2013 year end musings

The 32Km/2:48 run on 29th December being the last long run of the year  it is time for the annual year end musings. Like  last year, in 2013 also I limited myself to  a few select events : 2FMs, 1HM, a 50K and a 10K race. Update on these races against the 2013 goals set in Dec 2012 : 

1. Sub 3:38 at SCMM  in January  - 3:37:20 

2. Sub 1:43 HM at Auroville in February - met the goal but official time is 1:44 as I ended up running about 900m extra towards the end

3. Sub 45 10K at TCS world 10K in May - 46:56  - both calves injured before the race and tear in the right calf during the race

3. Register for Boston 2014- of course this is not completely under my control - got confirmation of registration on September 25th 

4. 50K/75K/100K at Bangalore Ultra - ran 50K in PB time of 4:52:22

5. In addition I ran the Airtel Hyderabad marathon in 3:46:20 - my PB for that event 

Overall I ran about 2000Kms (mostly outdoors) and cycled 2100Kms(all in the gym) The year started very well with a PB at SCMM 2013 which eventually enabled me to beat the cut-off for Boston 2014 by over a minute. This was definitely the year's highlight. The injury to the calves before TCS 10K and the strain in the left glutes/hamstring/calf disrupting  the training for SCMM 2014 have been the bummers of the year! Otherwise it has been a satisfactory year.  I would personally consider 2013 as the year of inflection in the history of running in India. The number of running events has mushroomed all over the country and during the 4Q of 2013 runners were spoilt  for choice with a race almost every weekend and sometimes multiple races in the same weekend. I plan to stay with limited races in 2014 as well. I might consider doing the 75K at Bangalore Ultra if I decide to run Comrades in May 2015. After participating for 5 straight years I will skip the Auroville marathon in 2014. I might consider running one or two fast HMs. Of course, the key events for the year are SCMM on 19th January and Boston marathon on 21st April. 

2014 Goals:

1. Sub 3:37 at SCMM - this one may get changed to a sub 4 based on how the left glutes/hamstring/calf behaves in the next 3 weeks

2. Sub 3:40 at Boston 2014

3. Sub 45m 10K in TCS world 10K 

4. Sub 3:45 at Hyderabad marathon in August

5. 75K at the Bangalore Ultra

And above all to try and avoid major down time due to injuries  and continue enjoying the running. Here's wishing all friends a fantastic, healthy, injury free year!!!!