Just finished the last full month before the fourth anniversary of when I started running, so I guess it's a good time to take stock. MapMyRun tells me that I've done 818 runs for and 2,815 miles. 371 thousand calories. 4.6 million steps. Those numbers are a bit low because I didn't start using the site for a few months after I started running, but they're good enough. I'm well on my way to my third year of 1000km or more, in the top 7% for this year's "You vs. The Year" challenge. Over the last four months I've been on a better than 1000 mile per year pace. Wow. I've run in rain and snow, brutal heat (like today) and even more brutal cold (below zero). No matter what distractions work or family throw at me, whether I'm at home or elsewhere, I hardly ever take more than one day off at a time.

Sickness hasn't slowed me down, and in fact I feel compelled to note that I get sick a lot less than before I started running. I used to have two or three colds or flus a year that were bad enough to keep me house-bound for multiple days. Cindy and Amy still do, but those very same germs that I'm surely exposed to rarely have much effect. I've had maybe three colds in the last four years severe enough to keep me off the road for a single day. The link isn't certain, but it's hard not to wonder.

On the other hand, injury has slowed me down. Very early on I had some ankle issues, but improving strength and form took care of those. Then there was the plantar fasciitis incident, a bit over a year ago. Even now I haven't regained the pace or endurance that I lost because of that, and sometimes I despair that I ever will. But I still count myself lucky. Sure, I get a twinge in my ankle or knee once in a while, right now the back of the right thigh is bugging me a bit, but there are many people who for one reason or another can't run or do many other kinds of exercise and so I still count my blessings.

Since it's also the half-way point for the year here, I'm going to record some results from my "top ten" courses. These are actually five courses, each in two directions. I do each of them at least once every single month, both as a way to motivate myself to get out and as a way to have some variety. Besides just getting out there, they provide goals to shoot for. When I'm on the edge, knowing that I can pick up another point or two with a faster run on one of these courses can help get me out there. Actually pushing myself to sustain a faster than usual pace for an entire course, perhaps one with a steep slope to it, makes me stronger. So let's see how I'm doing.

Better than I expected, to be honest. Some of these courses are very popular; the numbers for Minuteman Bikeway don't even reflect how often some people run there. There are over 15K times recorded for each of these, including many from the local track and cross-country teams. Lincoln east (or north) bound is part of more than one race course. Then there are the one-timers who show up on Shade or Hayden. Oddly, they're far more likely to show up with fast times on downhills, rarely with slow times or uphill, so I'm pretty sure at least half of them are actually cyclists. Grrr. But still, being in the top three by time on eight out of ten, and by points in the men's bracket (the parenthesized numbers where they're different) on all ten is far better than I expected. I should at least be able to hold these positions, if not improve on them, for the whole year.