and of course, The Ugly

Yummy!

Random cold road ride

Lodi Farms

Busted

B

Just Scary!

Happy New Year all. Heres hoping 2010 is everything you want it to be and more.

The Bad

Despite all of "the good" I reported yesterday from the Year of the Ox (2009), the year has not been without its downsides. My complaints of course are given and should be taken with a grain of salt, considering what some have been through throughout this year and so I'll try to keep my whining to a bare minimum. Also, as a (mostly) sport focused blog, I'm going to keep the focus limited to my athletic failures and related disappointments.

First off, my consistency in training. I already mentioned this in my training wrap up a few days ago so I won't really say much more about it. I simply need to be more consistent.

The 2010 Snotcycle Race: I just didn't enjoy trying to race a short course race in these conditions, plain and simple. Oh and I didn't do all that great either...

A goal just missed: I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler for the first (and likely last) time this year and was gunning for a 1 hour 10 minute time, a flat 7 minute mile average. While I didn't miss it by much, just 15 seconds off per mile, it was enough to be disappointed about. In '07 I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon at an average of 7:20 per mile so my 5 second per mile drop just wasn;t all that satisfying.

My not quite as nasty as initially suspected ass of tea kettle crash at Patapsco. I can still feel a bump where the top of my right ear connects to my head from wear it was sliced open a bit.

Attack of the Big Bear: Part II. I don't think I actually like this race anymore. Broken bikes = no fun. I still have not ridden the Scalpel since that race, though it is now ready to ride again once I put some pedals and a seat collar back on it.

Flat tires and lots of parking tickets (yeah I fought that ticket, paid $5 in parking and $20 in court fees and another $5 for using a debit card to pay my fine. I saved $10 and lost a vacation day. I don't think I won...)! Gaaaaarrrrrr! Please leave me alone in 2010!

Accompanying one of my favorite runs of the year was of course my car being broken into. Worse, what was not realized at the time of the incident was just how much of my stuff was in the car and stolen. My newer camelback with spare tubes, lube, CO2 flat repair kit, riding glasses, Mt Hardware rain jacket and a handful of other things that I can't remember off the top of my head; all of course on top of my wallet. Jerks.

My boat sank. This was kind of fun though, despite the uncontrollable shivering.

Here's hoping 2010 brings about no more parking tickets, broken bikes or busted windows!

The Good

While the mainstream media has been at it since Thanksgiving, I've just barely started the annual tradition of "the year in review". I looked a bit into my lackluster training numbers from '09 yesterday but today I want to focus on some of the positives from my year. The events, races and training sessions that stood out for me for one reason or another.

In March I managed a few buttery smooth snow rides and got Brian out on his first at Fairland.

After I joined DCMTB early in the year, my first real race as a member was 12 Hours of Lodi Farms. I'd never done the race and had only ridden with my new teammates a handful of times before this race. The race itself went well and the 2 teams we fielded placed well and took home some loot. This was the first time I'd ever placed in a mtb race and the first time I'd ever won loot for placing in anything. That, I have to say was pretty cool!

In May I got out for a great ride (on a pretty sweet bike) down in the Tennessee Smokey Mountains while visiting Knoxville for a wedding with Aimee. This was one of the first big rides I've done on real mountain roads (the trails were wet unfortunately), with sustained climbs and descents. This ride was all about fun, aside from hiding from the lightning and crazy heavy rain...

In June going into the 12 Hours of Cranky Monkey race at Quantico, my team had some fairly low expectations. I was riding the rigid SS Jamis since the Scalpel was still busted from Big Bear and neither Leland nor I really felt like we were in very good form. We managed to ride strong and hold on for 4th in our Category which included the 1st place DCMTB "A" team. The team as a whole did amazing as well with 5 of our 6 teams taking spots on their respective 5 deep podiums and claiming 1st, 2nd and 5th overall! My success was cool, but even better the team atmosphere of having so many DCMTB'ers there and doing so well was an absolute blast!

2 years ago I'd tried to make the Pittsburgh Triathlon my first triathlon. I ended up hurting my shoulder and baling on that one which I always regretted a bit. This year though I convinced two of my closest buddies from college to do it with me and this time it actually happened. The race was fun and the weekend with some of my favorite people in the world was even better. Every time I go back to Pittsburgh I'm left wishing I'd never left it in the first place. On top of the great trip I took first for the first time winning the 25-29 age group with Cole standing next to me on the podium. Awesome!

In August I started ramping up my running with my eyes set on completing my first Ultra Marathon before the end of the year. My two long trail runs before the main event were both memorable runs; just me, Cassie and some rain. One at Patapsco and one on the Potomac Heritage Trail itself. I need to do more of these, minus the jacked stuff and busted window.

The Potomac Heritage Trail 50k went better then I could have imagined. Teaming up with Matthew at the start was probably crucial to my run but the atmosphere of the race, the volunteers and fun course all made for an excellent first ultra. Better yet I met someone willing to join me/drag me out on the longer runs and hikes I've been trying to get out for with a home base out near the mountains to begin with.

I've run a few Turkey trots over the years but not too many have been very memorable. This year's was a bit different. I'd been aiming to break 20 minutes in a 5k for a while but the vast majority of my 5k runs have been the tail end of a sprint triathlon and I'd been unsuccessful at sub-20. This year I ran to super-local (less then a mile from my front door) and small, Gobble Wobble to the tune of 19:31 and even managed a 2nd place finish to boot. Thats the first time I've ever placed anywhere near the top 10 in a running only event and while it wasn't fast enough to really be something big, its still something neat to me.

A couple of weeks later I managed to get out to meet Matthew (new PHT 50k buddy) for a long run/hike up the Dickey Ridge Trail in SNP as the snow fell around us. It was great to get out and go out there despite a tweaked knee for Matthew and the heavy and deep near the top snow fall. That was exactly the kind of trip I need to do more of, especially with the climbing falling somewhere in the range of 3000' or so. Compared to my majority dead flat runs around home this was pretty epic.

And, that basically brings us to now. Over Christmas break up the NEPA I got out for 2 runs on the trails of the Delaware State Forest near my folks' house in the Poconos. There was nothing especially noteworthy about these runs on their own but the proximity to my parents house, the technical and rocky terrain and the amount of trails available there all combined to make me very excited about the area. My second run on the 27th especially left me eager and ready for my next trip to see my folks up in the mountains. Well, that and the company of course!