Happy New Year!!!!

Well, I suck and have basically posted nothing the last couple weeks. A lot of this has to do with my aggressive holiday plans which started off with a bang in Vegas with Shane, Tim, and Marc, went through Peoria with the family, off to Tampa for my buddy Sean's wedding, then off to Chicago to ring in the new year with my sister and Barrel. It has been a fun month, but EXHAUSTING, and I'm glad to be home and get back on to a regular schedule.

As expected, my runs have been few and far between the last couple weeks, so let me try to remember the little I did. Before Peoria, ran 6 miles at home, tried to go slow but remember running around 42-43 minutes and felt great. No runs in Peoria due to heavy rain and snow/ice conditions! In the 4 hours I was home before flying to Tampa, got in a nice run with Tim - did about 5.25, hit low 8 minute pace on a cold day, and felt decent. Pushed it at the end, was happy to nail that run. In FL, right before Sean's wedding, Sean, Josh, and I got in a couple miles at a good pace. Ran in Tampa, more in the suburbia part, but was still somewhat scenic. And finally, before it got C-O-L-D, finished my year off in style with a 7 miler on Lakeshore. Pace felt ok, really pushed the last mile in the low 6's and felt pretty damn good albeit tired.

2009 was the best running year of my life, and I hit pretty much every goal I set and more. Here are my highlights of running in 2009:

Best run: training, probably the 10 mile pace run Crystal and I did after one of the craziest days (Timtown BBQ) we had the day before. I shouldn't have been walking, let alone averaging low 7 minute miles. Fun to run on the trails at night, felt as easy of a run as I have ever had, and gave me all the confidence in the world coming into Chi. For race, probably St. Pat's miler. Went out waaaay too fast (17:59 was my 3 mile split), crashed the 4th mile, but finished sub 6 minutes on the last mile. May never beat that race time.

Favorite run: 22 miler with Shane and Crystal this summer. Nice day to run, picked it up the last couple miles and cruised in. Had some great conversation in the 3 hours and 12 minutes we were out there (this was the longest run I had this year!!!!)

Best fast long run: 1/2 in Disney - awesome PR, ran a pretty consistent race, and dropped the nastiest kick I ever have done with the help of Shane, Tim, and Sean

Favorite workout: I really enjoyed the 5X1 mile with Crystal on the track. Ran the first 4 miles in low 6's, dropped the hammer on the last mile and ran 5:56. Didn't feel too hard at all, and very controlled. Another one might have been the reverse ladder I hit in early July (after missing the Macklind Mile) - 5:37 of the first mile, followed by faster splits on the remaining legs made me realize I was in decent speed shape

Favorite training partner: come on, I wouldn't be here without Crystal :)

Favorite race: TIE - Disney, was obviously a thrill to PR and was an amazing trip with my running crew. Chicago Marathon for personal reasons with Shane, Crystal, and I BQing and having friends and family there to watch me run.

New PR's in 09: 5K - 17:57, 5 mile - 30:33, 10K - 40:34, 1/2 Marathon - 1:26:51, Marathon - 3:08:45

So my road to Boston began yesterday with a run in the freezing cold. Was 8 degrees, and even colder with the windchill. Did a loop on the trails and a little extra, nothing much to note other than every part of my skin that was exposed to the air was hurting due to the cold. In fact, my eyeballs were ridiculously sore because of the cold. Hit a decent pace, faster than I would have liked, but I just wanted to get back inside. Was tired, shouldn't have been a hard run. Total mileage: 5 miles - splits were: 7:19, 7:21, 7:21, 7:21, 7:11.

Stretching and corework afterwards. I am really going to push the corework this time around, and be consistent as this was the one area I really crapped on last year. Tonight, some speedwork to be determined!