2009 Year In Review

This is my second annual “Year In Review” post. In last year’s YIR post not only did I revisit the events of 2008, but I also set some goals for 2009. This year in addition to reviewing what I did in 2009 I’ll need to look at how what I did compared with what I said I was going to do. 2008 was a banner year for me so I set some lofty goals for myself in 2009. The first goal on the list was “run when I can and have fun doing it”. A little vague but that just makes it easier to fudge the results. I would say I did not meet that goal, but went above and beyond that goal. I competed in a record 23 events in 2009. Did I have fun? You bet I did.

2009 started out well enough with a PR at Resolution-Revolution, but in March I began having some issues. While running the Sam Costa I pulled my left calf at mile 9. My pace slowed a little, but I managed to hang on for a half marathon PR. I thought the calf was healed, but then it flared up again at the Mini. This time I was smart enough to ease off the pace and not totally trash my calf which was good because the following weekend I was going to need my calf at the Dances With Dirt 50k. I guess a good romp through the mud and hills of Brown County is all my calf needed, because it did not bother me again the rest of the year.

My next goal was to do a sprint triathlon. I actually started prepping for this in December when I dusted the cob webs off my 1991 Specialized Allez and took it in to the shop for some badly needed, long overdue preventive maintenance. I bought that bike back in 1992 with the intention of doing a triathlon. Good intention, poor execution. In January I was making regular visits to the Avon Intermediate School Pool. One day in January one of my friends asked me to do him a favor. He wanted me to agree to do a triathlon with him, he had never done one either. This was his lucky day because I was already planning to do just that. Well, then the bottom fell out, my job was eliminated on February 3^rd. Making plans for summer triathlons suddenly wasn’t a top priority. Fast forward to June, I was still looking for a job, but my economic situation wasn’t as dire as I feared it would have been. I again started thinking about the Indy Sprint Tri at Eagle Creek on July 18^th. I only had a few weeks to prepare. I started riding my bike. I went to the pool and tried to swim 500 meters non-stop. I made it. Now confident I could finish the swim; I signed up. Doing that triathlon was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It blew the needle off the fun meter. I was hooked. I almost immediately signed up for the August event. I shifted my focus from just running to riding and swimming. The second tri was even more fun than the first one. My son did this one with me. We even crossed the finish line side by side. I will never forget hearing Don Carr say, “It’s the Haights from Avon, Jeff and Konrad”. It was awesome. I managed to squeeze in a third tri in September. For this one the swim was in a pool. I can’t wait for next summer. The other day while running the snow covered trails along the bluffs overlooking Eagle Creek Reservoir I was day dreaming about swimming in that lake.

 
The last goal didn’t turn out so well. This goal was to run a 100 mile trail run. I guess I could say this goal fell victim to the economy, but the truth is more like I just lost interest in doing it. Whatever the reason even now I don’t have a burning desire to do a 100 miler. Maybe some day, but no immediate plans.

As I stated earlier, I did 23 events in 2009. Five of those events were 50k trail runs. Actually one of those was supposed to be a 50 miler, but I DNF’ed at 34 miles. I only ran one marathon, that being Tecumseh. If you are only going to run one marathon, Tecumseh should be the one. I ran three half marathons, setting a half mary PR at the Sam Costa in March, I love that race. I also PR’ed the 9 miles at Resolution-Revolution, I think that course is a little short of 9 miles, but still there is no better way to ring in the New Year. I also set a 15k trail PR at the DINO race at Ft Harrison. Lot’s of highlights during the year, the triathlons, running the Indy Half with my son, priceless. Total miles for the year was down a bit from last year, 1056 miles so far I’ll probably squeeze in one more run. Of course this year in addition to the running miles I managed to work in over 40,000 meters in the pool and more than 300 miles on my bike.

So, what’s coming up in 2010? Good question. As always, run when I can and have fun doing it. I will definitely do some sprint triathlons this summer and I definitely want to up the ante and do an Olympic distance or half Ironman. I’ll need to spend even more time in the pool and in the saddle to make that happen. I thought I might do fewer events this year and focus more on training, but that thought flew out the window when Brooks unveiled the 2010 I.D. Race Series. The more races I run the more points I get, the better my chances of winning prizes. Top prize, not that I have any chance of winning it, is travel, hotel, and entry to one of the Rock and Roll marathons. Looks like rather than running fewer events this year I’ll be trying to beat last year’s record of 23. The only other goal I have is to run a spring road marathon and try to qualify for Boston. I don’t want to actually run Boston, but I would like to qualify for it.

As always, make the New Year a happy one! See you at the races!