End Of Another Year

Well, 2009 is almost over. It’s been an exciting year with many highlights and just one notable lowlight that came towards the end of July as I [foolishly] attempted 3 x 5k’s in one day. The end result was a second metatarsal stress fracture which meant spending six weeks of the summer in an aircast boot.

Despite a month and a half of zero running, I did, however, manage to salvage something from 2009 and finished off the year with two sub-3:00 marathons (Richmond and the Cayman Islands) and a sub-4:00 at the inaugural Seashore Nature Trail 50K. Of course the highlight of 2009 was winning the Cayman Islands Marathon earlier this month. I don’t think I’ll ever top that as a running experience. Simply tremendous!

I narrowly missed my goal of running 50 races in 2009; coming up three short, but with a personal record of 47 in a calendar year. I guess I could have traveled a bit to make up the 50, but by the end of the year, my goals had shifted somewhat.

Total running miles for 2009 came out at 2147 — about 260 short of my 2008 total — but not a bad effort considering the forced six weeks off. I rode about 800 miles; not surprisingly most of them served as cross training during my running layoff.

I also managed to set three lifetime PRs, which considering I’m on the wrong side of 40 is quite an achievement (even if I do say so myself). For the record, the PRs came in the 20k (1:16:19), half marathon (1:18:39) and 50k (3:56:40). I’m still hungry to get faster and will be looking once again to break 17 minutes in a 5k, 60 minutes in a 10 Miler and 2:51:00 in a marathon. Maybe the days of lifetime bests are behind me, but I’ll still have fun trying to eek out one or two more.

2009 was also a bit of an experimental year. I dipped my toes into the world of Newton Running and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Their “Science of Motion” makes a lot of sense and the guys at Newton really have a lot going for them. Another departure from the norm was a brief foray into the minimalistic world of Vibram Five Fingers which I first read about in the classic Born To Run by Chris McDougall. I definitely plan to further explore both these avenues in the coming year.

2010 should be another exciting year. In addition to the early season Tidewater Striders Distance Series and Mud In Your Eye XC Series, I’m spreading my wings a little and will attempt another ultra towards the end of March — the HAT Run 50K in Susquehanna State Park, Maryland. One month later I’ll be heading to Boston for my 2nd running of the “world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon”. If training goes well over the next 3 or 4 months I’ll be looking to get close to my marathon best. Most people will tell you Boston is not the perfect PR venue, but with a quality field and a smart race plan, who knows what can happen on the day.

Before I end this post, I should also mention the excellent social training log I’ve been using this year; DailyMile has served not only as an excellent training log, but a great motivational and inspirational tool due to the numerous friendships that have developed. If you’re looking for an extra dimension to your training, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.

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