Final Runathon and Experimental Results

This is how Week 5 of the Runathon ended:

Sun, 12/26 - Up the Ft. Lowell trail and back. 2.54 miles.
Mon, 12/27 - Ran the AZ Trail from the Pistol Hill trailhead to the picnic area and back with Ryan The Boulder. 6.25 miles.
Tues, 12/28; Wed, 12/29; Thurs, 12/30 - All of these were on the Ft. Lowell Trail. 2.56, 2.59, 2.60 miles.
Fri, 12/31 - I noticed that I was 4.22 miles from reaching 110 miles for the month, so I decided to run that amount to finish out the year.

Total Week 5 miles = 20.76 miles
Total Runathon = 110 miles

The following day I did the Egg Nog Jog 5K to see if my 5K time changed from the beginning of the runathon. My initial 5K time was 27:08, for an average of 8:45 min/mile. The morning of the Egg Nog Jog was crazy cold at 29 degrees. My hands completely froze. It got to the point that I couldn't concentrate on running anymore because my hands were in so much pain from the cold. I finished the 5K, looked down at my watch, and the time was 26:26 (8:23 min/mile average)! My PR for a 5K was 26:19, so I was only 7 seconds off. I blame the cold and my hands being in pain. So increasing my run volume definitely had an effect on my 5K time. That was with no speed work, no track workouts, and not running with people way faster than me.

Time to re-visit my goals for the Runathon:
1.Run everyday in December, a minimum of 2 miles each run. Done!


2.Do a trail run at least once a week. Done! I even ran a different trail as my trail run each week.

3.Egg Nog Jog 5K faster than 2008's. Beat last year's time of 26:19 (8:25 min/mile average). Oh so close! But I did beat my 5K time from before the runathon this year, so I think that's good.

4.Run to the summit of Agua Caliente Hill and back. I had to skip this one because of the pain in my heel and arch. But I'll be getting there someday!
 
So that's the end of the December Runathon. I'm glad because now I'm ready to get back on my bike. :)