2009; a year of acronyms and more!

And so in time honored tradition this is the reflection post! At face value 2009 was a year of two halves…well that’s kind of obvious I suppose…maybe two halves of the spectrum would be a better description! Put more succinctly it was a year of acronyms, a year of DNS, PR, DNF and R&R. Either way it was not really the year of racing that I envisaged this time last year.

It all stared with my original ‘A’ race; Twin Peaks 100k in February, being cancelled due to winter storms, I switched and upped the ante with my registration for September’s Angeles Crest 100!

I had successes at a shorter distance; early in the year. I was able to reduce my 50K PR down by a total of 34 minutes with my fastest finish of 5:49:53 at PCTR Sycamore Canyon in March. April saw me return to Leona Divide to run my qualifying 50 miler for AC100, best described as a bad day in the hills, GI issues messed up the second half the race, I finished in unspectacular fashion, but I finished and that was what I needed.

Training for AC100 took me through the heat of the SoCal summer, I completed some of the longest training runs I have ever done on some of the hottest days of the summer, most went well, some not so, with me bailing out in temperatures in excess of 110f. Good friends agreed to crew and pace for AC100 and even flirting with overuse injuries I was approaching readiness as race date neared.

With three weeks to go the announcement of AC100s cancellation hit hard. I scrambled to find an alternative, and a trip to Oregon followed at the end of September to race 100 in the Hood, online friends rallied to my aid stepping up as crew and pacers travelling from Portland and Washington state. I had a superb day apart from…well you know the rest!

Two months off followed as I transitioned from crutches to air brace to ace bandage. My R&R forced me into the pool…a lot, in fact more than ever and I found myself getting faster and going further although by most standards I am still slow and short.

I was back in my runners at the end of November along with training to re-acclimate with going a bit faster than the 10-12 minute miles; a speed which months on the trail had left me with. And now I am moving, at increased speed towards my 2010 goals.

2009 was also the year of more. Looking back at my training log, this has been a big year; even with 2 months off I managed over 3000 miles in a combination of swim, bike and run. I blogged more, started a podcast which by way of a miracle aired on average every other week and I hosted the Runners Round Table several times. I made more friends both real and virtual. I took more photos…lots more! I reviewed more stuff, I was accepted as a Sugoi Product Champion and developed a great relationship with the Wilderness Running Company. New for 2010 I’ll be writing product reviews for feedthehabit.com. Finally I was selected by everymantris.com Endurance Blog for 2009; thanks to everyone who voted.

A bunch of stuff happened on the personal front as well, I don't usual write about those things; house rules, but we moved house, our eldest started a new school, started new jobs and even managed a vacation!

And so with 2010 up and running, as per my profile, let’s see if I can get a bit closer to the horizon, may this be the year that you reach your goals!