Year in Review – 2014 Running by the Numbers

Two weeks until NYE! Last week I shared a Year in Review – 2014 Goals. It has been fun reading other retrospectives, 2015 race schedules, and goals for the New Year. Today I am going to share my Year in Review – 2014 Running by the Numbers (here is my 2013 version).

I’ve been looking forward to this post for the past couple of weeks, it is no surprise that I like numbers, looking at trends/patterns, and analyzing this information. While I use Athlinks to save my race history (I wish and hope they add an export feature – if there is someone do tell me), I also keep an Excel spreadsheet of my races/times. Unfortunately my laptop died this past fall and I lost my original spreadsheet with all my formulas/coding/graphs (and I did not back it up – total fail). Luckily I was able to rebuild a simple one.

Running by the Numbers

Like last year’s post, I intend to keep this analysis basic and simple. I wanted to include some additional stats/numbers, but due to the above rebuild I will work on that for next year.

Number of Races

I surprised myself that I will end the year with 25 races (one left this weekend). Next year I think that number will be a little less.

Like most people, spring and fall were race filled.

Number of Races by Distance

In eleven years of running, 31% of races I’ve participated in have been half marathons, and 46% have been in distances 10 miles or greater (I did not include the 1 x relay in that percentage).

This is the number of races by distance for 2014. Like the above graph, I do prefer longer distances. I did make an effort to participate in more shorter distances this year. I hope to add a tri or two for next year (hint hint for 2015 goals).

Average Pace

Average pace for an eleven year period. These numbers do mix my average pace across different distances – this year I was hoping to segment them, but I have to rebuild that page. It is exciting to see the improvement from 2013 to 2014 (I do have more shorter distances this year vs. last year).

Here is my average pace by month for 2014. I ran one race in July (a 5K and a PR) which explains the drop in pace.

Personal Records

Happy to see PRs in all the distances this year. Looking forward to what is in store for 2015! This will help me shape some of my time goals for next year. Now on to more fun year in review superlatives:

Furthest Race Traveled

1,000+ miles for the Miami Half Marathon in Miami, FL Part 1, Part 2

Shortest Race Traveled

1.7 miles for the Pacers’ St. Patrick’s Day 8K, SOME Trot for Hunger 5K , and the Jingle All the Way 5K

States/Cities Run

VA, FL, DC, PA, MA, NY, MD

Most Scenic Race

The beautiful Wineglass Half Marathon in Corning, New York Part 1, Part 2 . Close runner up would be the New York City Marathon (it all depends how you define scenic 🙂 )