What a year! I hit PRs in the 5k, 10k, 15k, 13.1 and 26.2 distances. I also had my first race without a PR. I learned a lot about training, about racing and about injury recovery. I met some great people and amazing athletes on dailymile and twitter. I’ll admit the last few months have been extremely difficult, but I’m hoping for a strong recovery and I’ll be back in 2010. I still have a lot to learn and I still think I have some PRs ahead of me. Here’s a recap of my 2009 mileage and races:
January: 276 miles
February: 231 miles
- Last Chance for Boston Half Marathon – 1:26:37 (4 min PR) - Interesting race: (1) Middle of February in Ohio…temps were upper 20′s to start and lower 30′s to finish, (2) the course is a one-mile loop…yes, a one-mile loop and (3) the race has a 5k, 10k, half and full on the same course. I wasn’t sure what to expect with the race, as I was using it as a tune-up for my full marathon in April. It was difficult to determine what place you were in during the race because it was a one-mile loop and the different races meant people were ending at different times and people were running a large variety of paces. Around mile 12, I started to pass someone who I knew was running a pretty good pace. We chatted for a minute or two and he said he was running the half, but wasn’t feeling great. At this point, I kicked it in, but I didn’t realize I was now leading the half marathon. There was only a two second gap between myself, 2nd place and 3rd place with a mile to go. I was able to run a 6:13 last mile to win by 10 seconds. My first overall win…very exciting!
March: 269 miles
- Mercy Heart Mini Marathon 15k – 1:00:43 (1 min PR) – Probably the hilliest course you could find for a 15k. This year also had some of the worst weather with very cold temps and strong gusts of wind. I was hoping to break an hour, but considering the course and the weather, I was happy with the result.
April: 156 miles
- Boston Marathon 26.2 – 3:09:39 – Everything I expected and more. It’s Boston. I could write for days about the race. I was happy to BQ with a sub-3:10 in Boston, but it was my first race that I didn’t set a PR and it was my worst paced race. Even with that said, it was Boston and I left with a huge smile on my face.
May: 165 miles
- EyeRun 10k – 40:40 (PR) – It was my first 10k and I had a goal of sub-40. I ran the majority of the race in 3rd place with 2nd place too far ahead and 4th place too far back. This made it difficult for me to push my pace. I wasn’t happy with the time, but I ended up with 3rd place overall.
- Bashful Ostrich 5k – 18:46 (40 sec PR) – This race is held on Memorial Day, which means a lot of grillouts on Saturday and Sunday before Monday’s race. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a time standpoint, but there are a lot of runners in the race and I knew there would be some great competition. I finished in the top-15 in 2008, which has a special top-15 plaque, so I was hoping to have a chance for the same result. About two miles into the race, I passed a group of high school runners and I heard them say they couldn’t let another runner pass them. This told me I was now in the top-15. I was able to pick off some more runners and finished in 9th place overall. Very happy with my time.
June: 215 miles
- Parkinsons 5k – 18:25 (21 sec PR) – This race was hosted by a local running store, which is the same store I run with every other weekend. This meant I would know a lot of the runners and there would be a LOT of pride on the line. Basically, there would be four of us from the store that would be pushing each other. There were three other runners that were very fast (15:50 was the winning time). Through two miles, I was in 3rd out of the store group. I didn’t give up and ended up passing one around mile 2.3 and passed the other around mile 2.9. I ended up coming in 4th overall and 1st in the store group. I was very happy with my time, as I dropped 21 seconds off my previous PR from two weeks prior and it was a 61 second improvement over my PR from last year.
July: 246 miles
- Building Blocks for Kids 5k – 18:43 – This was on a very similar course to the Parkinson’s 5k with a very small adjustment to the actual course. However, the weather was absolutely horrible. At the gun, it started to down pour. I ran the first mile with one eye shut because the rain was coming down so hard. Some fast runners in this race (winning time of 15:57), but my time was good enough for 4th overall.
August: 261 miles
- Chicago Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon – 1:24:31 (2 min PR) – This was a last-minute decision, as the race had been sold out for months. However, I read a tweet by PF Changs and Runners World about a free entry being available. PF Changs was kind enough to give me the entry, so my family made a weekend trip to Chicago. I had a little incentive to run a strong race, as someone on twitter gave me a predicted time of 1:30 and a local runner gave me a prediction of 1:28. How was that incentive? Because my goal was sub-1:25. That was the time that I told myself I needed to give me a chance at sub-3:00 in my September 26.2. I felt absolutely great throughout the race, but decided to stay with the 1:25 pace group through mile 12. At that point, I knew my goal was safe and I improved my pace on mile 13 to shave off some more time. Ended up with 1:24:31 to finish in 97th place out of 14,000+ runners. Kara Goucher ran this race and it was pretty cool being in the same starting corral as Kara.
- Sprit of Columbus Half Marathon Relay – 6.55 @ 6:08 – I ran this race with a couple friends, so we made two relay teams of two members each. I ran the first leg of my team and ran my 6.55 miles at a 6:08 pace. I was very happy with my pace and gave me some more confidence going into my 26.2 in September.
September: 182 miles
- Air Force Marathon 26.2 – 2:59:59 (7 min PR) – Sub-3. It was everything I worked for during the last year. Tough conditions from a personal standpoint coming into the race. My one yr old daughter had to be rushed to ICU six days before the marathon. My wife and I were by her side in ICU for the next four days. I was mentally and physically exhausted from the hospital visit and I had dropped around 6 lbs in those few days. She recovered well and the day before the marathon, I decided I would run the race. The race went exactly as planned with my best pacing ever. The full race report is here, but here are my splits: 6:57 / 6:53 / 6:40 / 6:48 / 6:48 / 6:53 / 6:54 / 6:51 / 6:49 / 6:48 / 6:51 / 6:49 / 6:48 / 6:50 / 6:49 / 6:52 / 6:49 / 6:49 / 6:52 / 6:49 / 6:49 / 6:51 / 6:53 / 6:57 / 6:51 / 6:50 / 6:15. Unfortunately, as I was reaching for the finish line to break three hours, I injured my left hamstring. And, with that, my mileage greatly decreases as I approach the end of the year and start the recovery process.
October: 197 miles
November: 62 miles
December: ??
Total: 2,260 (through the end of November)
Advertisement
