Week in Review and 2,500 kms done for the year

So after today's run I hit 2,500 kms from Jan 1 to today.  Woohoo!! My orignal goal was 2,011km as part of a 2011 challenge.  When I exceed this in around the end of September I made into new territory.   It's also the most running I've done in a year and builds on 2010's success of 1,767kms.  

To get here I've had a successful year of relative injury free performance and a desire to be faster.   It's amazing what a competitive mind can do.  Running is not something where you're just competing against everyone else at the race can do, you're also competing against yourself, past and future, as well as everyone else's past and future.  Complicated?  If I've lost you this just means you're running for the best possible time, well if not competing to 'win' therefore your ultimate personal best is basically your lifelong work.  This is mainly why older runners have regrets about slowing down - and when they accept it, they can at least compete against the age group predicted decline, as well as hope that some youngin ain't gonna beat their PB for some time. 

I've had some rivalry in my family as my father was my biggest inspiration to run.  He's an accomplished marathon runner with probably at least 20 under his belt, including a trip to Boston.     His PB was 3:24, good enough for Boston's 3:30 for his then age group, and a challenge for me.   As I was a youthful new entrant, I had some advantages, and while I could at this point beat him in the shorter races, it was around the half marathon that he could still edge me out.    He had some other amazing shorter distance times and they had been milestones for me to achieve. 

So concludes another great racing year.  With a 3:09 under my belt this year, and a drive to get 'r done for a sub 3, we'll see what 2012 holds.    
  
This week's workouts:

M: off
T: tempo run - 30sec/hard/30 easy x 16 + 5 hills
W: Progression run/feel good - started slow, and worked up to about a sub 4min/km pace. 
T: Sick
F: Easy 8k
S: Easy 10k - working off food
S: Long distance - 10mi with a fast 5km finish

Weekly total 55kms.

This week was more of a recovery week from a hard week last time.  I also had a 24hr bug so I had to cancel one of my hard ones, but you can always miss a few workouts.

That's all for now!  This was pretty much a year in review post, next week to end the year I will look forward at 2012.

Cheers.