Year in review

Another year is behind me, my fifth as a runner. It was a big year off the pavement for me as I obtained my personal training and running coach certifications and turned my career attention to something I really enjoy for a change. And when I did put on some shoes to go run, things went pretty well.

I'll be around 1770 miles for the year, a couple hundred more than I logged last year. What did I get for those miles? Let's start with looking at how I did in reaching the goals I set a year ago:

• Run the New Year's Day marathon to complete the New Year's Double. Yes, I did run this race. Not well, mind you (4:15:51), but I ran it.
• Finish Rouge-Orleans alive. Didn't happen. Well, I lived, obviously, but I didn't finish the race. I stepped in a hole at about mile 15 that mildly sprained my ankle. It wasn't enough to end my race right there; rather, the swelling oh-so-slowly built up over the next many hours until I reached the point where I could hardly walk. Fifty miles after the misstep, I dropped.
• Break 19:00 at Dash Down Greenville. Not even close. The injury sidelined me for a couple of weeks and pretty much nixed any fast running I would have done in the 5 weeks between R-O and DDG. I managed only a 20:03.
• PR at Boston. It was in the upper 80s that day. I didn't even try.
• Run 6 marathons in 16 days in the fall to hit level 6 of Maniacs. This was pretty much in pencil to begin with, but when I couldn't make the logistics work, I scrapped it.
• Go sub-24 at Old Dominion 100 or Cajun Coyote 100. This one gets an asterisk. I had an outside chance at getting there at Old Dominion, but I hadn't practiced power-walking or, more importantly, fighting through emotional low points. It got dark, I got to the hard part of the course (mile 75), and I quit. I opted to run Heartland instead of Cajun Coyote and got my sub-24 finish.

So, I guess you could say I missed most of my goals, but there were extenuating circumstances for some of them. The year was more of a success than not, certainly. Some superlatives:

SCORECARD: 3 5Ks, 2 10Ks, 2 15Ks, 1 20K, 2 half marathons, 1 30K, 1 20-mile, 4 marathons, 2 50Ks, 1 8-hour, 1 100 -- 431.22 race miles (about a marathon longer than last year, plus 140.45 miles in 2 DNFs) 
PRs: 10K (40:30), 15K (1:02:51), half marathon (1:29:13), 8-hour (43.7 miles), 50 miles (unofficial, 9:19 split at Heartland), 100 miles (23:12:36). I was glad to finally bring the 10K time down closer to where it should be, but I think there is still a little fat to trim.
RUN OF THE YEAR: DRC Half. After 16 half marathons, I thought I'd done most all I could at that distance. The DRC course is not particularly easy and I was going into the race with an annoyance in my left foot, so I wanted to just chase the 1:30 pacers for as far as I could. By the halfway point, they were behind me, and I ended up shaving 38 seconds off my PR (on a day that several friends took minutes off of theirs).
DUD OF THE YEAR: 4 Pines 4 Ways 50K. I was probably a little worn out from running Boston and Big Sur in the preceding month and set my expectations too high, but I really should have done better than 5:15 on this rather tame grass course..
EVENT OF THE YEAR: Heartland 100. Kind of a layup choice in this category, but this really was the best production on my calendar. Great communication from the race directors and truly superior aid station support from the volunteers. Someone asked me last week if I would recommend this race and I was probably less enthusiastic than I should have been. For a first-timer, this is a perfect choice.
NON-EVENT OF THE YEAR: 8-Hour Run from the Ducks. You can't have kids counting laps. You just can't.
HOTEL OF THE YEAR: Park Plaza, Boston. If you're running Boston, you need to make your arrangements through Golden Adventures and stay at this place. The rooms themselves are nothing special but the location (near the finish line, the subway and many restaurants) is unbeatable.
BIG GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR: 3:10 at Houston. Sub-24 at Rocky Raccoon. 19:00 at Dash Down Greenville. 40:00 in a 10K. Break any ultra PR. 200 miles at the Ultracentric 72-hour.

Race review: Isle du Bois 54K

ENOUGH WITH THE SMALL TALK. HOW'D IT GO?
I stayed more or less upright for 33.89 miles and 6 hours, 33 minutes, 33 seconds, finishing my longest run on almost entirely rocky single-track trail to date without shedding any blood.

DID YOU WIN?
I'm considering it a win that I didn't fall to the ground at any point (although I came close with increasing regularity as the day went on). In the official standings I was 23rd of 57 overall, 21st of 34 men. Not bad for someone with so few trail miles under his belt.

HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?
I pieced together a few trail miles over the last couple of weeks but certainly not enough to determine what level of effort I could sustain over several hours. So my plan was pretty much just to go as hard as I could for as long as I could and see how much farther I had to go after that.

I ran easily down the opening paved section and joined the trail at about 1.25 miles. A few of us were still bunched up, but running at about the effort I would have been going anyway. The guy in front of me remarked that he was almost exclusively a road runner, which made 2 of us. There were many more rocks than I'd expected, and a few sections of sand weren't much fun either. I had a couple of meaningful stumbles but managed to catch myself on a tree and a trail marker. I felt great as I finished the first loop (just shy of 11 miles) in 8th place in 1:38:52.

Then things really got fun. For the last two loops, most of the paved section was swapped out for a longer section of the rocky stuff. I kept running -- or maintaining some kind of motion intended to emulate running -- but my pace slowed noticeably, about 2 minutes per mile compared to the first loop. A few folks passed me here and there, and a little before the end of the second loop I finally had to break down and start walking a bit. The second loop was done in 3:44:56 and I was down to 15th place. I crunched the numbers and figured if I tailed off the same amount from loop 2 to 3 as I did from 1 to 2, I'd be finished in 6:15, right at my pre-race goal.

That fuzzy math didn't hold up, though, as my woeful level of undertraining went on full display on the final loop. I ran when I could but those stretches rarely lasted more than a couple of minutes and were usually much shorter. My worn-out legs couldn't pick my feet off the ground enough to keep from stumbling nearly a dozen times. I might've started swearing. When I finally made it back to the last paved section, I wanted to break out in a sprint, but my stride was so short I almost couldn't even keep up with myself. Stretching after the race felt especially satisfying.

WHAT ELSE?
This race fills a key spot in the pecking order of trail races. It's not easy, and you won't be coddled... but it's also not so hard that you emerge from the woods as a mess of blood and broken bones. I appreciate the heavy emphasis on local sponsorship... especially the Mexican restaurant down the road that provided the post-race burritos. And it's cup-free, so a handheld is a necessity.

SPLITS?
8:19
10:19
9:33
9:21
9:25
9:45
9:58
9:48
9:33
9:56
9:32
10:01
11:13
10:39
10:49
11:49
11:50
11:57
12:04
11:58
14:15
12:27
13:54
16:22
16:28
15:48
16:10
15:55
16:42
16:57
15:20
13:43
10:12 pace last .18

OK, WHAT ABOUT THE REAL REASON WE ALL RUN, THE STUFF?
You get a comfy long-sleeve bamboo shirt for entering. No medal for finishing; instead it's a small medallion and a bottle of local honey:

WHAT'S NEXT?
Houston Marathon, Jan. 13.

Race preview: Isle du Bois 54K

WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Pilot Point, Texas

WHEN?
Saturday, Dec. 8

WHY?
Isle du Bois 54K

NO REALLY, WHY?
I don't know... maybe to count as Rocky Raccoon training? It's certainly an oddball race on my schedule; I couldn't really tell you why I'm doing this and not White Rock.

WHO ELSE IS GOING?
As of now there are 90 entrants in the 54K and 152 in the 18K. Some of these are folks I am familiar with but haven't met in person yet. Come say hi; I'll be number 524 and I'm thinking I'll go with the Marathon Maniacs singlet this time.

WHAT'S THE FORECAST?
We'll be starting in the low 50s and trying to finish before it gets too warm; it could easily by 75 by the time I'm done. And humid? You bet.

HOW DO WE WIN?
A while back I threw out a prediction of 5:40 that I almost immediately regretted (and still do). I still struggle to get it through my head how much slower I am on trails than roads (everyone is, of course, but me, especially so). I'll put 6:15 out there as a target -- about an 11-minute pace.