Best & Worst of 2009

I thought I'd already posted this. Not too late is it?

Best Race: Hinson Lake 24 Hour Run. 90 Miles feeling pretty fresh. Was really moving for a few hours through the night. 7th place male.

Worst Race: I'm happy to say I didn't have any terrible races! There's a first. Things went bad at Rocky Raccoon, but geez, it was 100 miles & I finished. A few so so races, but no disasterous ones. SweetH2O 50K my worst & I attribute that to the heat.

Favorite Training Week: I love the trails we ran at camp in Brevard. The 3 day self supported solo trip on the Appalachian Trail with a cracked rib was a memorable one. Some misery involved, but character building and something I really appreciated. Not like, "Woo hoo, this is fun!" but enjoyable in a different way.

Highest Weekly Training Mileage: How many did I get in the week of Rocky Raccoon? 120? Many around 85.

Total Yearly Mileage: Right at 2,000. 500 less than last year, which was a little disappointing. I enjoy long training runs and missed some due to mild injury, recovery, illness and laziness. 22% of my mileage was in races, which is way more than ever before. Seems very strange.

Best Route: Ran a lot of good trails- Art Loeb Trail in Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Forest, Caesar's Head, GA section of the Appalachian Trail... Hard to pick one.

Greatest Acheivement: Hard to beat making it through a 100.

Biggest Disappointment: Rough period of training in October & November.

Longest Injury-Free Stretch: I didn't have many problems this year, but my sciatic nerve problem flared up a bit this fall.

Worst Injury: See above.

Most Memorable Moment: After puking for 20 miles, not having any fluid or calories in my system & having to walk almost all of the last 20 miles at Rocky Raccoon, thinking, "OK, I have to run across the finish line. I'll run the last 200 meters in," but not being able to run more than 2 steps. But boy did I walk fast across the line!

Best Run Shared with Someone: Several. 25 miles or so with Konrad at Hinson Lake. He totally saved my race. Running just about the whole time with Kevin at Black Mountain Marathon. 2 hours in the slush with Hannah. Cedar Rock Mountain with the team.

Best Shoe: Brooks Cascadia 4s. Wait- did I say I liked them better than the Cascadia 2s?? I'm not sure. I ran out of my stockpile of the Cascadia 2s so I moved over to the 4s. I haven't put in any really long runs in them yet. Ran in the Brooks Adrenaline ASR at Rocky Raccoon and Freedom Park with no complaints.

Worst Shoe: I didn't wear any shoes I didn't like. Tried Saucony Xodus. I wasn't crazy about them but can't say anything bad about them. Snug in the arch for me. Tried out the END Stumptown 10 oz. They're different. I liked them for running, but if I were running a long race and doing any walking I'd be in trouble with the collapsable heel. Also, they completely fell apart! Sole off the upper, stitching unravelled, hole in the fabric...

Something I Never Thought I'd Do: I ran 3 races of 70 or more miles this year.

Race I Enjoyed Most Watching: Boys Wendy's XC race. Girls Regional XC race.

Most Important Lesson Learned: GOT TO run more during the week. Don't want to just get by running 4 runs a week, as I did often this year. It's hard for me to get motivated to go out for 5 miles or something, but I need to be more consistant.

Thing I'm Looking Forward to Most in 2010: Hmm... I think this will be a good year for me. I am really excited about Mt. Mitchell 40 & will go for 100 at Hinson Lake.