Random Facts Friday: 2011 Facts

To finish off 2011, here are some not-so-random Friday facts about the year.

1. I ran five 5Ks, two 8Ks, three 10Ks, three half marathons and one marathon.

Veteran's Day 10K

2. Per the above, I ran 14 races total.

3. Believe it or not, I swam exactly 26.2 miles this year, completely unintentionally. I just looked at my swim log, and boom! Right in front of me was the 26.2!

4. I spent 88 hours pool running this year.

5. The race performance I am most proud of this year is the Veteran's Day 10K with a time of 45:19. The 10K has historically been my hardest distance to run well and I finally did it.

6. I spent all of February and March recovering from 3 stress fractures in my tibiae.

7. My biggest lesson learned this year is that higher mileage doesn't necessarily equal faster running.

8. My top three running items purchased are my Saucony PE Revival shorts, my CW-X capris, and my CEP compression sleeves.

9. My worst race performance was ironically the race I trained the hardest for-- the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon.

10. I ran 70.7 tempo miles in 2011, which was 5.4% of my overall training mileage. I ran 43.8 tempo miles in 2010, which was 2.0% of my overall training mileage.

Alexandria Half Marathon

11. My average training pace this year was 8:49. Coincidentally my PR marathon pace from over three years ago is also 8:49.

12. The hottest race I ran was the Lawyers Have Heart 5K, which was supposed to be a 10K, but got downgraded on race morning due to the heat. A close second was the Alexandria Festival Half marathon.

13. In addition to my stress fractures, I also dealt with hip bursitis, early signs of peroneal tendonitis, and a calf strain.

14. I met a ton of cool people through running this year. And I started blogging more.

15. I won three age group awards: 1st AG at the Patriot's Cup 8K, 2nd AG at the Ringing In Hope 10K, 2nd AG at the Run Geek Run 8K.

16. I think I experienced my first-ever official "overtraining" after the Turkey Trot. I recently read a description of technical overtraining symptoms, and I had most of them. It took me nearly three weeks to get my energy back.

17. I do not have any running goals for 2012 other than to run smart and stay healthy.

Random Facts Friday

Lately my blog has been reading like a medical journal and my posts about running have been quite technical. To break things up a bit, I've decided to participate in the "Random Facts Friday" trend, where you post little known facts about yourself that may or may not relate to running. I've learned some interesting facts about my friend Katie and others so I decided it would be fun to think about my own randomness.

11 Random Facts About Elizabeth 

Salt Bagels Ready to Eat!

1. I think a bagel is ruined when it is sliced and/or toasted. The only way to eat a bagel is warm (either freshly baked or re-heated in the microwave) and then eaten in large chunks. The wholesome goodness of a bagel is lost when it's cut in half. I'm extremely picky about my bagels-- I detest Einsten Bros, and I absolutely adore Bagel Buddies in Fair Lakes.

2. My obsession with zebras originates from when I was 7 years old and saw some zebras at the Philadelphia Zoo. I was amazed at how fantastic these animals were and have loved them ever since. My zebra collection is quite impressive.

3. I am right-handed but left-everything else. I shoot pool with my left hand. I cut meat with my left hand. As a child, I could only do cartwheels on the left side.

4. As part of my job, I send out blast emails about manufacturing quality control to 50,000+ people. Inevitably, a few people unsubscribe each time.

Playing my piano.

5. I can play the piano by ear. It usually takes about 5-10 minutes to get a song where I want it to be, but I can almost always translate a song to the piano.My latest accomplishment is "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5.

6. I've never been "put under" with general anesthesia. I was awake when my 4 wisdom teeth were removed and during gum surgery. Thankfully, I haven't had any other surgeries.

7. My greatest fear is bugs. Specifically roaches. I would stop running for three full months in exchange for a guarantee that I would never see a bug in my house or at my office, or have a bug crawl on me. Would I stop running for six months? I don't know. I really do hate bugs.

8. My body has a very rigid clock. If I don't fall asleep between 8:00-10:00pm it will be very difficult for me to fall asleep, and I will likely have a restless night and wake up at 4:00am or earlier. I only stay up after 10:00 if I absolutely have to and my ideal bedtime is 9:00. Before I met my husband, my average bedtime was 8:00.

The playcount totally doesn't reflect my preferences.

9. I like to keep close watch on the stats of my iTunes music library. My computer got a virus about a year ago and all my data was lost and couldn't be retrieved. I'm working on re-building my library, although the current playcount doesn't reflect the songs I was obsessed with in 2006, 2007, etc. My iTunes library has 2,596 songs-- enough for 7.3 straight days of music.

10. To go along with number 9, I used to be obsessed with music countdowns on the radio and would write down all the songs as they were played and keep log books. I would love to predict the song rankings. This was when I was a teenager-- now there's the Internet.

11. I lack a natural maternal instinct. I do not feel at all natural holding babies and I'm actually scared I will drop them or hurt them. I'd like to think that if I had my own baby, I would get comfortable really quickly. But as for now, I'm very awkward with babies and small children.