HAPPY NEW YEAR & RECAP OF 2008, THE YEAR I BECAME A RUNNER

First, I want to start this blog by saying that I mailed my application for the Long Island Marathon today. There is no turning back I will be running the Long Island Marathon on May 3rd:) Training starts Monday, January 5th, also the day the kids go back to school. Convenient, YES!!!

Though I never really wrote them down, my 2008 goals were as follows:
- Join NYRR’s
- Run at least 9 NYRR qualifying races
- Volunteer at 1 NYRR race
- Qualify for the NYC 2009 Marathon
- Mileage – I didn’t specify a mileage goal for this year
- Lose 15 pounds by 12/31/08
- Take things slow & steady & stay injury free
- Train by Heartrate, and who cares if you run slow at first
- Do not do any speed work or hill work this year
- Use the races in place of speed work

What was accomplished in 2008:

- I officially became a member of NYRR on Jan 1, 2008

- I actually ran 10 NYRR qualifying races in 2008 and 2 local races for a total of 12 races!

- I volunteered at the 10K mini race, and met Deena Kastor – Way cool

- It’s official, October 12, 2008 I qualified for the 2009 NYC Marathon

- I lost a total of 16 pounds since I started running on January 2, 2008, but then gained 4 back over nov/dec. Need to run consistently!

- I had a total of 176 runs

- Total runs run outside were = 133

- Total runs run on the TM were = 43

- Total mileage for 2008 = 760.99

- With no speed work and no hill work I increased my speed from 9:48 to 8:22 for the 4 mile

- For the most part, I stayed injury free


A breakdown of all my runs by month:
Jan – 9 runs no races
Feb – 19 runs no races
Mar – 19 runs 1 race
Apr – 18 runs (13 outside, 5 TM) 1 race
May – 19 runs (16 outside, 3 TM) 2 races
Jun – 15 runs (9 outside, 6 TM) 1 race, 1 volunteer
Jul – 13 runs (9 outside, 4 TM) 3 races
Aug – 14 runs (10 outside, 4 TM) no races
Sep – 10 runs (5 outside, 5 TM) 2 races
Oct – 11 runs (5 outside, 6 TM) 1 race
Nov – 20 runs (16 outside, 4 TM) 1 race
Dec – 9 runs (3 outside, 6 TM) no races

Overall I am thrilled with what I set out to do & with what I accomplished in 2008. Bring on 2009. As some of you know, 9 is my favorite number, hence wanting to complete the NYC marathon in 2009


GOALS FOR 2009
- Run two marathons (Long Island on 5/3 & NYC on 11/1)

- Stick to MY plan, don’t let the ego get in the way, and don’t miss a run!!!

- Run a few races, not as many as last year, to prepare me for the Marathons

- Run 2,009 miles for 2009

- Qualify for Boston (I know ambitious yes, but why not try out of the gate. If I don’t make it, I sure will still have a fantastic time trying and will be thrilled being a “Just Finish” marathoner

- Lose about 10 pounds. (In 2008 I went from 130 to 114, but over the holidays crept back up to 118 I think being 5’4”, I can handle being 108 lbs. The BMI calendar says Normal is between 18-25), and being 108 lbs puts me at 18.5! But the weight obviously isn’t an issue, I want to become more tone for sure, but I just don’t want to gain!! As long as I am running I don’t tend to gain, it’s when I get lazy and skip a run, or can’t find babysitting when the kids aren’t in school

- Incorporate more Cross Training and Stretching/Yoga into my training!

- Be more consistent with my running in 2009!!!

- Drink more water & eat healthier (be better about Nutrition)

- Complete the 100 pushup challenge (I am currently in Week 4 doing them modified) I want to complete the program by the end of the year doing REAL pushups!!

- Complete the 200 situp challenge, which was just created to complement the 100 pushup challenge. This will be a serious challenge to me as my core is seriously lackingL LOL

I don't know what 2009 has in store for me, but I am ready to embark on the new journey! I originally said that my Boston qualifier time was 4 hrs, a pace of 9:09, which would be awesome for 2009, but I was on the site a few weeks ago, and I noticed my age group (40-44, I will be 44 when I run my marathons: Long Island is not a qualifier, NYC is:) qualifying time is 3:50, which is a 8:46 pace. Not sure if they changed it, or if my eyes were playing tricks on me, as wishful thinking. LOL I am a little bummed about it, but I am not going to lose sleep over it. I still plan to train for breaking 4 hours, at a 9:09 pace, and depending on how race day goes, adjust accordingly to maybe getting that 3:50 qualifying time.

Well, this post has gotten way longer than I intended. I hope I can look back on this post on 12/31/09 and find that I accomplished as much in 2009, that I did in 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! & may you all reach your goals of 2009!!