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The 2020 edition of my Excel run tracking workbook

At the end of 2016, I first posted about my run tracking Excel workbook. That first version was crude, but functional, and I used it to track every mile of my "2,016 miles in 2016" running goal. I posted a minor revision for 2017, then made some major updates for 2018. When 2019 rolled around, I made a few more changes, which I released by way of a note added to the 2018 post.

Now that 2020 is here—I know, it's a bit past January, sorry!—I've made yet more changes, and have decided it's time to replace both of the previous posts with one new all-in-one post. Here you'll find a link to the latest version of the workbook, as well as full instructions on how to use it.

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An even more improved run-tracking Excel workbook

2020 update: Everything here is out of date now, and has been replaced with my post on the 2020 version of the worksheet. In there you'll find a download link and full instructions. I'm leaving this article up only because it may be linked to from other places.

 

2019 update: I've uploaded new files (in one zip archive this time) with a few changes and fixes. These files are also set up as "master" files: The idea is you duplicate one, rename it for the current year, then use it. When the next year rolls around, repeat the process. This way, you don't have to use the macro-enabled version to delete data at each new year. Download the new files.

About two years ago, I created a basic-but-functional run tracking workbook (created in Excel). It worked well, and helped me through my 2,016 mile year in 2016. I didn't run nearly as much in 2017 (on purpose), but 2018 is upon us, and I'm going to up my mileage this year—probably not to 2,018, though!

In preparing this year's version of the workbook, I addressed a few things that bugged me about the first one: It was ugly, changing years was difficult, and it was ugly. It was also really ugly. Did I mention it was ugly? Anyway, here's what I've changed with the new version:

  • Years are now easily handled; just input the year you wish to track, and the workbook does the rest, including leap years.
  • All run data can be deleted with one button click—and yes, there's a confirmation first. (Requires macro version of workbook.)
  • The pace calculator is no longer a separate worksheet; it's integrated into the Overall worksheet.
  • It's not nearly as ugly as it was before—layout is improved, gridlines are gone, tables are cleaned up, etc.

As noted, there are two versions of the workbook—one contains a macro that can erase the run data from each monthly worksheet, the other does not contain that macro. This is something you'll only do once a year, but it's much easier with the macro version.

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A spreadsheet to track full-year running miles

2020 update: Everything here is out of date now, and has been replaced with my post on the 2020 version of the worksheet. In there you'll find a download link and full instructions. I'm leaving this article up only because it may be linked to from other places.

 
Update: I've created a much nicer run tracking workbook. Please use that version, as this one is out of date and is no longer maintained. I'm leaving it here because some of the "how to" bits are still applicable to the new version (and it's linked from that post), but I've removed the download link.

To help with my 2,016 miles in 2016 running project, I created an Excel workbook to track my progress. A couple people have asked for the workbook, so here it is…with some caveats and instructions.

First off, this was written for Excel 365, though it should work fine in recent versions of Excel. There is no Numbers version, there is no Google Sheets version…this is it. Start by downloading the worksheet and opening it in Excel.

The first thing you'll notice is that this is a really ugly workbook. The only thing I spent any time "prettifying" at all was the actual vs. goal chart, as that's the thing I tended to look at most often. The second thing you'll notice, depending on when you open the workbook, is that it appears nothing is working. The formulas will not work properly until January 1st, 2017.

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I have completed my first—and last—marathon

Last weekend, I ran (along with about 7,000 other entrants) the Portland Marathon. This was my first ever marathon, and also my last-ever marathon. I finished, in 4:12:53 (1,365th place, of 4,295 finishers), which is about how long I thought it'd take me. What follows is a brief look back at how I got to the point where I willingly chose to run 26.2 miles; you may find the information useful if you're contemplating running a marathon yourself someday.

About the race

The Portland Marathon is a great race, now in its 45th year. It's actually two races in one, as there's a half-marathon with the same start and finish points. As seen on the course map (caution: 2.8MB PDF), the two races share the same course until the 11 mile mark. At that point, the half marathon returns downtown for the finish, while the marathon heads into Northwest Portland, then loops up and over the St. John's Bridge, which would typically provide some amazing views. Of course, it was pouring rain and cloudy all day, so the views weren't quite so good for us.

The course then follows along a bluff (again, typically scenic) overlooking Portland before descending down into the east side industrial area (running right along the rail yard), then returning to downtown (over the much less scenic Broadway Bridge) and on to the finish.

Why did I decide to run a marathon?

When this year started, I had no thought of running a marathon. I have thought about it in years past, when I was running regularly—and my dad had run them when I was younger, so they intrigued me. (My dad was quite fast; his best was a 2:40, which is an insane 6:08 a mile for 26.2 miles!) But as of the start of the year, it'd been roughly four years since I was running on a regular basis, so running even one mile seemed ludicrous.

To force myself to get in shape this year, I set a pretty ridiculous goal: I decided I'd walk or run 2,016 miles in 2016. This meant averaging 5.5 miles a day, every day, for the entire year. From someone who had probably ran a total of five miles in 2015. Yea, it's a pretty insane goal.

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