The Year In Review,Running

After what could best be described as a "pig" of a day at work I was happy to get out and ease my way through 9 miles late this afternoon in the glorious sunshine,it sets me up nicely for the last "Land Of The Lost" this year on Wxpn at 7pm and hopefully tomorrows scheduled 5x1,000m repeats will have a similar effect on me going into the New Years Eve party at Sex Dwarf.

Anyway after a look back at the year in movies and music here's a look back at my year in races b4 conducting my Top Ten list tomorrow.............

January

Off of next to no speed work I opened my account for the season w/ a 4.33.7 mile at The Armory on Jan 6th I hoped this would bode well for the upcoming season.

2 days later at frankly one of the worst track meets I've ever attended I could only muster a 58.4 400m which effectively kept me out of the Millrose Masters 4x400m relay,frankly waiting around for 5 hours to run was hardly the best way to prepare for a race I had reservations about to begin w/.

My next trip to The Armory on Jan 20th saw me run my first ever indoor 5,000m but also continue a trend from 2010 of going sub 16 as I notched a 15.47.3(a time that would see me finish the year in 30th place in the world rankings my only ranking at world level for 2011)

I finished the month off running the 3rd leg of the Millrose masters 4x400m relay on the b team but could only muster a 59.7 as we finished a distant 4th,to be honest I had misgivings about running at all but when it was later revealed the famed Millrose Games was moving from Madison Square Gardens to The Armory in 2012 I was grateful for one final two and a half laps around the famous old boards.

February

7th in the Masters mile in Boston in 4.33.0 again w/ no real speed work to my credit due to all the snow we'd been having I had to be reasonably pleased w/ my performance but any and all good feelings from that race on the 5th went out the door 5 days later when I could only muster a 2.06 800m time at The Armory,my lack of speed work was sorely exposed

Had I've not gotten sick the week of my next visit to The Armory a fortnite later I'm convinced my 9.07.1 3,000m pr would've fallen as it was I had to settle for an indoor pr of 9.08.3.

March

W/ no Indoor Nationals to run things were barren to say the least as my indoor season came to an unsatisfactory conclusion w/ a lackluster 2.10 800m.

I said at the time I felt the 5 hour wait to run probably didn't help matters but I wonder w/ hindsight if the anemia that would derail my season over the coming weeks and months wasn't also to blame for such a poor performance.

After 2 less than stellar 800s I opted against pursing the 800m at worlds in July and began to focus on the 5,000m

April

Not the start I wanted to my outdoor season a 16.19.8 5,000m at Franklin Field in the Upenn Invitational, a year earlier I'd notched my first ever sub 16 here{15.57.7.} and I didn't think it was an unreasonable goal to run sub 16 again.

At the time I put my poor performance down to going out too hard in the opening mile but as next couple of races would prove all was not well under the hood.

May

From bad to worse a 16.25.9. 5,000m at Swarthmore at the Twilight Invitational where a year b4 I'd ran 15.56.5.,again I thought the meet running behind was the reason for a sub par performance but after a six week period since things had gone "pear shaped" at Upenn I was beginning to feel that all was not right.

Three nights later in New York I could only summon a 10.34. 2 mile in March of 2010 indoors I went 10.05.5. I knew something was wrong I just didn't know what.

June

Rock bottom a woeful 4.54 mile at West Chester almost brought my entire season to a standstill.

Even after my achilles injury in 09 I was able to register a 4.49 mile whatever was ailing me well and truly bollocksing up my season

Trying to get a doctors appointment or even having blood drawn to be sent off for tests proved to be next to impossible,when I did eventually get an appointment w/ my doctor it was for July 12th..... while I was in Sacramento at Worlds although at this point it hardly seemed worth flying half way across the country to "just make up the numbers" I was then "granted" a visit w/ an intern who inspite of my blood test results courtesy of team mate and friend Sean Harbison failed to diagnose my condition........

I managed a 16.48.9. 5,000m at Icahn Stadium 11 days b4 the 5,000m at Worlds,hardly confidence inspiring........

July

Worlds 5,000m, when you go into a race just hoping and praying not to finish dead last you know your confidence is at an all time low,12th out of 18 in 16.54.1. was perhaps the best I could hope for under the circumstances but at least I got to experience first hand what Worlds was about AND thanks to two fellow masters runners began taking Iron Pills to increase my hemoglobin count.......the turning point in my season

Three weeks later I won a bronze in the 5,000m albeit off a still painfully slow time 16.45.0. and then 2 days later won my 3rd National Championship title in only my 3rd ever 10,000m again it was slow 35.27.4. but given the heat at 10am that was to be expected

August

I could've been forgiven for not attempting to defend my Ironman Title at the Track Pentathlon on Aug 7th but frankly if I could fly cross country to compete at Worlds and go to Berea Ohio to compete in my 5th Nationals in 6 years I could make the effort to run 5 races in just under 2.5 hours.

I knew winning was a pipe dream at best last year I opened things w/ a 9.07.1 in 3,000m,this year 9.48. and had to settle for third but at least I showed up.

September

Traditionally only ever one race in September,but what a race 5th Avenue Mile,unlike the four previous years where I'd tailored my training for the 6 weeks leading up to 5th Avenue to the mile this year I found myself training through 5th Avenue Mile as my fall target race was the Ben Franklin Bridge Challenge 10k in 6 weeks time which may explain the 8th place finish in 4.36.however I did claim a 3rd consecutive M45 age group title to go w/ the 2 overall titles I'd won in 07 and 08.

October

Another tradition,Syracuse on the first weekend of October for the Masters 5k road race c'ships,while last year I was miffed they rounded up my 15.59 to 16.00 this year I was happy to finish 14th in 16.30.8. as the team took silver in the M40 team event,not only did I feel I was returning to form but 16.30 x2=33.00 and my date w/ destiny over 10k was now only 5 weeks away.

A return to xc racing after a two and a half year plus absence plus a rare Philadelphia race on my schedule as I slogged over the 5 mile xc course on Belmont Plateau to finish 50th out of 85 in a predominately college race field in 31.28.4.

A trip to Rochester for more xc this time 5k as I lead home the GPTC contingent finishing 21st in a field of 151 in 18.29.,this time we came away w/ a bronze in the team event,shit more National Championship bling to add to the collection.

November

This is what it was all building up to the Ben Franklin Bridge 10k on Sunday Nov 6th,after winning the 10,000m gold at Nationals I'd set my sights on erasing my oldest pr in the book 1984's 34.53. and thanks to several lung busting 8 mile runs out and back along Cobbs Creek Parkway and several vertigo induced 3x2 mile repeats on Temple's track it all paid off,13th in a field of 3,030 2nd masters(worth a cool $250 thank you very much) and a new pr 34.24.

I could've called it a season right there but didn't two weeks later I went to Deer Park Path in Flemington New Jersey to finish 12th in 28.42 over 8k xc and snag sliver in the m45 age group b4 underlining my Lazarus recovery from that god awful 4.54 mile on June 3rd by finishing 4th out of 90 at the Brandywine Creek course in 18.29.9., a course I'd previously never broken 19 minutes on b4.....says a lot for my 50 miles a week training I feel.

December

One last race and back to the friendly confines of the track as I remarkably ran my first 1,500m race of the year on December 26th,such had been the turmoil this year w/ a loss of form and confidence due to the anemia I'd avoided the 1,500m,for so long a favourite distance of mine.

2nd in a field of 16 in 4.15.8. it signalled I hope the return to winning ways and the way forward for 2012.

We'll have to see what the next 12 months have in store for me when the 2012 season gets underway on Thursday January 5th at The Armory over the mile