600 miles!

Howdy. I love yearends. I love that few people are at work -- I am, and I like it that way. I love that the Kennedy Expressway is empty. I love yearend "best of" and "worst of" lists. Even just setting goals -- if you want to call 'em resolutions, go ahead -- is fun.

A goal since I began running about five years ago is to log decent mileage each year and keep track -- learned that from a running buddy in Oklahoma. My sole, single goal in deciding what mileage to get to is that it has to be a round number with two zeros in it. I just can't end the year having run, say, 587 miles. It's GOTTA be 600. I also can't stand running, say, 10.6 miles, which I did the other day. Ugh, it just needs to be 10 or 11. I'm a former journalist/now communications person, not a mathematician.  Even though I did OK in high school calculus. (OK, I admit, I got an A. But I hated it and forgot everything.)

I had the baby in March, so ramping back up is a challenge. Two years ago I had the little toddler man and had to cram in like, 30 miles in the final week of 2009 to get to 600. It's the distance between Chicago and Scranton, PA, Google tells me. I ran New Year's Eve morning and then had to go back out there early New Year's Eve evening to finish the final 7. My husband thought I was nuts. Obviously, he's the one who is nuts if he can't understand my round number logic.

So this year's goal was to match that -- it was tougher. Two little kids means some xx percent greater chance (told you I am not a math person) that one of them will get up in the night, making early morning running just that much harder to get up for. But, I had a fantastic running year, running PRs in the 5k, 8k and half distances, with no injuries other than some leftover mile sciatic pain from my pregnancy. I only feel that in yoga. I should figure out what to do about that in the new year.

So, next year's goals? Well... Chicago goes on sale Feb. 1! I mean, the Chicago marathon. I'm gonna run it this year. It's 282 days away! It was my first marathon, in 2007. I got injured with tendonitis three weeks before the race and wound up run/walking it. Then, about mile 18, the race was canceled because of heat -- it was a ridiculously hot October day. I've done a couple of marathons since elsewhere and been popping out babies in my downtime. I'm done having babies and ready to marathon again.

Oh, and a number goal? 1,000, of course. Three zeros!

Happy New Year!