2010 running year in review

it's time to close the books on 2010! in a few hours, another year running year will come to a close. in terms of annual mileage (2,562.9), i managed to surpass my 2009 total (2,459) but given the fall off in monthly mileage for the last quarter of 2010, i just missed my 2008 total (2,571.1). for the first 9 months of 2010 i ran 200 or miles a month but, for a variety of reasons (chiefly travel) my monthly mileage dropped below 200 for october, november, and december.

in terms of races (57), i ran 10 fewer races than 2009 (67), but equalled my 2008 total (57). in a first, my total connecticut races (28) exceeded the number of races i ran in new york (24)! i crossed a few interesting milestones during 2010. i ran my 50th marathon (nyc) and my 50th ultra (jfk), reaching the 100 marathon/ultra mark. and, a few days after the jfk 50 miler, i ran my 500th race overall (the thanksgiving 10k in van cortlandt park)!

here is the breakdown of the 2010 race stats:

57 races
824.2 race miles

ultras: 12
marathons: 4

15k - 18 miles: 15
1 - 9 miles: 26

the race mix, with 12 ultras and 10 fewer races at shorter distances (1-9 miles) is similar to the 2008 composition. in 2009 i ran few ultras and more shorter distance events (inluding a stair climb). that said, my most frequently raced distance in 2010 was a tie between 50k (6) and 5k (6), with half marathons (5) a very close second!

a couple of high points during the year included my fourth straight age group win at the 2010 new york ultra running grand prix and a third place age group win at the 2010 norwalk summer series! also, a return to boston after i had gotten closed out for the 2009 edition was great (and i managed to register for the 2011 edition in that incredibly brief 8 hour window last october)!

as in prior years, i volunteered at a few races. in a first for nyrr i volunteered at packet pick-up (instead of a course marshal on race day) at the scotland run. and, in another volunteer first, i worked the timing clock at the bedford turkey trot (instead of race day registration). as in prior years, at the putnam county classic i had a blast cutting up watermelons at the pre-race food prep (not nearly as much fun as eating it after the race)!

there were no race lows (aside for a handful of slow finishes) during the year. thankfully, i had no injuries to speak of this year (although i was sidelined for a week during october with a nasty case of the flu). on a sad note, the scarsdale fall foliage 5k run was inexplicably cancelled this year. hopefully, the historical society will get its act together and resume staging the race in 2011 (fingers crossed for that one).

happy new year everyone!!

hope to see some of you at the races next year!!