New High Score, if Running was like a Video Game

If running miles were a video game, in 2011 I hit a new high score. And with the fact that my husband makes video games for a living, it shouldn't be considered odd that I occasionally find myself thinking in those terms. Further helped my the fact that last night was the Launch Party for their newest game, "Duke Nukem Forever".

From Saturday's North Texas Runners monthly club run
at the beautiful Oak Point Nature Preserve

Background
LEVEL 1 - still learning the moves on the video game controller: In 2009, healthy and strong, I ran 8 half marathons and ran a high at that time of 457.2 miles over the whole year.

LEVEL 2 - persistence, despite the poison that continues to eat away at my HP (health points): In 2010, I spent most of the year pregnant or recovering from a C-section. I had an incredibly strong January and February as I knew I planned to have my second child; then I recovered from exhaustion in the first trimester to come back and spend another few months running as many miles as my pregnant booty could muster. I finished 2010 with 426.4 miles actually run, but 471.6 miles if I included elliptical miles since I would use that at times while pregnant in place of runs.

2011 Is Going Strong
LEVEL 3 - The princess may not be in this castle, but I'm defeating boss monster after boss monster to get to those end credits: 5 1/2 months into 2011, and my "new high score" has been reached with 476.9 running miles for year-to-date!

With marathon training, it's definitely easier to have a higher mileage total for the year. But I'm still always in awe of the miles I've seen some friends attain. 1500 miles in a year... 2000... a few people with routine 80-100 miles run in a WEEK. Those people are amazing in their commitment to the sport.

Goal for 2011
I don't know how many levels are in this game, but I'm collecting 1-UPs like a madman, and I have infinite lives! Do I have a goal number of miles for 2011? No, not really. I do have races planned for after my first marathon at the San Francisco Marathon July 31, so I'm guessing it's very likely I could be one of those people who hits 1000 miles in a year. Even two years ago, I would have thought that was such a crazy high number. But now, even with my time constraints of how long a mile takes at my pace and having two small children, it feels realistic... and that makes me catch my breath for a second, with a smile on my lips!