The economy tanked but my running's improved

It was a year ago today when I was in Boston to give a talk to an audience of Wall Street analysts and economists about emerging media technologies. I went down to the fitness center in my hotel early in the day to run on the treadmill. At that point in my running routine was: walk a lot, run a little, then walk some more. I remember being excited to use a high-end treadmill with features that included a heart rate monitor and programmed courses that provided variable elevations and speeds. The treadmills also had individual television sets in front of them and, as I ran, I was horrified to see news that my NY office's next door neighbor, Lehman Brothers, had filed for the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Dow fell 504 points that day on its way to a low of 6,470. Things are still tough but at least, for now, it seems to be heading in the right direction.

Thinking about that moment put the last year into perspective for me. From a business perspective there's little good to say. In terms of fitness it's been a very good year. While the Dow dropped another 40% after that day in Boston, over the last year I've managed to reduce my weight by 20% and increase my average weekly running distance by over 75%. In 2009 I've accomplished all four of my running goals:

1. Participate in at least four local races.
2. Run a complete 10K course (individually or in a race).
3. Run three miles under 8:40/mile.
4. Incorporate one rest day into my weekly training schedule.

It's still only September and my chances of making such dramatic performance gains (compared with this last year) by next September are slim. I'm already beginning to think about 2010 running goals and I'm even thinking of adding a couple of more goals for 2009. While I don't plan (and hope not to) lose any more weight I would like to see my weekly average distance improve. I've been doing my 4:00 AM runs for a couple of months now and those runs have added at least three miles to my previous weekly numbers. I'll also need to make some changes in my training to make real progress on my pace. That will probably mean integrating tempo runs and speed work once a week into my training. I'm fine with that since the last time I ran intervals I thought that they were a lot of fun. When it's a weekly activity my perspective on that will likely change. All things being equal, for the next 12 months I'm hoping for some great running experiences and a much better outlook on Wall Street.