Well, it certainly didn't start off amazing. It started off with no running due to my hip hurting again. Very frustrating and I had to cancel my racing plans for January and February but I never gave up hope and my best friend was a constant encouragement to me.
The one good thing that came from the injury was that I started taking Bikram Hot Yoga. More on that soon in another post but it gave me a great workout to help get me through the injury and I soon found that it would be a big part of keeping me injury free over the rest of the year.
By February I was back running and after a few awkward days I soon found that I was able to run at nearly the same pace as before but being cautious not to add too many miles too quickly.
In March I had planned to run a hard half at Myrtle Beach on the 5th. It was hard but not quite how I planned. I woke up the day before with a fever and difficulty breathing. I drove down anyway and woke up not feeling any fever so I ran the race. Bad idea. Although I somehow ran a respectable 1:50:15 I was a wreck and my chest felt like a truck was parked on it.
A week of rest and I began to feel almost normal so I went ahead with plans to race the half at Wrightsville Beach. The weather was decent and I had a better time in 1:47:53 and was lucky enough to get 2nd in my age group. Not bad even though I was still several minutes slower than the previous Fall.
April was Boston month. Any hope for a fast time was dashed with the way the year started but I arrived feeling good and planning to make the most of it. Thanks to Laura for surprising me by showing up to support me because my heart really wasn't in it until then. The race went better than I expected for the first 18 but then I crashed as expected but somehow still ran my best of 3 Bostons in 4:12:10.
In May things finally started getting going the way I had hoped as I made my plans for the year. I had fun and a really good run at the Medoc Spring trail Race and then everything just started to click and the hard work began to really pay off.
I ran the NCRC Classic 10k and felt amazing. I was smiling halfway because I was crushing it and knew I wasn't going to fall apart ! On those Umstead hills I ran faster than I had in at least a decade in 47:43 and won the RRCA Senior Grandmasters Championship for 10k !
In June despite a most hot and miserable humid morning I was able to take 2nd in my age group in a 5k in Rocky Mount 23:03 was a lot slower than I hoped but under the conditions it wasn;t bad . Everyone was suffering.
A couple of weeks later I entered the Raleigh Rundown Mile, a new event thinking it would be fun and a test to see how my speed was coming along. I was shocked to run a 6:04 mile with almost no speedwork and it was awesome having the Frey family waiting to cheer me on at every qtr mile. I won 1st Senior GM in that one too.
My focus over the summer was to work on speed and try to run a mile on the track faster than my last track race in 1999 which was a 6:32. The first attempt was on June 28th at The Sir Walter Pop up Mile championship. Poor pacing but I came close in 6:35 with the Frey team cheering me on again.
On July 13th I went to a Godiva all comers meet with my co worker Luke to give it another shot. I was pacing better but made the mistake of running in the slow heat and got trapped behind about 20 slower runners on the last lap. Ran 6:37. Frustrated but happy with the effort.
Finally on July 27th I returned to Chapel hill for my last shot. It was the most miserable evening of the summer and I could barely breath doing my warmup with the dew point at 79F and 83% humidity but somehow once the race began the magic happened. I paced myself well and had the kick needed to run 6:31 ! I did it ! A lot of it due to the hard work, and the new stride . More on the stride n another post soon.
No racing in August as I was preparing for a big Fall. Since I was focusing on speed and the mile I had entered the Oak City mile road race for the first time. Another hot humid afternoon but I ran well in 6:41 and yet another Senior GM win.
Two weeks later I retunred to the Virginia 10 miler for the first time in 15 years and was humbled by the Hills. Actually I was very pleased with my effort but my lack of hill training showed in the last 1.5 mile climb to the finish. 83:07 was not what I had hoped for but pretty respectable and I at least finished 4th in my age group against more than 30 hard core racers.
In October I ran the ATT 10 miler for the first time since 2007 and my goal was to beat that time of 77:43. I had a very good day and accomplished my goal with a 77:07 and 1st in age group. But that was after taking out three for Senior awards. That small race draws a tough old bunch !
And then finally November came and my goal race for the year. I had signed up last November to run the half after having 7 marathon finishes there with the hope of winning a spot on the podium. Training had been going great and I set a time goal of 1:40. I ran a perfect race. Got the 1:40:35 and won the RRCA State Half Marathon Championship against 40 others in my age group.
2 weeks later just for fun I entered the masters race at the Foot Locker XC regionals at McAlpine Creek in Charlotte , a course I had trained on for several hundred miles in the 90's. I had a lot of fun and ran a decent 22:39 5k. They don't do age groups but if they did I would have been 2nd.
I finished up the year with the Kiawah Island Marathon. At the beginning of the year when I entered I had hoped to be in great shape and go for a fast time. I was in great shape but not for long distance. Seems I had neglected any long runs this year. Despite that I ran great for 21 miles and then suffered a miserable final 5 but was able to squeak under 4 hours. It was a bit of a boost knowing once I get the mileage back up I should be able to easily get a Boston Qualifier next year.
And there it is. An amazing year in the books. Who would have ever guessed I would be running as fast at most distances at 60 as I was in my mid 40's and 50's . And I'm not done yet. Look for news of racing plans in 2017 soon.
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