2009 in Races.

I'll start my year-end recap today regarding 2009. It was, in many ways, a difficult year for reasons I haven't really figured out. It brought layoffs and many difficulties at work - along with some interesting scientific advances. It was the beginning of a new presidential administration - yet a lot of that hope seems to have faded. My wife went back to work - also a mixed bag since my kids have longer daycare hours. Yet having said that the kids themselves seem to be adjusting great.

And since sports must always imitate life - my running seems to have mirrored life this year: I technically set an amazing three Personal Records at 3 distances: 5K, 10K and Marathon - yet for some reason - none of them were very satisfying. For starters the 5K was run after relatively little training - almost no tempo/speed work and nothing too long. I'm glad for it - but it was really nothing more than a pleasant surprise. The 10K I did train for - and hard. It turned out to be hilly and hot - and I only PR'd because it's the first one I've done in the last 20 years. The marathon PR was also only because it was the first. Although the experience was awesome - I know I can do better.

So since I'm feeling a bit negative today I'll run through my bottom 3 races of the year. 2009's triumvirate of suck:

3. The third worst race has to be the Misquamicut beach run. I normally love this race - but this year was run mostly on a beach resembling quick sand due to a recent off-shore hurricane; and the awful conditions reflected in my pace [7:35 over 3 miles]. Hopefully this'll get back to rocking in 2010.

2. JP Morgan Qualifier. I ran this race sick and sucked bigtime: 7:16 pace, 3.5 miles. To make it worse, the race championship was canceled for the first time since anyone can remember - melted down like the rest of the banking industry. Since I only run the hot/crowded qualifier for a chance to run in the wonderful fall championship - this made the whole experience worse.

1. Washington Trail 10K. I'll never run this again. Hot and hilly - I finished at a 7:33 pace after training all spring for this suckfest. Fortunately, they get a ton of community support - so they'll be better off without me.

Not all was bad this year - I'll review my favorite races of 2009 and start thinking about goals for 2010 in my next post.