Happy New Year (2009 recap)

Hey devoted readers. Sorry for the lack of posts over the past two weeks. There wasn't anything terribly exciting going on and with the holidays approaching I needed a blog break. I feel ready to drop some informative posts in 2010!

Here is what the last two weeks looked like. I ran a 5 mile easy run on the 20th after the Jingle bell Jog and averaged about 8:00 pace. I was sore from pushing the boys in that jogger. I didn't run again until Christmas eve where I got in a 6 mile run averaging closer to 7:30 but started to have some posterior medial left knee pain again. After Christmas we went to Las Vegas and Andi and I got in two runs together, a 6 mile run on the 27th and an 8 mile run on the 29th. Both runs we averaged around 8 min pace and my left knee pain continued. It seemed to lessen after about 2-3 miles but was sore for a day afterward. Tuesday the 29th was my first run over an hour since CIM.

While we were in Las Vegas we got Andi hooked up with some triathlon gear at a store that was going out of business. We met my good friend Ron there and he helped us pick out some bike shorts, tri shorts and top, and a tri-suit (wet suit). She would like to do a sprint distance in the spring and an olympic distance in the fall. Now all she needs is a bike. If anyone hears about a good deal on bikes let us know.

When I returned to work on Wednesday I realized that I was 9 miles shy of 1400 for the year so Thursday morning I got up early and struggled through a 7 mile run (knee pain worse). Then in the afternoon I ran from my house up to M-8 and 67th to meet Clay and Zac who was doing a hill workout up there. The knee felt better in the after noon, and with two miles each way, I ended the year at 1402 (not even close to Dale's 2182).

My goal for 2009 was to run 1500 miles, so I came up a little short, but considering how the year started I am pleased with the amount that I was able to do. In the first four months of the year we bought a house and moved so there was less time to train. I never hit 100 miles for a month until May! I also dealt with some calf cramping in April that held me back. After that there was great consistency in my training which eventually lead to a marathon PR in December. December was a great month for recovery and time off during the holidays and it was also my lowest mileage month with 68 (my highest month was October with 170). 1402 miles is almost exactly the distance from my house to Tulsa, Oklahoma or Fort Worth, Texas. It is also almost exactly the distance from Mexico to Canada taking Interstate 5 the whole way!

Here are my other goals set last January and how they panned out:
To run a 4:55 mile (Never even attempted).
To run sub 18 min 5k at Palmdale Turkey Trot (race was canceled but won't have attempted anyway).
To run 2:55 at CIM (I was on pace for 22 miles but still finished with a PR 2:57:11).
To run 30 miles on my 30th birthday (goal met).

There were plenty of highlights this year. The year started off with an aqueduct half marathon time trial that I paced Dale to a then PR of 1:37:52 (at year's end his half PR is now 1:34:17). I also did an aqueduct half marathon tempo run and time trial with Dan on October 24th in 1:31:04.

Other highlights included an aqueduct 10k time trial on August 19th where I was paced by Clay on the bike. I ran 37:33 which predicts a 2:56 marathon on McMillan's Calculator (pretty close eh?).

Including marathons and my 30 mile birthday run I completed 7 runs of at least 20 miles this year (that has to be a personal best).

Standout races included the Orange County Half Marathon in May, which I didn't even know if I could run due to my calf injury, but I was able to run hard the second half and finish in 1:27:22.

My 30 mile birthday run in July was one of the biggest highlights with 28 friends coming out to run portions with me! It was an amazing day and I want to thank everyone again who came out to participate. I want to especially thank my wife Andi for planning the whole event, you are the best and I love you.

The year ended with two marathons, the first being Twin Cities in October. This was Andi's first marathon since giving birth to our two boys and she was very consistent with the four month marathon build up that I wrote for her. Unfortunately we came up a little short of our goal of 3:45 but we had a lot of fun. We ended up just squeaking under 3:50 with a time of 3:49:58!

The California International Marathon in December had been in the back of my mind since June and besides a few small bumps in the road I had a great 6 months of training leading up to the race. The base mileage for my 30 miler, followed by the Twin Cities Marathon training allowed me to do some great key workouts in October and November. The last two months included everything from a 23 mile long run (well under 8:00 pace) and Yasso 800s averaging 2:49! I also had a great 5x1600 workout with short rest on November 3. All this training ended with a PR at CIM by nearly a minute and a half. It was a great way to end the year.

2009 also was a return to running for my mom who started back to train for my birthday run. She has continued to train consistently and is now up to 45 minutes on the hills around her house. I am proud of her. Now we just have to find a good 5k for her to run in 2010.

Andi's best performance was at the Newhall Independence Day 5k where, on little training, she ran 21:19! She also ran the Big Bear Half Marathon which she ran as a work out and negative split in 1:57:27.

I took today off (too bad because the weather was unreal). I plan on going out this weekend to ease back into a consistent program again. I will address 2010 plans and goal setting for my next post.

For now, Happy New Year! 2010 should be another great year for running! I look forward to following all of my friends (Clay, Zac, Dale, Chuck, Ron, Dan, Michael and Mark) on their running journey in the new year. Thanks for all of your comments, keep 'em coming.