I ran four miles on the treadmill at lunch yesterday and logged them on DailyMile, checked my stats and realized that run brings me to 1,000 miles on the nose for 2013, with just shy of two weeks to go before the year is over.

Running this year has been a love/hate relationship. I completed one of my goals (to finish three races in 2013), but failed at my secret goal (to go for my longest run ever to date). I didn't go on any runs longer than 12 miles in 2013, and that one was a disaster. My races were a 10K, a 6K Mud Hero, and the 7K Lucky 7 Relay - all shorter distances than last year's BlueNose half. I feel like I got a little speedier, but lost a lot of endurance. It was an injury-free year, which, after 2012's IT band debacle, was a blessing. I struggled to get long runs in and was mostly miserable during them. Goals that used to seem attainable in terms of distance seem very daunting now. I had toyed with the idea of running a full marathon this fall, and now, that feels downright impossible. There were ups and downs is what I'm saying.

On the bright side, it was a fun year. I didn't kill myself training or force myself to run if I truly wasn't feeling it. I enjoyed each of my three races and didn't go nuts training for them. I also started doing strength training a lot more regularly, and even though I'm not breaking any records for mileage, I like feeling more balanced in terms of weight training + 'other' cardio + running.

I don't have any goals for running or fitness for 2014 yet. I would like to build up more endurance again and do another half-marathon, or longer. But I also don't enjoy my life revolving around making sure I get my long runs in. Lately the only goals I've been setting are to make it past 10:00 a.m. without eating a Christmas cookie (rarely happens). In two weeks, when I no longer fit into any of my pants, I'll have some fitness goals to share. For now? Just trying to get to the gym amidst all the merrymaking of the holiday season and not gain an obscene amount of shortbread poundage. And pretty happy with my 1,000 miles two years in a row.