Thursday, December 31, 2009

Everybody Else Is Doing It


This year, I feel like I can legitimately say I became an Ultrarunner, and with that comes a very different (and highly warped) way of looking at things. Prior to this year, I thought of 100 miles as the farthest distance I would drive to a race on the morning of the race itself. Now 100 miles is a distance for race lotteries, where the WINNERS are the ones who GET to run. And they jump for joy, knowing full well that at some point during that 100 miles they will feel like sh*t, that their muscles will become non-contractile hamburger meat, and that the likelihood of puking is very high. Maybe it is because of all that, that 100 miles is the running accomplishment of which I am the most proud.

I have never thought about looking at my year in running based on the number of miles I ran. Instead, I have always focused on race performances, the experiences, and how I felt while running, both emotionally and physically. But it seems like everyone knows their 2009 mileage. Heck, even my runner partner knew hers and she doesn't even run ultras, just these sissy-little multi-sport races called Ironman Triathlons.

I am a follower, so WTH, might as well play along. Last night I sat down with my training log and a calculator and after adding in this morning's 12 miler, I came to the grand total of 2,432 miles - easily my highest yearly mileage ever. And just think how much higher that could have been if this had been a leap year!

At midnight the tally flips back to zero and we all start on the same page. (Well, except for those frickin' over-achievers who do one of those mid-night fun runs). So, what are you going to put in your training log for 2010??


(photo credit: this photo was shamelessly stolen from the internet.)

1 comment:

Olga said...

Happy resolutions, pam, way to go, mac, and I'll see you in a few days!