End of the Year Recap 2010

Well it's that time again, where I re-live every race and curse review my performance for the year.  Overall it was a mixed bag.  This year, I racked up the hardware (usually placing 3rd in my age group).  I had several goals this year, and I only made one of them.  Here's the numbers (goal first - actual result second):

155 lbs - 168.8 lbs  No dice here.  I really put the pounds on during the holidays.  Turkey, pie and bacon continue to plague me with their delicious, delicious-ness.

5K 21:11, 6:50/mi - 21:22 6:54/mi  Ugh.  This one was a heartbreaker.  I got 3rd in my age group, but I missed my annual goal by 11 seconds.  11 SECONDS!!!

10K 43:23, 7:00/mi - 44:49, 7:13/mi  Another mixed bag on this race.  I got 3rd in my age group again (detecting a trend?), but missed my annual goal by 1:26.

13.1 1:43:00, 7:51 - 1:42:00, 7:47 - This was the only race that I reached my annual goal.  It came pretty early in the year, and I thought it boded well for the year.  Sadly it did not.

26.2 3:30:00, 8:00/mi - 4:07:03, 9:26/mi - I didn't even come close on this one.  But I was so unprepared mentally and physically for this race, I was just glad to finish.

It would truly be a bad year if I didn't learn anything from this, but I did learn a few things.  First, I can't be a good runner just by running alone.  A good diet and strong overall fitness are important too for me.  Second, I need to work more distance into my training to build my endurance.  Third, I need more realistic goals!  As my lovely wife likes to remind me, I'm not 6' and bulletproof.  That means taking a more realistic assessment of what I can do, so I don't get too down on myself. 

Not the year that I was hoping for, but still a good year overall.  I've gotten faster in everything under marathon, just not as fast as I hoped.  Anyway, here's looking forward to another good (and fast) year!  Happy New Year everybody!

The Holiday Protocol

Merry Christmas!!!  Nothing to report.  I've been doing weights/cross-training at the Y while I rest my leg.  I'll be posting my end of the year wrap-up in a couple days as well as my new year goals.  Stay tuned.  I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!!!

Rudolph's Red Nose 5K Recap

That's me in the Man Up shirt and UT Santa hat!

I didn't have a lot of expectations for this race going in.  I'm still mentally dinged up from my marathon, and I didn't run at all this week (instead I did some may-as-well-have-not-even-bothered light cross-training and weight lifting).  Considering how poorly I did last year in this race, my hope for this race was to finish around 22:45, which would have given me 7:20/mi.  The race officials also changed the course this year, adding another hill right after the 1st mile.  Masochists.  I know, I know.  I've run hillier and longer courses before, but there's something about familiarity with a race that makes any change nerve racking. During my warm ups, my right calf felt tight and all of the sudden, 7:20/mi seemed like it would be a real accomplishment.  After my usual last minute pit stop ritual, I scooted over to the start line to find a spot.  There were over 1400 runners this year and it seemed like they all decided to run at the front of the line.  I was annoyed.  I tried not to be (since I was really just running for fun), but I always am.  I started out behind a trio of particularly annoying 8th graders, so I navigated the crowd to an open-less-teenager-y spot.  Then we were off, and up Woodland Street Bridge.  I tried to keep my pace easy but quick, and soon I found myself moving up ahead of the pack.  I could see the lead pack and fought the urge to sprint up and cover ground.  Instead, I held my pace, breathing hard, but moving well (as opposed to my side splitting run last year).  For the last 1/2 mile, I tried picking up my pace and crossed the finish, tired but still standing.  My splits ended up being 6:51, 7:16, 6:59, and 1:09 (6:30/mi) for the last .1 mile.  That gave me a time of 22:17.  Better than I had hoped for, but far from my best.  I hung around to check the official results, and Bam!  I scored 3rd in my age group! (Never mind that there were only 37 runners in my age group).  It's nice to earn some more hardware for my office.  I guess being 40 may not be that bad after all.  Maybe...