2018 Year In Review

Total Miles: 1,402. 


2018 was an odd year, running wise.   I came off late 2017 having finally qualified for the Boston Marathon yet took my first ever DNF in the year's final event, the HUFF 50K.    Where would the year go?

I resolved to just run some events I enjoyed, plus some ultras.   With Boston in the bag, I could just enjoy myself, right??

Didn't quite work that way.

My weekly mileage chart for the year was consistently inconsistent.   This isn't very good at all.

The monthly totals were more consistent, except the injury-influences in February and March.   But the monthly totals were still too low, contributing to the weak annual miles. 

In January, I got my toenails worked on.   That got in the way more than I had dreamed.    While on a planned 17 mile run while on a February vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama, my left foot got so painful, I had to walk the final 3 miles.

Plantar Fasciitis.

Yep, the dreaded PF, which I'd heard about in so many others, arrived in my very own left foot.    I took a full five weeks off from running.   Man, was that disorienting...haven't been off that long since I started this era of running in 2004.  By late March, I gingerly started running again.   I took a shot at running at an old favorite race of mine, running half of the Sam Costa Half Marathon.    It was OK.   A couple weeks later, I ran a real HM at the Carmel Marathon weekend and it was ok, not great, but ok.  

Looking at the miles by month, it isn't really different, just lumped together a bit more

Then, the test (or perhaps the stupidity) was the Glacial Esker 40 mile race in late April.   A trail ultra.  The second longest single run I've ever done.   I was pleased to have done it, indeed.  But it took a deeper toll in recovery than I anticipated.   I did come back in time, though, to enjoy one of the finest marathon experiences I've ever had at the Sandhills Marathon in early June. 

I messed up training in summer...the Run Less, Run Faster didn't work at all. That was really a bad move.   At least I got it corrected.   But the low mileage really got in the way of having any good marathons during the fall.  In particular, my performance at the Monumental in early November was disappointing. 

So, looking back to the start of this era of running in 2004, the annual totals are not so hot for the last three years.

Another major issue for the year was the sad but necessary end of the Circular Logic Marathon.   In 2012, wanting to give back to the sport I enjoy,  I started this early spring marathon on a one-mile loop in a local city park.  Amazingly, it grew and attracted a small but enthusiastic following.   The 2018 race went wonderfully.   But changes in the local park leadership, the construction of a new municipal swimming pool and the fatigue of the three of us who really led the effort made us decide to end the race on a high note.   It was a good, seven year "run" (pun totally intended) for this event.   I was glad to give back to running.   Yet, I'll miss it.

That's it for 2018.   Hoping for better in 2019.   But it's up to me to persevere.


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