A Year In Running
Thanks to Colin Carroll, an old coworker of mine from Freebird, for sharing his wonderful project strava_calendar (this is just one of the many awesome projects built by Colin). If you use Strava, It’s incredibly easy to generate your own plots. Please check it out, and follow Colin on Twitter!
I started 2020 with 12 New Year’s Resolutions, one of which was running 400 miles before the end of the year (I kept a monthly log of my progress on my blog). I wasn’t sure how ambitious this goal was. I’ve never really been a runner per se (I like to consider myself fairly athletic, more in mind and spirit more than actual ability), and so I didn’t have an understanding of a proper running schedule, personal limits, how my body would react, etc.
I was pleasantly surprised by both the relative accuracy of my mileage guesstimate and how motivated I was having a top-line milage to work toward. I ran much more frequently than I had since I started tracking (I began to use Strava in 2017), invested in better equipment (running in cold weather is much more enjoyable with a hat, gloves, and tights), and felt much better both physically and mentally making running a regular part of my workouts (and a great way to get out of the house in 2020).
I ended up running 543 miles over 91 runs, which comes out to ~6 miles per run. It also meant I ran about every 4 days. I also (somewhat accidentally) ran a half-marathon. I’m pretty happy with my results this year, I achieved the goal I had set in January of last year, and I’m looking forward to including a milage number in my resolutions for 2021.
