Year in Review

Well, as the year draws to a close, its time to look back.  It has definitely been one hell of a year!  Lets look at the Annual Mileage:



According to Daily Mile - 352 miles is what I ran this year.  I don't think that is all that bad considering over 6 months of that was spent NOT running!  I do have to admit, my goal was a bit.. higher.  Since I am both starting and ending the year able to run, I'm not going to spend any time complaining about the mileage in the middle!

[caption id="attachment_1056" align="alignleft" width="176"] Running in the cold![/caption]

January - Probably the most remarkable aspect of the year's beginning - is I ran outside!  No treadmill, just the road, layers of clothes and me.  In the interest of Honesty, I do have to admit that my first run of the year in upstate NY was 50 degrees...  Mother nature made up for it, with my 12 degree run 3 days later...  I also got my fantastic Angry Birds hat.   I logged 46 miles.

February - Fashion additions for outdoor running, and a new treadmill speed-workout was added to my repertoire.  We gave away another Road ID here - to my dear friend over at the Curvy Roadrunner.  I also added lifting in to my workouts with the help of an imitation Total-Gym.  44 miles this month.

[caption id="attachment_1298" align="alignright" width="300"] Chris and I after the St. Patrick's 4 Miler in Binghamton Ny.
Notice the free beer. :)
I love races with free beer.[/caption]

March - Was an exciting month, as it was when I bought "onceandfuturerunner.com"  instead of using oddfutures.wordpress.com.  (I had no idea what I was going to blog about when I started it way back when.. Oddfutures seemed cryptic and fun.)  This is also the month that I registered for the Marine Corps Marathon for a second time. ( I have to admit that didn't work out as I had hoped)  The month had some unbelievable running weather which I took advantage of.  On the 10th of March, I got a PR in a 4 mile race!  The St. Patrick's 4 miler was a good time!  That Same weekend, contained a lot of visits from family, and most importantly - an excellent concert from the Parlor City Boy's Chorus.  Overall it was a fantastic month, that ended with the Chenango Forks XV - another PR!  82 Miles this month.  I really toned up my running and was focused on the Marathon in October and running in general.

April - After the excitement and progress of March, April turned south quickly.  On the 8th of the month, I slammed my foot into a sharp rock, and really ticked off the Plantar Fascia on the bottom of my right foot.  I visited a doctor, tried the foot log (which did help although it didn't' solve the problem), and ultimately stopped running.  It was simply to painful to walk, let alone run. Mileage dropped to 23 miles.

[caption id="attachment_1555" align="alignleft" width="210"] May = New Orange Shoes![/caption]

May - I always like May.  Its my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!  Well, I suppose that would be Birth-Month.  But we only celebrate it for a week. That's right, a week - not a day.  Births are to important to only celebrate for one day!  I met with my first ever podiatrist.. It was... well, exactly like I expected.  I found out that cortisone in my foot is a waste of time.   He told me that my big problem was that I have the flexibility of a board, and gave me some stretches to do.  Also during the month, I attempted some other forms of exercise, from Insanity to Biking.  I found that one of the reasons I am a runner - is that it seems to be the only exercise I actually enjoy.  None of the other ones stuck.  Yup, just making excuses. I did get my bright Orange Saucony's though.  So the month wasn't ALL bad!  According to Daily Mile?  4 miles.. Yay me.

June - I didn't blog much in June.  I still couldn't run, and biking still wasn't doing it for me.  Not much to add to that.   Dailymile had me at 9 miles this month.

[caption id="attachment_1624" align="alignright" width="300"] I spent 5 weeks living here![/caption]

July - Now July was an exciting month, though not for running.  On July 30th, I started my new job in Maryland.  I drove down on the 29th, checked into my home for the week (the Best Western, Lanham Maryland) and the next day I started!  I didn't write a single blog post all month.  Daily mile had me at 8 miles for this month.

August - With living in a hotel, I had access to a fitness room which let me try to run again.  I began with short distances in the morning and night.  That fell to the way side with trying to find a place for my family and I to live - that 5.5 hours between us was ROUGH! But the difficulties the distance brought were SO worth it.  Daily Mile has me at 8 miles this month.  I suspect I didn't log my hotel running very well.

September - More Beginnings and Changes, yet no blog postings this month.  I will admit - this did mean there was no running.  My Family came down and joined me in our new home on the 15th.    Needless to say, this month was dedicated to working - getting ready for the move, moving and unpacking!  But I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to have my family join me!  To think we thought we were going to do it for several more months than we did - when we came up with our plan!  According to Dailymile, I pulled off 4 whole miles!

October- And we sold our house in NY.  The awesome part? We had never even put it on the Market!  Our neighbors bought it as a rental property!  My kids got into their new school, we met the neighbors and all found friends. I also began running again!  I will admit - it wasn't any huge numbers, but it was a start.  I came to the conclusion that my Plantar Fasciitis is my long-term companion, and that if I was going to run I need to learn how to do it with it, and without making it too painful.  With runs starting at just about a mile - I pulled 16 Miles this month.  Not a lot, but longer than any of my previous 5! There was no Marine Corps Marathon this year either, but I did hit the expo.

November - Now this seems just like yesterday still.  Hard to believe that it's not only gone, but the month after it is too!  This month I started using Runtastic instead of Cardiotrainer to measure my runs.   I also picked up a new-to-me treadmill, thanks to the Annapolis Craigslist!  I actually put quite a bit of mileage on it this month as well!   We had our best friends from NY visit, my kids both got honor roll at their new school and I started doing some Yoga.  This month rounded out at 32 miles!

[caption id="attachment_2031" align="alignright" width="220"] Bryce, just after the Maryland State Boychoir concert.[/caption]

December - Hard to believe that this month is pretty much gone.  This month, another blogger I read - ran a race in Binghamton... Of course, I'm in Maryland now - but she was right at the end of my old block!  Small world!  I also joined Klout, which I have absolutely no idea what it is for (or why I joined.)  The really annoying thing about Klout, is it doesn't take blogs into account yet.  I also started to do some of my shorter runs in my Five Fingers - and have been wearing them around when I'm not at work. (I missed them. Lots.)  I entered the lottery for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler next year and got in!  I ended the month with a concert for the Maryland State Boy's Choir, a visit home for Christmas, and a planned New Years party with our friends down here.  This was also my best month ever on the blog (not counting Nov 2011, where I talked about Christopher McDougall's 100-up article.  That posting still gets hits, though not like the 3,000 views it had that month) with over 1000 views in the month. That may seem small to other bloggers, but I am pretty excited about it!

All in all 2012 was a pretty awesome year.  I have this odd feeling that 2013 is going to be even better!