TITLE: 2009 Running Year in Review
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: December 31, 2009  2:59 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
I never wrote a Running Year in Review for 2008,
though I
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-02.html#e2009-02-12T20_15_02.htm">
   threatened to</A>.
What was there to say after my
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-07.html#e2008-07-03T10_55_43.htm">
   Running Half-Year in Review</A>
from July 2008?  I had a
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-08.html#e2008-08-19T13_21_49.htm">
   lost summer</A>
and a year distinguished mostly by
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2008-09.html#e2008-09-11T20_37_43.htm">
   not running</A>.
I did manage to get in three miles on December 30,
which got me over the 1100 mile mark for the year,
reminiscent of the
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2007-12.html#e2007-12-31T15_20_50.htm">
   last day of 2007</A>.
Unfortunately, nearly 500 of those miles came in
the first four months of the year.

2009 has been an unusual year.  I had only one long
stretch of not running, with but three miles for
the year as late as February 9, but I had four
other weeks of zeros due to health.  I also had a
difficult time doing more than 15-20 miles a week
without having a tough week to follow.  Finally,
speed may not kill me, but it knocks me down.  I
have not run a truly fast interval work-out in
over two years.

Yet I look to my running log and am happy to realize
that I ran five races this year:
<UL>
<LI> two 5Ks,
     <A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-04.html#e2009-04-04T13_39_40.htm">
        one in April</A>
     while cautiously seeing if I could raise my
     mileage and
     <A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-06.html#e2009-06-30T14_12_28.htm">
        another in June</A>
     because I wasn't yet ready to try my local
     half-marathon </LI>
<BR/>
<LI> two half-marathons, my first-ever
     <A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-05.html#e2009-05-04T07_59_29.htm">
        500 Festival Mini-Marathon</A>
     back home again in Indiana, which went better
     than I could have hoped, and a
     <A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-09.html#e2009-09-13T14_06_38.htm">
        second in September</A>
     as a well-timed tune-up for ...  </LI>
<BR/>
<LI> a
     <A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2009-10.html#e2009-10-26T15_23_47.htm">
        fall marathon</A>
     in small-town Iowa that gives me some hope for
     2010.  With all the troubles I've had the last
     two years, my time was the third-best of my
     six marathons, and I ran an extremely solid
     first half.  I persevered through tough miles
     to finish well.  </LI>
</UL>

The three weeks after the marathon were normal
recovery weeks, but then came six weeks of lower
mileage and higher fatigue.  I lost last week to a
cold, but have been doing some short, slow miles
this week, both indoor and out.  After this morning's
four miles, the log 1128.8 miles for the year.
This isn't much more than last year's total, but it
feels a lot different.  I managed two sustained
periods of training, with a faster pace at least one
day a week.  My marathon training contained fewer
days and fewer miles than ever before, yet it was
steady and progressive.  I will use it as a template
for a spring training session and see where it takes
me.

All in all, a mixed year with plenty of ups to keep
me hopeful and eager.  Bring on 2010.
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