It’s always been curious to me our collective fascination with year-end. Why do we reflect, plan, dream, mourn and rue more on this day than any other day? Why (oh, why) do businesses obsess over annual plans, as if they can predict the future? Surely those hours in endless navel-gazing meetings could be better spent gazing at some trails passing by during a run or, at a minimum, reading a good book.
But, I’m in the minority, I understand...and runners enjoy looking back and looking forward. I know my annual mile totals give me a macro view of training and fitness and that’s useful.
So, give us two numbers this month...your December miles and your 2023 total miles! I’ll make a separate chart for each.
And, while you are at it, tell us about an awesome, an awful and an awkward running moment for you in 2024. We’ve all had them...let us know...it's way better than gazing at your (or anyone else’s) navel.
Persevere! Joe
________
I have nothing particularly clever or profound to add as a tag to each message...I just like to run.
Rose Colored Glasses
Happy New Year, Joe!
And thank you for the reflection.
It is validating.
December miles: 53.8 (exactly one more than November!)
2023 Miles: 404.2 (for some reason, I have no running miles in June July or August. But that's okay)
A memorable running moment from 2023?
I can't remember the precise moment however, I remember when I realized a shift in my attitude towards running.
At age 60, I realize I have come "full circle"
I began running when I was 14 years old. I walked up to the cinder track that circled the football field and just started running. I think it was teenaged angst and instinctively, I knew physical activity would calm my quickly developing brain.
I was alone. On the track. And I was content to be alone.
Fast forward through the high school track years (competing mostly in the 800 and 4x800 relay and the mile and discus)
Fast forward to the late 90's. I started running again in the neighborhood. A neighbor saw me and said, "The way you run? I bet you'll be running a marathon within a few years."
I ran the MCM in 1995.
My last marathon was the 3 Bridges Marathon in Little Rock Arkansas in 2015.
But running had become a social thing. Running with people and in races and training training training. Every run had a purpose. Every mile meant something.
Suddenly the social aspect of running disappeared. With the pandemic, we were extra careful in the beginning. So much was unknown.
I no longer drove to meet my running friends. And I fell in love with the swamp and farm trails for real.
But you asked about 2023.
This year, in fact some time in December. I realized I was 14 years old again. And I was running the cinder track that had morphed into the crush and run trails that wind through the swamp. I wasn't running to meet a goal or meet my friends. I was running to hear the sound of my breathing. To smell the musky odor of frisky deer or the peat like aroma of the swamp. To feel the cold air move through my nasal passages and down into my lungs. And. Mostly. To see the stars and the moon above me.
Teenage angst is a distant past. The stress of starting a career in nursing and working 12 hours nightshift is a brief speck. The childbearing years and the struggles of parenthood are chapters of a history book. And running to attain a pace or mileage or PR, vapor.
My 2023 running memory is the gift of a lifelong activity that allows me to find myself and where I fit every time I lace up and hit the trail.
These photos capture the moment running renewed my spirit.
Hi Joe,
A curious fascination, indeed. But the year-end gives us the chance to see what we accomplished in the prior year, and to reset our goals (if we wish) for the coming year.
It is tough to beat this: "And I was running the cinder track that had morphed into the crush and run trails that wind through the swamp. I wasn't running to meet a goal or meet my friends. I was running to hear the sound of my breathing. To smell the musky odor of frisky deer or the peat like aroma of the swamp. To feel the cold air move through my nasal passages and down into my lungs. And. Mostly. To see the stars and the moon above me"
I had 63 recovery walking miles in December and 1,743 racewalking/walking miles in 2023.
I racewalked the Great Island 5K in October, when my knee was getting wonky, just to see what I could do. I started well, but Rick, a relatively new power walker in our group came up on my shoulder and eased past me at just over a mile (much to my surprise). I stayed on Rick's shoulder for most of the rest of the way, thinking I might be able to scoot by him as we got close to the finish. As we both turned into the park for the last 2/10ths or so before the finish, we both picked up our paces. I kept working, working, working, but it was clear that I would finish second that day. But you know what? It was a great and fun race - I was glad to see Rick hold on, and I had no regrets for myself.
In early November, I learned from others in our racewalking group that a race that had previously supported racewalkers with cash awards that went 3-deep had cut back quite a bit this year. Our group has since gotten together to figure out how to deal with the situation. After our anger subsided some, we turned it to positive energy and are taking steps on our own to increase racewalker awareness, visibility, and training options - including a plan to host a weekend racewalking clinic this summer. I'm very proud of our group for finding good ways to turn a bad situation around.
Thanks,
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
I managed only 621 miles for 2023. This fall I just seemed to lose all motivation to run. Right now I am full of indecision; some days I wake up and want to keep teaching and other days I'd like to quit mid semester. In any event I am grateful to have this place online where I can share some ups and downs.
Mrs Bio and I will do our New Year's hike by ourselves. We don't feel like driving 2.5 hours each way to be with our oldest daughter's family and Sarah, my youngest, caught covid. All the other doctors in her practice tested positive, so she did a lot of call time this past week, but now she has it.
Have a good day.
Thank you so much for this thread! I look forward to it every year and then I look for it again at the end of the year to see how I measured up against the previous year.
In December I set a new monthly mileage record for myself in the swimming pools, at 61,900 yards, or 35.17 miles. .12 miles longer than August' previous PR total.
For 2023, I swam 325 miles. That was a >100% increase over 2022's 150 miles and a 43% increase over 2021's 227 miles.
My awesome moment of 2023 is a little revealing of my personality but I will share it anyway. One of the first times I ventured into the pool after joining the YMCA, it was crowded. I asked a guy who was already swimming in a lane if I could share with him. There's a little more to it than that. He was willing to share his lane, but warned me that "I WILL run you over" if I got in his way. I can't tell you how much fun it was flying past him doing 100's while he did 50 yard repeats. If he tried to catch up after I passed him, I found another gear (and paid for it on the next lap). I made a few new friends that evening.
My awful moments were the reasons I left my previous fitness center and joined the Y. The pool at the fitness center was a zoo. There were aspiring bodybuilders walking through the pool deck after working out in the gym, so they could walk out the emergency exit just out of view of the security camera above it, and then stand there with the door wide open so they could get that cold (-10F) air shock, as it also filled the pool area. That was just the last straw among other ridiculous misadventures there.
There have been some awkward moments. A couple of encounters with women who seemed to be interested in me during early evening swims made me decide to become an early morning swimmer, at about 6:15 to 6:30, when it's almost all men and a few women who are there for a workout and not extracurricular activity. The first time I walked into the pool area, I was wearing long warmup pants over my swimsuit out of modesty, and the young lifeguard asked me if I was wearing a bathing suit under there. I looked quizzically at her and told her that was the first time I'd ever been asked that in my entire life, and also asked if that's something they now have to ask all swimmers who are new to the pool. If it is, I would like to know the reason behind it.
BTY
Thanks, Joe. I, too, appreciate your work on our monthly/yearly summaries. Barb- great post and, I agree, hard to beat! Very poetic. BTY- when I was in law school at UChicago in the 70s, there was a no swimsuit policy (men and women had pool access on different days) but swim caps were required. It was NOT a good look! I guess it was a sanitation thing????
178.6 for me for December. I've been feeling a bit unmotivated, but kept my streak which was at 297 days at year end. 2185 miles for the year. I missed 2 1/2 weeks in March with my heel stress fracture, which isn't too bad. I still worked out (elliptical) every day. I really had some great moments in some of my out of town runs- Amelia Island, Florida and Crested Butte, CO are just so beautiful. I saw a gorgeous sunrise one morning running in Minden, NV. Even though it was only $75, I thought it was awesome to win prize money at the Charleston Distance Run 15 miler for winning my age group. Falling on my face on May 6 and getting pretty hurt was certainly an awkward moment. No medical attention needed, but I sure did hurt and looked pretty awful for my trip to St. John USVI!
My goal for next year is actually to run fewer miles. This has been a little much for me, and I'm tired. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it, because I like the miles for mental sanity. I also need to slow down. I feel like I'm so slow anyway that it's sort of hard to deliberately be slower, but I need to. Maybe I'll make that a January goal- focus on low heartrate and just suck it up and be slower. It's not an ego thing- it's partly wanting to get finished (especially on a group run where I know people are waiting at the end) and partly just the awkwardness of a slower pace for my stride.
Anyway, I'm thankful for all of you and looking forward to our successes and support of each other in 2024.
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
YEs, thanks, Joe for this thread.
Overall, I had an excellent running year in 2023.
Awesome moment: After a few low-mileage months at the beginning of year due to some nagging injuries, I recovered enough to start training for my first marathon in years. Along the way, I won a bib to run in the Paris Olympics marathon next year. I was (and remain) SO excited to have this opportunity, especially since I had pretty much given up running a few years back.
Awkward moment: When my PT declared that the pace I was "running" was not actually running, it was jogging!
Awful moment: none that I can think of (at least for now)...
137 miles in December (a prime) and
1303 miles for the year (also a prime).
Carolyn
Yay, Moebo! Primes for the year and the month! I managed that too, with some minor rounding to make both work.
December: 89.3 miles, rounds to 89 (prime)
2023: 1450.7 miles, rounds to 1451 (prime)
Highlights for the year included two destination races with friends:
Catalina Island Marathon, CA in March (super muddy!)
Lead King Loop 25k, Marble, CO in September
Awkward/awful moment - tripped on a trail run in April and needed 4 stitches in my knee.
I don't write as beautifully as Rosie/Barb, but this picture sums up what I love about trail running with my friends in Colorado. This was at the top of Eccles Pass (11,800 ft) on my birthday run.
Thanks, Joe, for keeping the monthly mileage thread going! Always fun to read.
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
December miles: 11 walking (prime!), 126 biking
2023: 2091 miles biking with 74,328 ft elevation gain, ? walking distance
Neither Garmin nor Strava have a way that I've found to get a year's totals, so I couldn't get my walking total
Doug, runnin' cycling in Rochester, MI
"Think blue, count two, and look for a red shoe"
My team progressed to the Final of the RA mileage game for 2023 and I've continued to run higher than usual milage through to the end of December, ending up with my second highest month ever, beating November 2023 by just 0.2 miles.
December miles: 157.2 rounds to 157 (prime)
Yearly miles: 1128.7 rounds to 1129 (prime)
Awesome, awful and awkward all come back to buying a treadmill in May 2023 as DW wasn't happy at my leaving the house to go running. I've made the most of it by running 2+ miles on the TM at under 10 minutes per mile pace every day since mid-July and I finished 2023 with my streak at 167 days (prime) during which I've run 660.8 miles - rounds to 661 (prime)
Started running at age 60.
AG 60-64 PR - 5K 25:45, 10K 53:28, HM 1:57:39, Marathon 4:32:09
AG 65-69 PR - 5K 26:11, HM 2:02:39, Marathon 5:04:47
Upcoming race: Four on the 4th 7/4/24 maybe.
an amazing likeness
Thanks for carrying on the monthly, Joe.
First...just the numbers: December 163 miles (prime!) and ended 2023 with 1183 miles for the year.
Quite unplanned, on Dec 30 I headed out into the late afternoon's spitting rain and snow and logged a jog of just a bit over 6mi which pushed my RunningAhead Overall Run Total stat over 30,000 miles. I will note that as an accomplishment for year with the caveat that the same stat panel also noted I was short of halfway to Gladwell's famous 10,000 hours needed for expertise.
On the downside...I'd have to point to the 3+ months in late spring & early summer spent with only brisk walks in pursuit of some relief for the hip/glute/hamstring pain that I've been trying to get diagnosed for the past 18 months. Titrating pace, stride length and running miles does seem to have beaten the problem from 'knife stabbing pain' back to 'chronic uncomfortable'.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
87 miles in December, 1,458 miles for the year.
My best moment this year was running the fastest back split I have ever run in a HM race, the fastest 6.55 I have run in my life... Other good memories are setting PB records in my age group in the HMs I ran.
Thank you Joe!For December - I didn't need to run much, not did I want to run much, to reach my 1200 mile goal.
Dec mileage was only 35.7.
2023 geeky stats:
total miles: 1200
hours running: 248
Elevation gains: 87,554 ft.
Tammy
Thanks, Joe, interesting topic as always and fun to read everyone's responses. I did not run a lick in 2023, and didn't have any memorable awkward or awful moments on the stationary bike. And December was cut short due to surgery on the 13th. But I'm hoping I can be more active with at least more walking/hiking if not actual running in 2024.
Total for December: 213.9 stationary bike miles
Total for 2023: 5,357.2 stationary bike miles. Wow, that surprised me but it's right.
Thanks, Joe.
December Running Miles: 41.6
December Biking Hours: 3.00
December Strength/Core Hours: 6:03:07
Overall:
Running: 1,087
Biking: 162 miles / 25:45 hrs.
Strength/Core: 71:39:04r hrs.
Awesome Running Moment - Finishing my first official 50k race in - what? - 4 years?
Awful Running Moment - Ending the year with yet another issue that kept me from finishing a 2nd 50k for the year.
Awkward Running Moment - Thankfully, I haven't had one of those in a long time.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance