2009 in Review

At the close of a year, I feel a bit of pressure to write something profound to sum up the events of 2009. But, that's not really my style. Instead:



Or, here are the highlights and lowlights by month:

January: Ran 24.75 miles at the GAC Fat Ass 50k. In hindsight, I should have run the entire 50k that day. I felt great.

February: Started the month off with a painful result at the Mid Winter 10 Mile Classic. (I hate that race.) Redeemed my soul with some nice snowmobile trail runs, and closed the month with the TMR Fat Ass hosted by Chuck and Katy.

March: Spent most of the month upping the mileage. Wrapped it up with the IBMFTYAMWSDHA Fat Ass in honor of Ian & Emma's anniversary. I ran 27 miles that day for a distance PR.

April: Starting sprinkling some speed work into my training. Had a blast, along with bacon covered donuts, at Blackstrap Heaven. Nearly died from heat stroke at the Muddy Moose in Wolfeboro, NH. Looking back, April was where the trouble began.

May: Opened the month with a tremendous bonk at the Ocho de Camden. Had a terrific trip to Acadia with Mindy, Pete and Jamie—my favorite place to run hands down. Closed the month with the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge 50k. I've never suffered so much in a single day. Looking back, I was over trained, but I'm proud at my effort.

June: In theory, I was recovering, but I was too busy looking ahead. I struggled badly up Mt. Washington...really badly. My training log reads "not race ready." In truth, I was exhausted.

July: Couple groovy trail runs, but kept dragging. Poor result at the Bradbury Scuffle.

August: Began the month with three awesome days in Baxter State Park with D. Tried to keep things mellow, including just an easy run during the Bradbury Breaker with Mindy, but my training log has a lot of "mehs" and "oks," the describe how I felt.

September: It took a near death experience at the Bradbury Bruiser for me to realize that I needed to take some time off and rest.

October: Samantha was born. Hmmm...guess which was the best month? Ever. Aside from the sleep deprivation, of course.

November: Launched a new, "run shorter races" plan, and after some rest, I starting feeling good again. I was really pleased with my results at both the Wolfe's Neck (Longer Than) 5k and the Maine Running Company Turkey Trot. Closed out the month with Blackstrap Hell, which is the mostest funnest race there is.

December: Slowly built the mileage up and added in a few tempo runs. Snowshoe ran for the first time ever...me likey.

Here are the final numbers:
Miles Run: 1118.75
Miles (Trail): 799.5
Miles (Road): 319.25

I surpassed 2008 in total miles run by about 60 miles.

In terms of race results, it wasn't an awesome year. But, what I learned from my racing was invaluable. 2009 was a good learning year, and I think I'll be successful taking those lessons learned and moving forward. Really looking forward to 2010.

In the short term, I'll be getting into snowshoe racing. Beyond that, I have a few ideas kicking around...still just kicking, though. I'm going to wait and see how the next few weeks go before I make any decisions. Either way, it should be fun...