- Probably for the first time EVER, I ran the entire year injury-free. It's not like I took it easy, running my first race on Jan 1st, 2008 and my last race on Dec 28th, 2008. Having no data to back up my theory, I credit snowshoe racing and trail racing early in the year as the main reason(s) for this.
- Ran a total of 1,811 miles for an average of 5.9 miles per run. I had a secret goal of breaking 2,000 miles but I'll take injury-free over 2000 miles any day.
- Snowshoed a total of 120.3 miles in my first year on snowshoes. Maybe it's me but the miles never got any easier. Every time out felt just as hard as the previous one.
- Competed in 16 road races, 10 trail races, 4 snowshoe races and 1 triathlon.
- 9 races were 10 miles or greater.
- Completed two 200+ mile, 12-person relays (Madison-Chicago 200 and Reach the Beach) with two different teams. Both teams finished 5th overall.
- Best performance of the year: Baystate Marathon (2:58). Ran on pace, negative splits and recovered quickly.
- Worst performance of the year: Mt Washington Road Race (1:30). Started off slow, got slower, finished going backwards I think. For the first time ever I vowed never to run this stupid uphill race again. 7 months later I'm still on the fence.
- Best overall trail race: Soapstone Mountain 24k. I LOVED this course (dirt roads, single track, hills, river running, mud).
- Hardest trail race: Seven Sisters 12M (ugh) I was warned not to run this on a rainy day. Now I know why.
- PR'd in the half marathon (1:23) and marathon (2:58).
Monday, January 5, 2009
A Quick 2008 Recap
Ok, I won't go into excruciating details of what I accomplished in 2008 (hence the title 'quick 2008 recap') but I will summarize what I consider to be the highlights (and sometimes lowlights) and what I came away with in 2008:
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5 comments:
Steve...I have MANY comments for you here...
First: you ran 31 races!!! That's awesome. I love it when I'm not the only one racing all the time :)...
Second: Awesome job at Baystate!!! negative splits is something I did NOT do. 1:17 and then 1:27... yikes. Also, nice job on PR'ing in the half!!
Third: You absolutely NEED to do Washington again. The day of the race, I vowed never again...since the day after, I have been looking forward to round 2!
Lastly, seeing your summary makes me want to do one of my own, but I don't know if I have the patience to go through and add up everything :). I didn't start using my current log until like half way through the year and have been trying to back fill stuff...but slow goings.
Looking at your schedule (which it looks like you copy & pasted a couple times too many on the right hand side of your blog), we will be at a lot of the same races this year!!! Good stuff.
See you out there!
I LOVE to race so as long as I'm healthy I'll be out there somewhere. Not too many are goal races, most I consider as a form of speed workout (but I still want to be competitive).
Baystate was probably my best race experience ever. I love talking about this one so be careful if you bring it up with me :-)
Looking back on my own summary I noticed I didn't even mention the Jay 'Marathon'. Now that's one crazy race. It's too bad the RD decided not to bring it back in 2009.
Finally, I did notice we're scheduled for a lot of the same races..pretty cool (and I fixed the double posts, thanks!)
can you tell me about the eastern states race? i am running half at the hamptons and i have been thinking about doing the 20 mile run (it would work out training wise after the half)
ES20 is unique in that it runs through 3 states. It starts in Kittery, runs through downtown Portsmouth and then generally follows Rt 1A along the coast all the way to Salisbury, Ma. Since it's a point to point race there are two issues to think about: 1)logistics and 2)weather.
They offer a bus service to bring you to the start and back to your car, or you can arrange your own ride.
The weather 'can' be a factor to consider. The entire race is ONE direction, traveling north to south. So, if you have a headwind your day will suck and you may consider jumping into the Atlantic. Of course, if you have a tail wind you may be doing the Snoopy dance the whole way down!
The course is mostly flat and does offer a nice view. I'd recommend it if you've never done it before. Good luck!
i ran half at the hamptons last year so I am familiar with the "ocean" effect....thanks for replying.
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