Thursday, January 1

A Year in Review

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Reflecting on the preceding twelve months has stirred a whirlwind of emotions but left me with a smile on my face, content.

Winter
With the missus on bed-rest, my plans of running the Phoenix Marathon were put on hold until a later date when Ally could accompany me. Still, with nine weeks of marathon training in my legs I decided to run the Pioneer in mid-January and shouldn’t have been too surprised when I set an 8k PB in a time of 27:28. Sticking close to home, I decided to focus on breaking an eleven-year 5k PB, and after running what was probably the most gulling w/o to date 4x(6x200), I managed to squeak out a 14” PB, 16:51!

Spring
Along with daffodils and cherry blossoms, came the arrival of our first child in mid-April. Thinking back on the birth of Isla still causes me to pause, what an incredible event. Almost more amazing then the birth though, was the fact that Ally allowed me to leave for Ottawa only four weeks later, where on a wing and a prayer (and much determination) I finished the marathon in a time of 2:53:05, 4:07km/pace, and more importantly qualified for Boston 2009! June saw me run my first, and so far, only TLNW on what was a very hilly 1:50:56.

Summer
The heat of July and August was welcomed as were the lazy days of summer. In September, the three of us escaped to England where in the midst of visiting friends and family, and the odd pub, I was able to enjoy some of the more breathtaking and rewarding jaunts of the year (the Cornish coastline is truly spectacular).



Autumn
Along with orange and red leaves, fall brought the return of rain and mud which made for enviable trail running conditions. Coincidently, I ran my inaugural cross-country race (spikes and all) at our provincial championships in Vancouver. I don’t recall ever running a more painful 8k. The year rounded out with me deciding to work with Jon Brown as I prepare to join Hicham, Thomas, Mike and others in Boston this April.

All the best to everyone as they head out onto the roads and trails, thanks for reading and happy New Year!

Training:
Monday: day off (scheduled)
Tuesday: steady 1:10:04
Wednesday: 1:16:46 with 40’ ME
Thursday: easy 1:11:26

5 comments:

Thomas said...

You had a good year running wise, but the baby puts everything else into the shadow. And a very cute one she is too!

Mike said...

Michael - great photos, and a nice recap of the year. Best of luck to you in '09 - looking forward to reading about your training w/ Jon.

Happy New Year!

rumon said...

Great quote, great recap, great start to the year (selfishly speaking!).

Grellan said...

A great year indeed - and not bad for running either. All the best in 2009 and your build up for Boston.

Chris said...

You are welcome to any and all TNLWs...even if you can't spell them ha ha.

Hills are your friends.