How do you measure a year in the life?

5,250,600....miles? Well, not quite, but it sure felt close! This year I logged 2,400 running miles exactly, which is 100 miles more than I logged last year. Not only that, my biking mileage (due to increased bike commuting and a couple long bike trips) doubled to over 2,500 miles.

Wow, that's a lot of miles. That works out to about 46 miles per week. Doesn't sound like a lot to many of you fellow runners? Well, I took 3 weeks off for biking trips, and about 3 weeks off due to a hand surgery which made running difficult. That's 52 miles/week on the weeks I ran. Still not sound like a lot? Well, fine, it's not elite, but I'm not winning any races and I'm just trying to have fun. And I can say all of those 2,400 miles were a great time! So here are the stats on the year:

2,513 - miles biked
2,400 - miles ran
250 - estimated number of beers consumed over year (shouldn't that be closer to my miles logged)
80 - commutes to and from work by bike or running, instead of by car
6 pairs of shoes
3 new PRs - 17:49 5K (TC5K), 63:15 Trail 10-Miler (Backyard Burn - Wakefield, VA), 1:22:45 Half (New Prague)
1 Boston Marathon finish! (2:59)

And what about goals for this year? If I had to toss numbers out there, I'd say that I'd like to run:

• sub 17:30 5K
• sub 1:21 Half
• sub 2:58 Boston Marathon! (a PR)
• 2,600 total miles run
• another long trail run
• run in more cities around the US

(non running athletic goals)

• Complete a long distance bike tour (Alaska perhaps)
• Cross country ski race of some sort

I'm already partway on my goals. I just ran my first run of the year, a run up the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was amazing trail running, and I spent half the run navigating above the snow line. Good times, if you're ever in ABQ for a day, I would highly recommend running/biking or hiking the Sandias.

So that's the running recap on '07 and a preview of '08.

To return to the cheesy "Rent" song, however, the way I measure my year is not in miles logged or races run, it's the friendships I have. Or, as the song says, "measured in love". I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family. 2007 was a great year, with some wonderful experiences across the country and right at home in Minnesota. I have a feeling that 2008 will be even better!

Happy New Year friends!