2008 Yearr in Review

I have been looking forward to this posting for a week! Now that it's here i know it'll be a long one. Mostly because I want to put down in writing where my running's been so that I get perspective to where I want my running to go. I do plan a cross-traing workout today (will have to write a 2nd blog entry later). Interesting note: in looking back thru my traing log I see a note from mid-October that i had heal pain/possible plantar pain one day. I must've brushed it aside without enough thought because it wasn't until a full month later that I identify plantar fasciitis as set in (that was right before the Rothman 8k race).

2008: Like all us folks past the age of 4x I have to say that the year flew by too fast. I continue to kid myself that 44 is still young enough to do youthful things. Now i'm staring at turning 45 in a few weeks, and there's just no way that 45 doesn't sound olde. GD, I'm 45! Maybe the urge to run a marathon is part of a mid-life crisis? Well there could be a lot of much worse urges so thankfully i have this marathon goal.

In regards to my running last year, I can sum it up with, "eight was great." I met all my running goals for the year. I set many new PR's. I completed all 10 of the USATF races on the Mid-Atlantic Grand Prix. I increased & improved my trail running. I continued my service to the running community, and even increased that commitment. I also met tons of new runners which is part of what makes it fun. And other than my current PF pain, I am poised to reach for higher goals in 2009 (Goals will be another post).

To put '08 in perspective, i have to go back further. 2006 was a down year for my running...busy with work & low motivation. 2007 started off great, and the BSR 10 miler the first week of May was a terrific race- my best in years. Right after that I had a bad injury, a moderate quadriceps tear from a pick-up game of soccer, and I ended up taking off 3 mos. completely. I didn't cross train (mistake). I did gain weight & lose all of my fitness. When I started back running in August I could barely believe how totally out of shape i had become. The fall of '07 was base building & I decided to target the Rothman 8k (end of November) as a goal to be back in race form. I got a new PR that race which helped set up all my running for 2008.

Also in 2007, I had become active with the board for our local running club, PCVRC. In the end I took on several tasks, but one main focus was to be the USATF coordinator. Personally I decided that I would run as many of the road & trail races as possible. While at the same time I tried to build club participation for our team. This job was in response to the club's worst team performance in many years in '07. I'm proud to report 2008 was an awesome comeback year for Pike Creek - finishing 2nd on the trails & 3rd on the roads! A little communication & coordinating the efforts of individuals into a team goes a long way with a club that has tons of hard working & talented runners! I tried not to be too much of a cheer leader - and Rich took on the role of recruiting for me - and there definitely was a sense of camaraderie which developed.

2008 race highlites, new PR's for every distance greater than 5k:
February - Ugly Mudder, even the 'short course' was a challenge. Met a bunch of new folks this day & had fun hangin' & chatting over a few post race beers.
March - Snowball 5 miler, a new PR here caught me by surprise. I credit the super fast first mile to coach Jim Fischer who spoke the night before at our annual banquet. The message I took away was "sometimes you just have to go all out. Important goal races need to be run smart & evenly paced, but certainly there's some races you will run that aren't so important. Choose one of those and run like Pre would - 100% flat out racing from the gun. Try something new, mix it up, challenge yourself. You might crash hard but you just might learn something about yourself and break thru to a new high." It worked for me. First mile split was sick, but I held on and got the PR on a day when I had no expectations.
Caesar Rodney 13.1 - had a plan for a new PR. Training had begun back in December. Executed perfectly, very satisfying.
Adrenaline 5k - met up with friends new & old. Way too many crazy-fast people here! This race always makes me feel good because the start/finish is from my alma mater.
April - Ronald McDonald House 5k, every year my family and I make a donation & volunteer our time to this worthy cause. It's nice to go over to the hospital to run the race. It'd been several years since I was there, glad to return to this scenic course.
May - Broad Street 10 miler, this ranks as one of my best races all time. New PR, 6:45 pace for ten miles still sounds cool to me! Highlites remembered: carpooling up there, the subway ride, starting about 12 or 15 rows deep which for me to be that close in a race of 20,000 runners might be pushing it but it was a huge rush! Going out waayyyy too fast but not feeling tired and not slowing down! Working thru miles 7 & 8 when some fatigue did set in, then finishing fast.
Del. marathon water station - had a blast working from set-up to closing with a break inbetween to go run the Buddy 5k in Newark. Fun way to enjoy a race.
June - M8k: 8:30a.m. and then Wissahickon trail 10k: 10a.m. Zany stock car race w/"sit-down" in between two races. Very hot & humid day. I never would've finished the W10k if Rich hadn't kept dragging me along. We saw runners in the woods while driving and trying to find the start area. We started dead last a half hour after the gun and managed to pass 50 people. I was totally wiped out, took a week off from running, but loved every minute of it!
August - Half Wit 1/2, nice little trail race, very enjoyable. Even pace (slow) and hydration. 2:15 half marathon ain't too bad on those hills! Drinking a few beers afterwards, what was up with that fat-headed dog & his counterbalance? I remember that 'salmon' runner coming downhill, nasty belly flop on trail, waiting for my waterbottles - strange trip. I was bruised for weeks. Several others came back more beat up than that. Being sandwiched between two Horney Dikes - priceless (even if it wasn't the way I'd always imaged it would be! ;-P )
October - DDC 15k, this was another well executed plan for a PR. Felt very uncomfortable near the end but held on for 30 second improvement.
Radnor Red Steeplechase - very fun, it was over too fast. The horse jumps were fun, the pond-scum covered mud pits I probably could've done without. I will never forget approaching the 'tower' during warm up, CJ & I were repelled by those alien feedback blasts! We were running away over the rolling landscape hysterically. I still laugh thinking about that, "run away, run away!"
Radnor 5 mile race - winning an age group medal here counts as one of my best races ever (3rd M40-44 in race with 450 finishers).
November - Ben Franklin Bridge 10k, one of my favorites. It's a shame the lead pack went the long way this year, but of course that didn't impact me. One advantage of being a mid-pack guy! New PR.
Rothman 8k - the series of workouts that led to this PR are the most likely cause of my current PR problem. Lot's of tempo runs & hard efforts. It paid off with a repeat personal best one year to the day from the PR that started my run of great races. Was it worth the injury which has now sidelined me for 6 weeks? . . . as long as i fully recover soon then I'll say YES!

Some other data:
Total 2008 miles: 745
Peak week (Oct.): 24
zero weeks: 3 (june, july, december)
Average weekly mileage trends:
Dec.07 - March = 17 m/wk
March - June = 15 m/wk
June - August = 13 m/wk
August - Oct. = 16 m/wk
Oct.- late Nov. = 15 m/wk
December = 8 m/wk

Not everything was perfection in '08. here's a quick review of other issues that effected my running: Back pain, since my flair up in 2006 I have been very careful not to aggravate my back. A few times in '08 it bothered me, but nothing serious. Stomach ulcer, pretty much the same story. This is more of a chronic low-level problem. It's more noteworthy when I'm totally free of symptoms, but I work around it. I should do more to make this problem go away. Weight, when I work on dieting I am able to lose weight. But as soon as I stop thinking about it constantly then I slowly gain. Right now I'm gaining faster since my exercise is greatly reduced. Generally I'm fine with where I'm at, but I could always lose another 8 or 10 pounds. Knees, feet, aches & pains. I did too many miles in old shoes last year, I must change that. Whenever I spend all day on my feet my dogs are barkin'. . . so I try to avoid those situations. Money, yes this issue certainly does effect my running. Most everyone knows my income is greatly reduced now. I registered for 24 races in 2008 (didn't run two, one family commitment & the other was last race of year - skipped due to PF). Do the math with travel, shoes, apparel and it adds up to alot. But there's plenty of worse things I could be doing with $1,500/year. . . right?

Other things to note: Increased my trail running & racing... Nature hikes with my boys in the summer... Camping up in North Jersey, seeing bald eagles, milky way, canoe trips... San Diego vacation, LegoLand rocks!... running 18 mos. continuous from quad injury May '07 until plantar pain Nov.'08.

All in all it was a great year for my running - the best ever. Sometimes I wonder what my personal bests would be if I had been a running thru my 20's and/or 30's, but there's also something nice about getting faster as you get older. I'm very happy with my running. I'm looking forward to 2009 after closing the book on '08 being very satisfied with my running. More on 2009 goals next time...whew, long blog entry.