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Run 1,000 Miles Final Update

The post that is long over due is finally in the books. The Run 1,000 Mile Challenge had its ups and downs for me for the last 12 months. Unfortunately, the mile goal of 1,000 miles in 12 months got the best and I was unable to meet my goal of completing the mileage goal. Although the goal was not met, I still am happy with the progress I have been able to make with running and the balancing act that comes with the time dedication for this hobby.

The challenge started out great with 238 miles during the first three months. As the challenge progressed I was able to lower my overall monthly pace from 9:12 in September to the 8:30s in March and April. The peak month for distance during the challenge was 88.5 miles in April as I ramped up for the 2015 Pittsburgh Half Marathon.

Unfortunately once the half marathon completed, I got into a stretch where I was sick a few times and had continuing minor injuries with my knee.  During the last three months of the challenge I was unable to stay healthy and get consistent mileage week to week.

I ended the challenge on August 31st with a total of 775.27 miles.

Although I was far off from my goal, I was happy and excited to see that I was able to pick a challenge and stick with it over the course of an entire year. This is the longest stretch for me to stick with running and not take a multi-week break. I think as I continue to run I will hopefully adjust to the aches and pains and have fewer injuries to be able to continue to run.

This challenge pushed me to build small goals for weekly mileage totals that were able to get me to the bigger monthly mileage goals. The mindset of starting small and just working hard everyday showed me that I could accomplish a much larger goal by the end with racking up 775 miles.

With the Challenge behind me, I hope to be able to complete 1,000 miles in a year soon. I have already started training for the next goal: The 2016 Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Washington, DC.

This will be my third Half Marathon, but first race not in Pittsburgh. I am excited to get into training over the next three months and can’t wait to run through DC with my wife Emily and sister Heather as we run 13.1 miles!

Run 1,000 Miles Challenge Update #3

Another 3 months have come and gone in the Run 1,000 Miles Challenge and it is all coming down to the wire from June through August. 2 major setbacks put the total mileage for this section of the challenge behind the pace.  Getting the flu for 10 days in March hampered that month’s mileage and then getting a sinus infection the week of the Pittsburgh Half Marathon led to a less than desired time for the half marathon.  Never the less, the challenge continues and the end is in on the horizon at the 75% complete mark.

For the third three month stretch of the challenge, I was able to complete 227.19 miles, making the overall total mileage at the 75% mark at 673.46 miles.

The big build up for since January, and mostly through March and April was for the 2015 Pittsburgh Half Marathon.  I completed my first half marathon last year in the 2014 Pittsburgh Half Marathon.  My goal for 2015 was to PR by beating my previous half time of 2:00:26.  Training went fairly well but being sick the week leading up to the race made the 13.1 miles a bit more challenging than I had hoped.

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I made it through the race and completed the 13.1 mile course over the bridges and through the many neighborhoods of Pittsburgh in 2:05:48.  Although I wasn’t able to PR, it was yet again another great weekend racing in Pittsburgh and I know I will be back in 2016 to get my PR and sub 2:00 Half Marathon!

I was hoping to be at the 700 mile mark at this point to close out the challenge with three straight 100 mile months.  With the two setbacks mentioned above I was not able to increase my monthly mileage and remained in the 70-90 mile range for each month.

With three months to go and approximately 327 miles to go, the bar is raised a little bit higher to close out this challenge.  I have yet to reach the 100 mile mark for a month but the goal of running 1,000 miles in a year is still within reach and I’m not going to give up on reaching this goal!

#Run1000Miles