2022 road running review

I’ve been run­ning again this year, and more gen­er­al­ly try­ing to move toward fit­ness. I bought an Apple Watch and start­ed «clos­ing my rings» with their Fit­ness+ work­outs, as well as work at the gym. I’m not fin­ished fin­ish­ing my base­ment but part of it can be used for indoor work­outs, with a few mats, a small set of dumb­bells, and a tread­mill. The tread­mill is not a very good one. I’ve felt the belt slip a few times when I’ve gone faster than a gen­tle trot, but I can do a brisk walk or even a light jog and watch a tele­vi­sion show or movie at the same time if the weath­er out­side is frightful.

I added up the out­door runs and walks that I logged, and it came to 222.77 miles. That’s not a lot as recre­ation­al run­ners go, but it’s approx­i­mate­ly 222.77 miles more than I logged in the pre­vi­ous four years com­bined. So that’s mov­ing in the right direc­tion. Includ­ing tread­mill dis­tances brings me up to 344.28. My best month was May at 59.48 miles (com­bined indoor/outdoor, walk/run).

I ran eleven orga­nized races in 2022. Most were 5Ks. Only one (Troy Turkey Trot) was a 10K. I did­n’t find many 10Ks in the sched­ules this year, which is too bad because 10K is a real­ly fun dis­tance for a race. One (Miles on the Mohawk) was a ten mile race, and two (Helder­berg to Hud­son and Run 4 The Riv­er) were half marathons. Helder­berg to Hud­son was only the third time I’d run out­doors this year and I fin­ished in 2:55:20. Run 4 The Riv­er was a 2:40:14 fin­ish. Both were faster than my time in the US Half in 2011 (3:02:02).

I did­n’t hit either of my pace goals for the year, which were to run a 5K in 30 min­utes and a 10K in 60. The clos­est I came was at the LifeSong Dash in Half­moon, where I came in at 33:12. So let’s see if I can hit those marks in 2023! I’m sure they’re do-able.

Most impor­tant, what miles I put in this year were injury-free. There were a few times I was sore and some minor strains, but noth­ing that a day of rest did­n’t put right. 

I got the oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore my neigh­bor­hood and my town, saw places that I oth­er­wise would­n’t have, like the Erie Canal Bike Path and the Helder­berg-Hud­son Rail Trail. It always gives me a lit­tle bit of a smile to be able to run on closed city streets. I under­stand that traf­fic gets dis­rupt­ed a bit but hey, it’s only for a cou­ple hours at most and cars have exclu­sive use of that space 8,758 hours per year. I don’t feel too bad for the poor motorists. 

Com­ing up in 2023 I’m already reg­is­tered for the Sarato­ga First Day 5K, Helder­berg to Hud­son, Fire­crack­er 4 in Sarato­ga Springs, Miles on the Mohawk, and Run 4 The River.