2009 - The Year in Review

Before 2009 has disappeared from view I thought I'd post a few random thoughts from the year...

• Best race performance (according to me!): Voyageur 50M

• Best "race shape": Leanhorse 50M

• Most fun racing: Leanhorse 50M - correleted to above I am sure!

• Most memorable training run: Eagle Mountain - a 10K return trip to Minnesota's highest point complete with a swim in pristine Whale Lake - try it sometime!

• Toughest race: Hellgate 100K

• Best organized race: Afton 50K

• Best course finish: TFH at Chippewa 50K – I will miss it!

• Smartest race: Hellgate 100K; Leanhorse also - both were negative splits which I guess says it all

• Best fueling experience: That can of red bull at Oberg (Thanks Eric!)

• Best supporters: Superior Trail Races (being among them all day Friday and going by them Saturday morning – it’s an amazingly well supported event considering the location)

• Most awful race experience: Grandma’s Marathon; the race itself is still my fav marathon, it was just a very very rough one for me this year!

• Smartest training decision: Going back to Hot Yoga after the most awful race - with the result that 2 months later at Leanhorse 90F felt like 70

• Best race shirt: Afton 50K

• Best pre race: Hellgate 100K. No doubt the midnight start helps. The pre-race dinner, briefing etc in the hours before the start make for a pretty intense build up.

• Best post race: A tie - Hellgate for the cosy, warm surroundings, and getting to know new people; Afton for the fab sunshine, great food and good times catching up with training and racing buddies.

• Best winner’s schwag: This is a tough one – I’ve amassed a rather wonderful collection of art courtesy of Wynn, John and Larry – but on a purely materialistic basis, the $225 Patagonia jacket from Hellgate is hard to beat.

• Most fun event: Surf the Murph – as much as I love to race (and I do love to race), doing an AS at this race was so much fun. I suspect I will be making it an annual gig. Wild Duluth and FANS were other great volunteering opportunities – I will def be back to volunteer at FANS next year – but I may just have to run Wild Duluth!! Among your many New Year’s running resolutions make sure one of them is to volunteer at an event in 2010. It’s not just a way to give back; it truly is a very enjoyable experience.

• Worst racing decision: Moose Mountain Marathon - racing with an injury is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Do I regret it? Nah...

• Best finish line feeling: Moose Mountain Marathon (‘Best’ as in “I’m done”, but definitely worst as in “What have I done?”)

• Wisest RD words: A toss up between David Horton's "Keep your nose out of the dirt Helen" and John Storkamp's "Run as fast as you can for as long as you can"

• Best volunteers: ALL of them!

No question it was an amazing year for me. Great results certainly, but what I cherish most are the hours and hours of training, both alone and with friends, the opportunities to take part in some of the best races the mid-west has to offer, running and racing with friends (sometimes involving a little friendly competition), meeting a ton of new people and generally having the time of my life. And on top of that I got to travel to a few races including two trips to Virginia where I just love to run for reasons that are hard to define.

Next up... 2010 plans & goals - which are changing by the minute and it's only January 3rd!