1,538 friggin' glorious miles

OMG. I reached and surpassed my 1,500 mile running goal for 2012 and totaled 1,538 glorious and awesome miles.

Best yet, I did it without any running related injuries and I'm old, too. (Disclaimer: I injured myself twice, but both times were due to falls during trail runs, not overuse/stress injuries.)

I also transitioned from partial heel strike to a midfoot strike. My stride feels so much smoother, and I feel so much stronger. I swear, sometimes I feel as if I am floating. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten much faster, but I'll take stronger over faster any time.

It was a damned good year.

My muddy mug after Mt. Marathon.

Another marathon finish.

Running with my best girlfriend.

Half marathon with my sister.
 

Hawaii!

Did I menion Hawaii?

Running trails.

 

 

More trails.

 

Mountain trails.

Sunsets.

And MM finally buys decent running socks (!!)

I don't have many goals for 2013. I'd love to break 1,750 miles and I'd also love to race a marathon where I'm not continually pooping in the woods or peeing blood in the woods, but maybe that's a bit too ambitious, no?

Mostly, I want to keep loving my runs. I want to look forward to my runs. I want to run happily and goofily. I want to smile and laugh and sing stupid songs off-key.

I also want to learn to take better photos, sigh, sigh. Or at least remember to take photos. Or at least remember to take my camera so that I can forget to take photos. (So much to remember!)

But on to better things. Like recent runs. And blurry photos. And me on recent runs in blurry photos.

My secret superpower: Stretching my arm until I touch the top of tunnels. (So why can't I stretch my leg so that I can run a 7:30 pace???)

Don't I look a little bit like a super hero in this pic? This is because there is so much snow and hardened ice on the trails that I can touch the top of the tunnel connecting the Coastal Trail to the Chester Creek Trail. So exciting! I had to stop for a photo. This was around mile 17 of a 21 miler, and I was feeling great.

Of course I was feeling great: The weather was 44 degrees (44!) when we started. After weeks of single digit temps, it was like running in Hawaii. Added plus: Many areas of the trails have been groomed/ packed down so that we could actually run instead of slog.

This is exciting because the previous week I logged 46.5 miles on the treadmill. MM and I pounded out side-by-side 19 milers at Planet Fitness. We were there forever, and there wasn't anything good of TV, either.

Good news: Santa brought me this:

Barbie! But wait, where are your running clothes?

Anyone who reads my book (releases from Hachette Books Feb. 5, and buy one if you can, please, so someone other than my mother reads it.) will understand the Barbie joke, hee, hee.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season. Happy running.

Oh, oh: And this came, my Christmas present to myself. It's a YA novel I read years ago and just had to order. Do you ever do that, suddenly remember a book you've read and it nags and nags at you until you simply have to read it again? I also have been thinking of "Kentucky Love" by Joe Coomer, so probably I will order that soon, too.

Stats:
Weekly running total: 42 mile plus two days of cross training
Reading: Everything in sight, including the toothpaste container
Writing: Oh, yes!