500 Miles

2011 was a year of significant physical fitness progress for me. The interesting thing is that I didn't actually set any significant goals in this area when the year began. I knew I wanted to increase my physical fitness, but I had no idea how much I would actually accomplish in the year. It all began with a switch to part time teaching. Without that one major life change I would never have been able to devote the time that I have to fitness. Normally my physical fitness goals are saved for summertime when I don't have work, but being home for an extra 20 hours each week gave me time to pick up on my exercise habit earlier. I stuck to my traditional routine of circuit style training with Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels (lonely living room workout style). Sometime in late spring I read about an iPhone app for running. It claimed to be for non-runners. I don't know what made me think that this time around running would be different for me, but the plan sounded reasonable and I wanted to increase my cardio routine, and get outside more, so I splurged ($3) on the app and went for it. The app was great and truly delivered results. I found myself actually feeling successful running for the first time ever and I stuck with it. I have decided that I am not interested in super long distances, but in general, I enjoy running a few miles (3-5) a few times a week to add variety to my workouts.

In November I went for a run and ended up going farther than I had planned. Nothing huge, but it was just under 5 miles and felt great. I decided that running was a permanent part of my life and in 2012 I would run 500 miles! The next few weeks yucky air quality and terrible winds resulted in a temporary hiatus from running, but the new year has come and I'm ready to start logging those miles. 500 miles in 1 year averages out to just under 10 miles each week. I'm hoping to get 10 miles in each week so that when the crazier weeks come along and I miss runs I will still be on track for my goal.

I should mentions that I cheat. I run and walk but consider the full distance as a run. My current pace is 4 min run 1 min walk, and it feels pretty good. Today I ran my longest distance yet: 5.6 miles. It was great! Earlier this week I had a much shorter mostly walk run (due to taking ibuprofen on an empty stomach) that was about 1.6 miles. Total so far is 7.2. I'm hoping that my body isn't too achy tomorrow from today's run so I can go for a short run and finish strong for week 1.

2012 Mile Counter: 7.2/500