2011 was a pretty busy running year. As you can see above, I ran quite a few races and lots of marathons. I ran some pretty good marathons and I had a dud or 2 in there as well. I ran most of the year with some tendinitis in my right knee but my ankle issue from before is basically gone. I met some new running friends and some that have become more that just running friends. Runners are so cool. I participated in a committee to organize a full marathon and I continued to organize the kids marathon for the 3rd straight year. I coached some grade/middle school kids in Cross Country too. I also now am a Marathon World Record Holder! I did not run a marathon PR this year but did get sub 4 a total of 4 times as well. I also added 3 new states (MS, AL, KY) toward my goal of all 50. It was a pretty good year.
I ran a total of 10 full marathons in 2011, a record for me. Not all of them were full races, if you have read my blog for awhile, you will know that I do run full marathons as training runs at times. Those are usually local marathons that are pretty cheap. I did run a few shorter races this year as well, a few 5K's, some alone and some with my 9 year old daughter, and I did run a 1 mile race too.
I finished with 2 personal mileage records this year. For the year, I ran a total of 1634.2 miles, 33 more that last years record of 1601. I also broke my personal monthly mileage record by a whole 1.1 miles with a total of 211.8 in July.
Of all the running I did this year, I would say there were 4 things that were more rewarding than any of the other runs or totals. First was participating on the committee for the Icebreaker Indoor Marathon here in Milwaukee. It is a ton of fun trying to make the best possible running experience for all the marathoner, half marathoners, and relay runners out there.
Second would be organizing the 3rd annual WELS Kids Marathon. 433 kids joined in the running and reading program and a majority of them showed up at our final mile. Seeing them cross the finish line and giving them a high five before they receive their much earned finishers medal is so cool. The 4th annual will be coming again this summer!
Third would be that I started coaching Cross Country for my daughters grade/middle school team. I coached the boys as well and the girls and had some very successful runs for the team. It is great seeing the improvement these kids show through the short season and how they learn to work and run as a team and how that translates into winning the big meet. Many of these kids are so eager to learn more, very rewarding.
The last thing would be running as a part of the Jennipede team that raised over $100K for the rehabilitation cost for Jenny Crain, a multi time Olympic Trials qualifier from here in Milwaukee who's running career was cut short after being hit by a car on a training run before the Beijing Olympic Trials in 2007. 62 runners of all sorts of abilities joined together (figuratively AND literally) to run the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon linked together setting a Guinness World Record for the most runners linked running a marathon. Jenny was there in spirit on our training runs and was there with us for the final 0.2 miles and as we crossed the finish line. So Cool.
Instead of reviewing every marathon here, please click on the link to the following marathons if you would like to read my race reports on them:
So there is 2011 in a nutshell. It was pretty fun! The 2012 preview is coming up and it starts out just like 2011, with a bang!!!
Keep on Running!!!
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