They ARE Just Numbers

Numbers

Some of you know I don't wear a watch while running. I stopped wearing a watch back in 1985 when running became not fun. It's not that I don't like numbers or stats, etc. If fact, quite the opposite. It's because I was constantly calculating my pace and worrying that I wasn't running fast enough. I got rid of the watch and running became fun again and my race times improved.

I still don't wear a watch much. I did finally buy a Garmin when I moved to Alaska so I could measure my routes. In Texas, and then again when I moved to Washington, I would use my car to mark routes.

Now that I'm slower, older and possibly a bit more mellow, I don't dwell as much on pace. It's a good thing because running 7:30-8:00 miles in the summer (on dry road), then running 11:00 miles on the snow, or worse hitting 18:00 miles on the snow pulling sled, I have to let some those numbers just go in one left brain cell and out the right.

Now I have an iPhone and am using the RunKeeper app. I like it because I use the phone for music and tracking my mileage. Nicer is that there is a very kind lady who tells me my pace every half mile (I tried a few settings and that one works for me).

With that said, here are my numbers and significant dates from my running past.

Longevity and Milestones

• I'm in my 40th year of "long distance running," - Started Sep, 1974 having joined the high School cross country team. Age 13 (just before my 14th birthday which is Oct 1st).
• I ran my first marathon 38 years ago (Orange Marathon, CA, January 1976 ~ age 15. Time: 4:07).
• I ran my first sub-4 marathon (marathon #3) 37 years ago (Orange Marathon, CA, January 1977 ~ age 16. Time: 3:15).
• I ran my first ultra 15 years ago (Across the years 50K, Redmond, WA, January 1999 ~ age 38. Time: 5:28)

Races of Marathon and Beyond

I've completed 75 marathons and 202 ultras.

PRs

• half mile: 2:07 (running start) ~ 1978
• 1 mile: 4:50 (cross country workout) ~ 1977
• 2 mile: 10:10 (track) ~ 1978
• 3 mile: 16:28 (cross country race) ~ 1977
• Marathon (teen): 3:04 ~ Nov 1977; Rose Bowl Marathon (age 17)
• Marathon (adult): 2:58 ~ May 1993; Capital City Marathon (age 32)
• Marathon (master): 3:02 ~ Feb 2005; Birch Bay Marathon (age 44) 
• Marathon (> 50): 3:28 ~ May 2012; Capital City Marathon (age 51)
• 50K (flat): 4:05 ~ Nov 2007; Seattle Ghost (age 47)
• 50K (mountain): 4:49 ~ Mar 2005; Chuckanut (age 44)
• 50M (flat): 7:09 ~ Apr 2003; Mt Si (age 42)
• 50M (mountain): 8:41 ~ Jul 2006; White River (age 45)
• 100K (flat): 10:25 ~ Mar 2008; Dizzy Daze (age 47)
• 100K (mountain): N/A
• 100M (flat): 20:10 ~ Mar 2004; Pac Rim One Day (age 43)
• 100M (mountain): 23:26 ~ Aug 2005; Cascade Crest (age 44)
• 24 hour: 112M ~ May 2001; West Seattle 24 (age 40)
• 150M: 51:11 ~ Apr 2009; McNaughton (age 48)
• 200M: ??:?? ~ Apr 2011; during McNaughton 500M DNF (age 50)
• 300M: ??:?? ~ Apr 2011; during McNaughton 500M DNF (age 50)
• 350M: 9 + days ~ Mar 2013; ITI (age 52)
• 370M: 8 + days ~ Apr 2011; during McNaughton 500M DNF (age 50)

Many of my PRs are soft. Even at age 53, I think I can beat some these times. After Susitna, my next race is a 100K in Skagit Valley, WA. I would like to see if I can break 10 hours there. I also think I can break 20 hours in a 100M however I will need to do that as part of a 24 hour run. PRs beyond 100M are all doable. I just need to keep training and not get injured. If I run the 6-day in August, I think I have a chance to set a few PRs.

Fast forward to Jan 2014

• Total January miles: 317.2
• Average miles per day (31 days): 10.2
• Average miles per running day (25 days): 12.7
• Longest run: 43 miles (Frosty Bottom "50")
• Shortest run: 6 miles 
• Sled pulling miles (date): 22 (11th), 26 (18th), 21 (19th), 15.5 (25th)

3 month numbers

• Nov 2013: 164.2 (39 mpw), 4 weeks (Nov 3rd - Dec 1st)
• Dec 2013: 197.6 (41 mpw), 4 weeks (Dec 2nd - Dec 28th)
• Jan 2013: 317.2 (75 mpw), 5 weeks (Dec 29th - Feb 1st), mpw increase of 85%

My goal for this year was to get my weekly mileage up to 60 mpw. I don't know if this month will be indicative of 2014 but it sure looks promising. I'm running slow (snow and ice running is inherently slow and I'm just terrible at snow running); so I think that as long as I can stay slow, my higher mileage won't hurt me. I think of it like lifting small weights ... I can do a lot more reps.

Here are the numbers for the first 5 weeks. I prefer to mpw numbers as monthly miles are kind of non-sensical.

Dec 29th - Feb 1st: Ran 29 of 35 days. 

Weekly Miles

1. 85.4
2. 68.2
3. 74.2
4. 77.5
5. 76.4

Of note: I had a 7 day stretch of 96 miles (Mon, Jan 13th - Sun, Jan 19th) but I start my weeks on Sunday so my weekly numbers don't reflect this.

Latest run: Feb 1st - 30 mile run. 9:32 average (including bathroom and McDonald's water stops). No snow or ice to contend with. Backpack, though light, slowed me down in the last miles. Starting temp: 12F (clear skies). Finishing temp: 16F (fog). 2 GUs and about 40 oz water consumed.

The Susitna 100M is in less than 2 weeks (Feb 15th). I hoping for a little snow and the same temps. That'll make the river running fast and the swamps and snow machine trails more tolerable.