Oh boy, did this one come late! I almost put it with the February one. It would have probably only bugged one person…me because it would have been a little too much procrastinating. A few weeks late, no problem. A whole month late, woah. That’s way below average for this runner-blogger.

So how did January look? Well, we had some pretty ambitious goals set this year. We were hoping to run over 1500 miles, set many personal records, make jokes that actually made readers laugh, and more. Let’s see the good, the streak, and the broken.

Week 1: 20.1 Miles – 973 feet

A running streak is born! I kicked off the year unintentionally with a run streak and the streak carried on through the first week. I began on New Year’s Eve and continued running one mile a day until my body decided it would need some rest.

My first run of the year was a solid 1.5 miles for a 15 minute run. I was still recovering the winter marathon so it was nice and steady build up for my legs. My favorite run the first week was getting in some hill training. I ran up the ‘Hill of Death’ to get in over 600 feet of elevation. Surprisingly, it felt pretty good! The longest run of the week was about 4 miles and most of my runs were around the 2 mile mark with easy peasy running. The shins started to feel the pain of the streak and it had been a long time since I went over a week without a break. Let’s see what ended up happening!

Week 2: 17.1 Miles – 665 feet

Another week in the books and a bit less elevation gain this week. What’s the reason? Busy work week. Janel and I were headed to Ireland in February so I was trying to put in a lot of work beforehand. I realized at this point I needed to step up my mileage and elevation though in order to hit my running goals. My running streak hit two weeks at this point which was fun!

Week 3: 30 Miles -2,756 feet

The first 30 mile week accomplished! As well as the first big elevation week. I got in the first 10K of the year and I remember that one being a pretty windy day. My overall pace was about 8:40 per mile and I’m sure my fastest split was whenever the wind was at my back.

I had a couple runs where I topped 1,000 feet of elevation in one go and almost got to 1K in another run. I was still surprised that the hills weren’t feeling too bad to start the year. I also got in some stair climber workouts but I did not feel super good during that exercise…

Week 4: 19 Miles – 1,024 feet

Back down in mileage and elevation, uh oh! My average of 30 miles of running per week did not last long. On the bright side, I managed to get in some first trail running of the year. Our local hiking trail is only about 1.5 miles from our home so I was able to get there in put in some easy miles with the deer. Later this week, I had planned to do my first big long run of about 8-9 miles. Well, earlier that day, bad news hit for my running. I was working with a student and banged my toe into a couch. BANG! Broken toe. I would decide to diagnose this later. It seems like February wouldn’t be a high mileage month…

Overall: 88.6 Miles and 5,416 feet of elevation gain.

A couple runs to round out the month (2.4 miles between the runs) and a monthly total of 88.6 miles and 5,416 feet of elevation gained. (550 feet walked on the stairclimber). As for the run streak, it ended with a bang! Literally breaking my toe during work to conclude our run streak. So long middle toe. No worker’s compensation unfortunately since I own my small business…:(

Compared to last year’s January, I was ahead of 2025 Paul. With the broken toe and no running scheduled for February, I would be behind. I averaged over 20 miles a week of running and about 1200 feet of elevation gain so I will need to step up my game once I am back.

Anyways, hope you all have had better luck with your toes and running! Happy February and enjoy the miles!