May 5, I ran a half, a full and another half. A local 20K was run in June. July had no races. I was registered for the Boilermaker 15K but car issues meant I didn’t get to the start line. August brought a half that was an evening half and a 5K. Then, I didn’t run another race until my fall marathon – Richmond in November. I also ran a 5 miler Turkey Trot in November. I also ran Ragnar Adirondacks in September. My total for the year – 15 races.

Of those 15 races, 2/3 of them were 10K or longer in distance. I ran 2 full marathons. I ran 3 half marathons. I ran a 20K, a 15K and 3 10Ks. The remainder were a combination of the Ragnar Relay (my total miles for that, I believe, were 22), a 5 miler, a 4 miler and 2 5Ks. I am definitely a mid- to long distance runner by choice.

Disappointing to me is that all races were road races. I need to find some trail races for 2014.