2008: Running Year in Review

It’s time for my annual review of the running year past. We’ll start with the numbers. My total 2008 running mileage (including races) was 1224.3 miles / 1970.3 km which averages out to 23.3 miles / 37.5 km per week. My biggest Monday to Sunday training week was 39.3 miles which occurred two weeks before the Seattle Marathon. That week actually overlapped with 41.3 miles done over the seven days running from Wednesday to Thursday. I was fairly consistent with my training. The only zero mileage weeks occurred while I was on vacation in Scotland and Spain and sightseeing was a far greater priority than running.

My year was divided into three main training cycles. First for the Vancouver Half Marathon, second for my 30 on 30 birthday run and third for the Seattle Marathon. I ran five official races (2 5Ks, 2 half and 1 marathon) although only Vancouver and Seattle were what I would consider “A” races while the rest were hard training runs. That’s part of the reason I only set one personal best in 2008 (4:10:19 in the marathon). Next year I’d like to better my 10K and half marathon personal bests.

Finally I have an update on my virtual run across Canada. As of today I am situated on Highway 20 a few kilometers to the west of the town of Montmagny, Quebec. That puts me about 5,021 km along the 7,821 km route. To be honest, I’m not completely sure what the exact route that distance applies to but I plan to figure it out as I go along.