2009 Recap

2100 miles for the year. Not too shabby, but nowhere near what I thought I'd be running. Last year I ran 1962, and it was my first year running, so clearly I thought I'd surpass 2000 with ease, possibly even hit 3 or 4. Looking back, here were my 2009 goals (and the resulting outcomes in bold):

• First 100-miler (MMT on 5/16)  Fail.  DNS due to ITBS in the weeks leading up to the race
  
• Complete the Beast Series  Fail.  DNF at Grindstone due to AT tendinitis
• Eat healthier so as to be better prepared for above mentioned races Kinda held up this one, moreso towards the end of the year but not as much in the beginning
  
• Become more flexible to prevent annoying little running injuries  Fail.  A visit to the PT recently suggested that THIS is what might be causing all my injuries.
  
• Skydive more, or at least do more fun jumping (as opposed to work jumping)  Fail.  Did about 60 jumps (but no working jumps so I guess that's a plus?)
• Blog more often (because let's be honest, I'm an engineer not a writer, so it's hard to sit down and type willingly)  Fail again.
  

Well looks like I had a successful year, huh?  1/2 out of 6 ain't too bad!  In all seriousness, it was somewhat of a bummer year for accomplishing pre-specified goals, but I have to say I definitely had my good share of races.  I started the year off with a bang, running a 4:10 PR at Holiday Lake 50k.  That's when injury hit, but I recovered (not in time for MMT sadly) and had a good summer crewing at Badwater and running my first 100k out in Oregon at Where's Waldo.  Despite my DNF at Grindstone, I'm proud that I was able to hold 9th place and be on pace for a sub-24 difficult 100 miler with only 15 miles to go.  In the past month or so I've started doing more strength-training, cross-training, and I've started eating a paleolithic diet (which is anti-inflammatory among other things), all of which should greatly help my 2010 running.

So what does 2010 have in store?  Well, the exact same thing as 2009.  Just copy and paste those exact same 2009 goals (though the amount of skydiving will probably stay the same, but it's a nice thought).  I really think I can redeem myself this coming year.  2009 was my first full year of ultrarunning, and although I was able to get my run training up to snuff, I was lacking in the associated strength, flexibility and nutrition areas.  I think I've got it figured out now, but come back in a year and we'll see! 

Happy 2010 everyone.  Stay healthy!