2006 End of Year Running Review.

In December I matched my highest mileage achieved in any single month of the year which I achieved last January with a total of 146 miles.

My statistics for the year compared to 2005 show :

2005 Jan 127 miles No of Runs 19 2006 Jan 146 miles Runs 20
2005 Feb 45 miles No of Runs 7 2006 Feb 111 miles Runs 16
2005 Mar 94 miles No of Runs 14 2006 Mar 144 miles Runs 21
2005 Apr 97 miles No of Runs 15 2006 Apr 139 miles Runs 19
2005 May 84 miles No of Runs 12 2006 May 142 miles Runs 20
2005 Jun 89 miles No of Runs 13 2006 Jun 136 miles Runs 19
2005 Jul 145 miles No of Runs 21 2006 Jul 142 miles Runs 20
2005 Aug 130 miles No of Runs 18 2006 Aug 106 miles Runs 15
2005 Sep 141 miles No of Runs 20 2006 Sep 121 miles Runs 17
2005 Oct 139 miles No of Runs 20 2006 Oct 129 miles Runs 17
2005 Nov 107 miles No of Runs 17 2006 Nov 113 miles Runs 16
2005 Dec 132 miles No of Runs 17 2006 Dec 146 miles Runs 18

Total Runs for 2005 - 193 out of 365 days. Total runs 2006 208 out of 365 days

My average distance that I ran in 2005 was 6.88 miles. My average distance that I ran in 2006 was 7.56 miles.

My longest run in 2005 was 12 miles on Boxing Day 26th December. My longest run of 2006 was 13.1 miles on 11th June and 8th Oct.

I ran 9 races this year which is up on last years 3.

My racing pb's for the year are half marathon 1hr 46.16, 10 miles 1 hr 17.17 , 7 miles 52.37 and 5 miles 37 mins.

On Dec 31st 2005 I set myself the following targets. My observations on how the year went are in blue.

1. To keep fit and enjoy my running.

That will always be my number one aim. People some times ask why do you run? Quite often they look upon you as weird when you mention that you run. Often they will say they have tried and found it boring. Quite simply I run because I can and I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it. I get to see the changing seasons, experience all weathers and enjoy the beautiful Suffolk countryside. I meet similar folks who enjoy running. I gave up a long time ago trying to persuade others to run you either enjoy it or you don't.

I have had a good year and have managed to stay injury free replacing my shoes regularly. The New Balance 854's clearly were not designed for me as they wore out on the outer heels after only 241 miles. Purchased on the 21st of April, I used them for the last time on the 15th of June. The Saucony MC5's were dead after 356 miles which I don't consider great value. The Saucony shoes were purchased on the 27th of June and were kaput on the 1st of October.

During the year I have used 5 different pairs of shoes. I usually spend no more than £50 on a pair so in total on shoes I have incurred costs of £250. Add on 1-2 new running tops, socks this would another £50. Race entry fees have certainly seemed to go up to reflect additional security, h&s , police arrangements etc I entered 9 races and this must have cost about £8 a race making another £75 quid. I also bought Runners Worls every month and that is £4 a month Add on some travel costs to races and I suppose I would have spent around £450 quid in total.

2. I am a signed up member of St Edmunds Pacers and look forward to continuing doing so for next year.

I re signed as a member of St Edmunds Pacers in October. Thinking about it that cost me I believe £15 and when ever I attend track it is another £1 and I must have attended about 20-25 times in the year so another £40 making £500 on running in 2006. There is definitely a sign of increased numbers of people out running. Hard to say if many of them are joining clubs. I think I made reference to it in the summer that attendance at the Run for Life events is huge and presents a potential size able untapped market of new potential club members

3. I am setting myself an overall target to run 1500 miles next year. That's challenging for me but hopefully realistic target that is achievable barring injuries ! I managed 1328 this year so it is an additional 200 miles at an average of 29 miles a week.

Well I did it! With a total of 1573 miles I beat my target of 1500 miles with a couple of weeks to spare. In the end I averaged 30.3 miles per week partly because I avoided both injury and illness for most of the year. My worst time was at the beginning of September when I returned from Italy with a balance problem connected to motion sickness. I missed a whole weeks training then. Joining a club and having fairly regular races as targets has helped to provide motivation. Above all of this the biggest motivation for me is taking a camera with me and visiting as much of Suffolk as I can to record what I see.

4. Long Runs - I want to up my long runs so that next year I run some 2 hour or 15 mile runs .

Woops! I didn't do it. I managed the half marathons at Norwich and Felixstowe but I failed on this.

5. Hills - these are great sessions to include in your training. I know it but I just didn't do it this year. Can I do it next year? Probably not on my own. I remember that we used to run these as a cub session when I belonged to Stopsley Striders back in 1994. I am not going to set my target for hills anything greater than to do 1 hill session a month.

Not achieved. I certainly did better than last year and started the year well running hill sessions in January, February and March. I then slipped until July and more recently doing a couple of sessions in December.

6. Races - for me racing isn't the be and end all of why I run but I would still like to run more races than I did this year which was only 3 . My target for 2006 is to do 6 races. At the moment I still think my limit for a race is around the half marathon distance. So I would like to include a half marathon as a race next year.

Achieved this one! I ran 9 races including2 half marathons. The venture into Norfolk to run the Norwich Half was on one of the hottest days of the year and I will never forget this race. The Felistowe Half is to be recommended- I like the whole organisation from the comical comperes to the Felixstowe TV - yes thats right Felixstowe has its own tv service and you can view a video of the race here http://www.felixstowetv.co.uk/e107_plugins/eplayer/eplayer.php?view.57.0.20

7. Track and Interval Work - If I miss the Wednesday track session at West Suffolk Athletics Track then I want to commit to doing the Monday session. To my mind track work is so beneficial.

I did ok but again want to improve on my 23 visits to track in 2006.

8. To get my weight down to 12 stone - I could still do with losing a few pounds . My BMI still shows I am overweight for my height. This means losing about 4-6 pounds. This should be possible if I keep to my new mileage targets.

Well no I didn't achieve this. my weight has remained constant at around 12.5 stone. I just don't believe in the BMI as a good measure.

9. To replace my watch - I don't have a very good running watch- sometime this year I would like to get one of those Garmin 201 devices

No I have stuck with my same old watch and no plans to get a Garmin as I can't afford it and as I run a lot across country I need convincing it will work under trees etc.

10. Lastly this one is a bit crazy but when the weather brightens up in the spring I am seriously considering an occasional run when I take with me a rucksack to pick up rubbish I spot in the hedgerows. I hate to see rubbish which has been dropped from car windows left on the side of roads. It can remain for years in some rural spots. Ok I could say it is not my rubbish but in a way we are all responsible for the upkeep of the countryside and I am willing to give it a go. I expect I will need to wear gloves and an old rucksack. My other though then is what to do with the rubbish as I don't particularly want to fill my own dustbin with what I collect. Maybe my run will need to by pass a recycling centre.

This is one I really wish I had lifted a finger to try and achieve but I didn't and so goes on next years list.

2006 was a good year where I achieved many of my targets I believe partly because I set them out in a very public way for all to see. 2007 can be even better!