2012 Wrap-Up / 2013 Preview

I haven't blogged here for a while.  I doubt I will post regularly but I do want to post today.

2012 was a year of change and inconsistency.  I started out with a slow 5:22 at the Landis Loonies Marathon on January 2, 2012.  Over the next 21 weeks, while still student teaching, I basically ran on Tuesday and sometimes Sunday. I ran the Cleveland Marathon in 5:31 on a brutally hot day.  I like to say Jimmy M would have beaten me if he hadn't stopped for a picnic lunch!

Summer was very different.  I was on a teacher schedule, with only 1 class to complete for my Masters degree.  By the 2nd week of June I was up to 60 miles / week and was above 50 for 10 consecutive weeks, with the exception of the July 4 week when we traveled to NYC.

New runs were Tue & Thu mornings with some LOCO folks from Day's Dam, occasional Wed hill workouts at the same spot, and Tue evening runs with the Brookside HS CC team.

Summer racing highlights were 19:18 5k at the Journal Jog, and finishing the Buckeye Trail 50k, redeeming myself after my first ultra attempt / DNF in the initial running in 1994.  Although my time was horribly slow 7:58, and I was 129 of 144 finishers.

Once school started it became difficult for me to coach multiple groups and get a run in at the same time, so my running with the team fell to about once / week (longer runs on Mondays mostly).

I got into a sort of pattern during the last couple months, running after school on Mondays, in Oberlin on Tuesdays, at the Y on Thursday mornings, and 1-2 times on the weekend.  This led to a surprising 1:42 at the Tour de Ashland Half Marathon.

Total for the year was 1248 miles in 168 runs.  Three months between 180-260 miles, and 9 months between 35-95 miles.

My 2013 schedule is quite ambitious.  I started with the annual Landis Loonies marathon on New Years Day, running a little faster this year in 5:01.  I have several longer races on my calendar, leading up to the Burning River 100 Mile in July.

3/2 Green Jewel 50k
4/20 North Coast 24 Hour
5/19 Cleveland Marathon
6/15 Mohican 50 Mile
7/27 Burning River 100 Mile

I will be coaching track so I'm sure I won't get more than 30-40 per week in the spring, other than the weeks of the longer races (listed above).  Once school ends in June I will quickly bump up to 60-80 per week leading up to Burning River.  I'm sure this is not the optimal schedule but it is what I'm going with.