2007 Done.

Well here it is, December 31, 2007. Did 6.2 miles on Saturday with three miles done at LT pace and the rest at long run pace. Did 17.4 miles yesterday at about 8:45 pace. Total for the week was 54.2 miles.

Time to reflect on what was learned over the past year and see how I did. It was at this time a year ago where i was reflecting where I was at and setting goals for 2007. Unfortunately none of my goals from last year were met so I guess looking at that is a bit of a downer. I did kinda set these unofficial PR's in the 5, 10k and half as part of longer races:

5k-20:48 (1st 5k of 15k race)
10k-42:02 (1st 10k of 15k race)
half - 1:33:20 (1st half of marathon)

It would have been interesting if I had done a couple of these distances to see how well I would do but I guess that'll be in the new year. Of course the elusive marathon PR and obvious BQ was absent for this year, but I'm hoping that'll come sometime next year. I did do 9 races this year but only really two of them were done in peak condition and as an all out effort. The rest were either training runs or where I was in pretty bad shape. Races were a 5k, 10k, 15k, two 10 milers, two half's and two marathons.

My mileage this year was slightly down from 2006's total of 1865. Total was 1825 miles for 2007. I've been reflecting a bit more and think that it might be necessary to up my mileage a bit to something in the 60-70 mile per week range. I think I've basically plateaued for speed doing the 55 mile per week thing so the next jump in performance may need to be a result of an increase in mileage.

As for races in 2008, I do have plans for a winter marathon and maybe another BQ attempt in the next few months just so that I can try and get to Boston 2008. I'd really like to be there since the woman's Olympic trials are there this year and it would be neat to be a part of it. But alas, want-ing and do-ing are two different things. For now, I've removed the countdown timer since I'm still not sure what the plan is or what marathon I'm doing. I did splurge and register for a US marathon in the next couple of months, but that's just to force me to train. Not going to tell you all which one it is yet, since I may change my mind at some point. Final decision will have to be based on how the training goes over the next month or so.

I also have plans for a fall marathon, not sure where yet. I realized that if I get a 3:15:59 in a fall marathon next year, I will have qualified to run Boston in 2010, but that's a long way off, so the hope is still to gun for 3:10:59 in 2008.

Of course there will be a lot of little races that I'll do next year, including a 9k race tomorrow, maybe. I'm thinking of doing as an LT run. I've had a hard time trying to do LT runs lately and I think it would help if I had some people pushing me (not actually "pushing" me like I'm on a sled; you know what I mean)

Anyhow, here's to 2007 and may all your wishes and dreams and goals for 2008 be met. HAPPY NEW YEAR!