Geez you all have been busy

Wow. You drop off the net for a week or two and people get a lot of stuff done! The year end wrapup seems to have a theme this year. Make sure to check out Tuscaloosa, Seebo, and Salty.

What am I doing? About 20 miles a week, rehabbing the shin. It is getting better. Slower than I would like, but better.

I have finally synced up my HR monitor and have the following to report:

4m @ 8:57 pace - 116 avg
6+m @ 8:00 pace - 150 avg
5m @ 8:20 pace - 130 avg

And other than the fact that they correlate, I got nuttin!

Top 10 of 2007?

10) 11/18 - Paced a friend though a huge PR for him in the half at the Philly Marathon, then hopped over the fence and paced another friend who was struggling through the last 13 for a 3:29 marathon. In retrospect, whoops! But the day was fun and it was nice to be able to help some friends.

9) 7/9 - A hard 12 miler on a rails to trails in northern PA. I went out and low 7s, high 6s were just flying off my legs. It was hot so I consciously tried to keep the pace down, but I just just couldn't! It felt so good! Why? Because it turns out that I was running the first 6 downhill on a train grade so slight that I didn't notice. But I sure noticed when I turned around and slogged the next 6 back up hill!

8) 4/17 - A tempo run that I still remember. This was a tipoff to me that Broad St was going to be big. 5 miles in just over 29 minutes and it just felt like butter. I almost couldn't slow down for my cool down on the way home and I was just running on air.

7) 11/25 - Monster workout. 15 miles progression style in 1:37. Out and back on one of my favorite routes from Chestnut Hill College, down Forbidden Drive and Lincoln Drive to the Falls Bridge and back.

6) Getting hurt in the fall - Who wants to get hurt? Not me. But I've certainly learned a lot about recovery and balancing easy and hard. Sometimes I have to learn the hard way.

5) 6/20 - Jenkintown 5k - I dream of someday winning this race!! This is my hometown race and winds in and around all these streets near my house. Unfortunately for me, all these fast guys keep showing up! Nice to run in my town, plus family and friends are here. 17:14, 3rd overall. Mizuno was a sponsor and gave away like a dozen pairs of shoes and despite being a Mizuno fan-boy I got nada!

4) 9/16 Philly Distance Run - This might be my favorite race and I was really happy to run a huge (9 minute) PR here this year. The conditions were great and I ran according to plan. That said, I was already hurt (calf strain) at this point and in retrospect, the injury really held me back from a bigger race.

3) 7/4 - Haddon Heights 5k - My 5k PR for the year. It was raining in the morning and I drove down to the city unsure if I would run or not. I figured if the rain was bad I would just do a long run on the drives. It cleared up just as I got there, and once I was over the bridge I decided I would run since there is a toll and I'm cheap that way. 8th overall, first >30.

2) 6/2 - Run For Life 5K - My first overall win, despite going off course. It was a small 5k and I was able to win it with a 17:20, but my wife and kids were there and it was pretty awesome to do that in front of them. It was a nice looping course that let them see me go by 3 times, then a short walk to the finish.

1) 5/6 - Broad St Run - Broad Street is one of the big Philly races of the spring. It is a ritual as much as a race, and it really is a blast. After running a 1:25 half in the fall of 2006, I knew that I could do some damage here. I knew I could get under 65, and I thought that 62 was a good goal. After some good tune-up races I decided that I would try to go after 60 minutes and see if I could make that happen. Well, my fitness was better than I thought, and the conditions were one of hose 'once a decade' days. I ran the first few miles in the 5:50s, then realized that I had a lot in the tank and started picking it up. After the halfway point that crowd starting thinning out and I was passing guys in local running club singlets, and top 20 women. The last mile was the fastest in 5:30 and my chip time was 57:06. I saw Seebo in the chute and was like "Dude - I read your blog!" I was really ecstatic after this race and it really raised my expectations for myself and for the year.

Wrap Up

Total Miles for the Year: 2235 (a new high)
Goals Met: Pretty much across the board, except for getting hurt. New PRs in 2007 at all major distances.

Goals For 2008

1) Stay healthy. I think that my 2 injuries in 07 have taught me a little bit about how to pay attention to recovery time. Or at least I hope they have.

2) Fast 5k. I'm devoting the spring season to the pursuit of the fast 5k. I've spent 2+ years now building a foundation and I think, excepting the last few weeks :), that I've gotten pretty strong. This spring is going to be about getting fast. There are a number of sub-goals here - setting new PRs (currently 16:39), just getting more comfortable running this event, going after 80% age-graded (about 16:12), but really, the biggie is sub 16. I know that's a long way from where I am now, but I'm going to say that's the big goal and I'm going after it.

And that's it. No plans yet for the fall. I'll see how the spring goes, and go from there.