Put a Bow on Another One

2010 is over. It wasn't such a bad year, running wise. 7 races, 1424 miles.

I ran 3 marathons, adding 2 states and a repeat performance in California.

First was the Los Angeles Marathon in March. It is my home town race so I feel I should really love this race, but I don't. The new course for 2010 was a great route for folks seeking a destination race. It takes in all the best "tourist" attractions of the area. The start at Dodger Stadium and finish at the Santa Monica Pier are great elements, but like a kid who lives across the street from Disneyland, the rest of the route is "stale" for this local. Been there, done that. Running it with bronchitis wasn't my wisest move either.

Second was the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota in October. Check off State #17. If I lived in the Twin Cities I would do this race annually. It certainly is "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America." We had wonderful racing weather and although I missed my goal of 4:00 I enjoyed pretty much every step of this race and got to see some good friends while I was there.

Third was the Duke City Marathon in Albuquerque, NM. I ran this only 2 weeks after Twin Cities joining three of my running friends on the 50 state quest. There was nothing memorable about this race but I'm glad to have checked off State #18. I'm grateful for the ability to be able to continue the countdown to "Fifty Down". At my current rate I expect to get there in 2023!

Besides the three marathons I also ran 3 half marathons - Surf City, Orange County and Los Angeles County Holiday Half. I was super pumped to set a PR unexpectedly at Surf City in 1:45:11. In stark contrast, I ran Orange County with a friend (at his pace) and set an all time personal worst of 2:42. It wasn't my race to worry about and it was satisfying to pull Brian through to the finish line. Most recently the LA Holiday Half took me through Bonelli, my favorite venue.

I rounded out the races with a single 5K, the first one in a long time. Although not a PR, I was happy with my 23:46 effort.

I ended December with 127.3 miles, a 60% improvement over November. The year came in at 1424 miles, which is just about my average mileage over the last 6 years. One nice milestone for 2010 is that I passed the 10K mile milestone, having now run 10,188.2 career miles since June 2003. One bad thing is my weight is up, 10 to 15 pounds, from my lowest weight in 2004 - something to definitely work on in 2011.

Plans for the year ahead are still very fuzzy at this point. The only thing that is currently scheduled is the Livestrong Austin Marathon (State #19) on February 20. Others I'm considering are: Little Rock Marathon - March 6, Illinois Marathon - April 30, Cleveland Marathon - May 15, Fargo Marathon - May 21, or the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon (South Dakota) - June 5 and then who knows about the fall and winter. I'd also like to throw in a bunch of local 5K's to work on my speed again in 2011.

Other highlights for 2010 were two trips to Europe for work allowing we to run in Germany, around Paris and London and in Switzerland. A 2-week mission trip to Zimbabwe was a great experience and I even got to run 4 miles with our host in Ruwa. Lisa and I took a land/sea cruise to Alaska with my parents in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary and I found time to get some mileage in Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage and Skagway. I missed being able to combine the trip with a marathon in Anchorage or Fairbanks by 2 weeks on either end of our trip.

I hope you all met or made progress on your running goals in 2010 and wish you all the best in 2011.