I feel like this month needs no introduction. OK, I’ll admit that my New York City race report isn’t done yet, but really, I think that’s all I need to say.
November 2018
Total Mileage: 67.02 miles (See, ending runs with .01 pays off every once in a while.)
Average Pace: 12:17/mile
Number of Runs: 13
Last Month (October 2018): 137.64 miles
Last Year (November 2017): 83.72 miles (Last year had more miles in November because I didn’t need to spend as much time recovering, because, well, you know.)
Races: 2018 New York City Marathon
Total Mileage for 2018: (as of November 30) 1042.75 miles
I broke 1000 miles for the year during the New York City Marathon, which is kind of cool, but also a sign that my mileage for the year is a lot lower than I’d like. I guess it’s the whole glass half empty/glass half full thing.
So the only goal I set for this year was to finish the New York City Marathon. I’ve completed my goal, and I’m relieved.
Best Run: 2018 New York City Marathon, 5:52:03, 13:26/mile pace
It was the slowest race I’ve ever run as far as pace. It was 24 minutes slower than my time in 2016. I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if I should really call this my best run of the month. But I realized something within the last week. If you look at my two previous marathons, for the most part, my average pace in the race was slower than the vast majority of my long runs. I found 2 instances of long runs at a slower pace than the marathon that year, and they were in July and August. I didn’t dig in, but I suspect they were done in really, really bad weather. This year, I only had 2 long runs that were at a faster pace than my marathon, and they were my last 2 long runs (and they were 13.1 and 9 miles respectively, so not all that long, relatively speaking). I had a nagging feeling after 2015 and 2016 that I had underachieved slightly (and now I’m starting to think that’s what had me keep trying at the marathon). This year, well, overachieved is a strong word, but I’m pretty sure (based on my training) I didn’t underachieve, and that’s something. Also, it’s 26.2 freaking miles. I’d have to really, really, really screw it up to disqualify it from best run of the month (or have some other miraculous run in the same month, which seems even more unlikely).
I’ll give a shout out to my run on November 24. It was a 5 miler (which actually makes it my 2nd longest run of November), it was the fastest average pace of the month (11:23/mile), and the conditions were pretty miserable. Also, it came one day after…
Worst Run: November 23, 3.11 miles, 11:47/mile.
It was the day after Thanksgiving, so, yeah, I ended up with my 2nd slowest average pace of the month. At least I was able to rebound from it quickly.
So, yeah, that was November, finally getting the monkey off my back, then slowly working my way back. The recovery has gone fairly well so far, and hopefully I’ll be able to finish 2018 strong. (Or at least with a run that ends in .18.)