Looking Back and Looking Forward

Before I begin, yesterday was a big day for my run streak.  It was day 200 of running at least 1 mile a day or more.  As I've stated before, it has really helped my speed.  This peaked last Sunday with a 1 miler in 7:04.  It was ultra fast for me but to put it into perspective, that translates (if I could even hope to keep that up for 26.2 miles) to a 3 hour marathon. How in the heck to the elites guys do it in a touch over 2 hours? Holy cow is all I have to say.

2012 was a nice year for me, running and triathlon wise.  The year began with the Shelbyville Sprint Series of winter tris where I got better with each race.  It continued with my first stand alone full marathon, which I'm still convinced is harder than doing a full Ironman.

Even though it was a personal best for me in the marathon, it was brutal.  I felt quite ok after my 2011 Ironman but after the KDF marathon, it was out of commission for quite a while.

In May and June were 2 olympic distance events include a PR for me at the distance and first time going under hours at 2:52 in the Motor City Tri.

July was a scheduled half-Ironman, in preparation for my second full iron distance race in September.  It was aborted however as a killer heat wave caused this to be just longer than Olympic distance.  I can't say I'm too upset by the decision because it was such a hot day after all. 

The big event for the year came on September 9th, my second full iron distance race at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.  Even with a couple hiccups, I beat my Ironman Louisville time by nearly 90 minutes, including slicing off about 45 minutes from the marathon time alone.

Next up was the Bourbon Chase, a 200 mile overnight relay event with 11 Louisville Landsharks.  Had such a great time relative to 2011 and hope to do it again in 2013.

The event calendar ended with a couple half-marathons including my first ever sub-2 hour half. I'm sure I'm missing a couple smaller events such as the Thanksgiving Day turkey trot but those are the hightlights.

What does 2013 hold?

In no particular order:

• Ironman Louisville in 2013, which is #3
• The Shelbyville winter sprint series
• Motor City (Olympic) Tri
• Ironman Muncie 70.3
• The Hangover (January 1) Classic, a 10 miler
• Bourbon Chase
• The Louisville Triple Crown of Running (5K, 10K, 10 miler) and...
• wait for it....
• The Chicago Marathon with my crazy wife and friends

Such a great 2012 and can't wait for another great year in 2013 and look forward to doing some running with my wife!