Running Year in Review

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With one remaining day left in the year 2013 it's time to sit back and evaluate this past year in regards to my running goals. Last December I wanted to bump up my running and exceed 2012's total of over 400 miles. Did I get there? NO!
 
After I started this year off, I realized I needed to get back to why I started running in the first place. To get physically fit, to strengthen my heart and body, to lose weight and most of all... TO HAVE FUN!
 
With those in mind, I realized I was running for races, time and achievements. Three things I never set out to do when I started. At the beginning a few years back it felt good to run races. It gave me something to look forward to. Since I was new at running I had a goal to work towards. Now, after 3 years running, I feel it's time to get back to just 'going for a run'.
 
I'm still logging my miles and as of today, December 30, 2013, I've run 242 miles. I'm ok with that. At the beginning of the year I thought I'd tear up the road this year and surpass the 400+ miles of 2012. As you can tell, I didn't and I'm happy with what I did this year. In 2012, I was training for a half marathon and logged a LOT of miles leading to that goal. I ended up stepping away from actually doing the half because I got burnt out on long runs, running 6 days a week and having to wake up really early to get in a long run without the heat of the day knocking me out. It was hard, and wasn't for me!
 
I told myself that I wanted to run a half marathon for the past two years. I still want to do that...someday... I'm not there yet. I'm still enjoying the short runs, strengthening my body for the 5 miles and under runs. Every time I run longer, I wear myself out and the fun of running is gone and it turns into a chore.
 
I no longer time myself. I just log distance. It takes the pressure off and I then can relax, enjoy the scenery and concentrate on my breathing, what my body is telling me and have fun! Yes, I have fun running. I love to run. I'm not great at it, but I love to do it. I feel best when I can run outside and my goal for 2014 is to log most if not all my miles outdoors.
 
I let go of our gym membership back in November and haven't been able to log miles on a treadmill since then. Which is fine with me as I don't like treadmills to run on. For me, they are great for hill climbing intervals and walk/run workouts but that's it. They don't help condition you for real outdoor running.
 
We are looking into finding another more affordable gym, now that it's just my husband and I going. Until then, the open road, dirt roads, tracks and park paths are in my future. I look forward to every mile!
 
2014 goals?
 
Just to continue to log miles and let go of timing myself. Enjoy each run. Find new places/scenery to run and to make sure that more miles are outside than inside!
 
Do you log your running miles? How did you do in 2013? Do you have any goals to run in 2014? I'd love to hear from you!

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