2015 Running Report

Situation: You're 6.02 miles short of a nice round number of total miles for the year, and it's December 30th. The weather forecast for the 30th is 27 degrees, windchill of 23 with light snow. The 31st calls for 21 degrees with a wind chill of 11. Do you:

A) Run 6.1 miles on the 30th.
B) Run 6.1 miles on the 31st.
C) Run a total of 6.1 miles between those 2 days.
D) Find access to a treadmill somewhere.
E) Give up and end the year 6 miles short of a nice round number.


Correct answer:
Option A. I don't know if I'll go running on the 31st or not - I've got some new cold weather gear I want to try out that should come in the mail today, but also, it'll be cold. But whether I run or not, it won't make much difference to the year end running summary post, which is what this is, if you haven't figured that out yet.

There really isn't much to say. I didn't get injured, which is good, and let me run a lot after we escaped the polar vortexes early in the year. I'm happy that I managed 8 consecutive months over 70 miles to end the year. My previous best was 3 consecutive months over 70, and that was way back in 2010.

Miles: 800.1 (+198.9 over 2014) (Oh no! So close to a different nice round number.)
Runs: 150 (+31 over 2014)
Average Distance: 5.33 miles (+0.28)
Total Time: 101:32:19 (+22:22:45)
Average Pace: 7:37/mile (-0:17)

Races:
Moonlight (Half) Marathon. 1:57:14, 1st in age group
Prairie State (Half) Marathon. 1:30:59, 2nd in age group
The Turkey and the Fox. 4 miles, 24:52, 2nd in age group

Next Year:
My loose goal for next year is 900 miles on 175 runs, though seeing that I beat 2014 by 200 miles this year makes me wonder if that goal ought to be 1000 miles. I've tried setting monthly goals to add up to 900, and I'm struggling to see how I'm going to do it. There is a practical upper limit where I start to run out of time and days with decent weather - I'm not exaggerating when I say that over 99% of my miles are done outside. I don't have any hard and fast speed goals for next year. An official 5k under 20 minutes would be nice (my 4 mile race is a defacto PR of 19:16, is under 19 possible? My 3 fastest miles from that race were at a 19:05 pace . . .). A half marathon under 1:30 should be doable, as that's only 5 seconds per mile. And of course dealing with the pressure of a running buddy who thinks I can do a half in 1:25 and a full in 2:59. Keep telling him he's crazy.

3 races last year is a new record for me. It's hard to find races on Saturdays, and lots of races can get expensive in a hurry, so I try to keep them to a minimum. But, I've got my eye on a few races:
Sly Fox Half Marathon (prices go up on the 31st, so I really should decide soon)
Moonlight Half Marathon (this was a lot of fun, and would be even better if I can get friends to go along)
Prairie State Marathon (a very nice race. Friends will be doing it. I'm leaning towards doing the half again.)
Chicago Ragnar (I've always wanted to do a Ragnar, though I'd prefer one out in Utah where there is topography. People from church sound like they're going to put together a team, but boy are they expensive!)