2009 Year in Review

I have to say right from the start. I was happy with 2009 and what it gave me. From a running standpoint, which is the purpose of this blog, I had one of the better years I have had since my late 20's. (yes close to 10 years ago)

I had a decent fall 2008 training season and after the holidays I was working on a good base in Jan. 2009. All systems go, as they say. Until THIS happened. Not good. I haven't ran in snowshoes since. I may not. We will see how the winter goes. It took me a good 4-6 weeks of recovery, and lots of bandages and second skin, to get over that Achilles mess, but really I was able to get back on track and whipped myself into good shape going into Grandma's marathon. As a workup to that marathon I ran a half-marathon in Fargo in May and ran one of the quicker races I have in years. I ran 1:12:55. Pretty happy given the stomach problems I was having. After that race I recovered well and was ready to nail a good race at Grandma's Marathon. One major problem and one other problem sprung up on me. The major problem was the 70 F temps we had a race start. The day got worse from there. What was worse was the cool, NE winds we had on Sunday! Two years in a row with that weather pattern. The second problem, the one that gave me some trouble in Fargo gave me a harder time that day in June. Later, by process of elimination, I self-diagnosed a stomach ulcer that responded very well to cutting coffee, red-wine and red sauces out my diet along with starting some Prilosec daily. By the end of the fall I knew that combination would get me through my next marathon. That marathon was chosen to be in Sacramento in early December. Building up to this race went very well and I had some of the best training days I have ever put together. Once race day approached I was ready to hit my splits and call it a PR. We woke up to temps under 30F and by the time I finished was just shy of 40F! Yes, in California! I didn't mind though, as I was used to those temps and it produced a PR in the marathon. A PR at age 39! I will take it. 2:38:25. What a great feeling. I want to carry that momentum into 2010 and hit yet another PR in the marathon at the young age of 40! I know I can do it and am ready to tackle the challenge. I hope your 2010 is filled with stupendous running adventures and may all of your running dreams and goals be fulfilled. Here's to a year of great training and racing.

2009 Totals:

2740 Miles