2nd Straight 3,000 Mile Year ... RAWKFIST!!!

After what I've considered a fairly mediocre running year ... today I finally have a reason for RAWKFIST!!!  I just hit 3,000 miles ran for the second year in a row ... and I feel great!  Yep, after pounding out another 5.3 million footsteps in 2012, I'm injury free and feel about as good as a 44 year old  man can feel!

The 3,000 mile thing started last year when I basically just wanted to find out if I could do it.  By the end of the year I was exhausted and didn't think I was gonna make it, but I held on and ended with 3,005 miles ran in 2011.  However my ankles, hips, and hamstrings were really beginning to show some signs of tendinitis ... which is why I decided to change my foot strike from a heel strike to a midfoot strike (more on that later).

At the beginning of 2012 I really began focusing on the new strike in earnest, basically training my feet to land in a totally different way than they had all their life.  When you make this change, you really have to decrease your mileage to give your legs time to adjust.  So there were a few  months early in the year where my mileage was a little lower than normal.  But in the summer after I got the hang of it, I really picked up the mileage pace with several 90-100 mile weeks, averaging about 85 miles per week from July to September.  But during the last two months, I've really tapered off quite a bit again.

Actually, if you figure about 36 inches per foot step while running, 3,000 miles is about 5,280,000 footsteps.  Almost 5.3 million ... that's crazy when you think about it!  And it comes out to about 8.5 miles per day, or about 58 miles per week.  Following are the month-by-month totals:

January    February    March     April     May     June      July      August     September     October     November    December

   204          207         244        198      248       302       395         363             352              246             146               96     

What's in store for 2013 ... I dunno.  Sitting here today I can tell you that I still feel really good, even after all those miles.  I could probably stretch it to 3,500 without much work at all, and honestly I could see doing 4,000 if I really set it as a goal ... but I just don't know what the point would be.  I'll be training for my first 50 mile race next year, so I'm sure the miles will add up automatically, but I don't have a specific goal in mind.  For now though, it's just kinda cool to have over 6,000 miles in less than two years ...  and still be walking without a limp.  Rawkfist!!!
... be great today!