Year End 2011

The 2011 year has come to a close and I thought I’d prepare a year end review.

Highlights:
• 130 races and 1431 race miles
• 2nd in the Pacific Association Ultra Series Age group 30-39 (2nd highest point total of all PA runners – what luck, the only person in the entire PA with more points is the same gender and age group
• New Personal Record of races in a single month - 22 in July.
• Climbed Mount Whitney
• Continued a streak of racing every weekend since May 2009 (and every week since Feb 2009 thanks to a mid-week track meet that week in May.)
• Set distance PRs in swimming. Longest swim in a race increased from 1 mi. to 2 mi. Longest swim ever increased from 1 mile to 3.58 miles which took 2 hours of doing laps in a pool. I should be able to comfortably swim any distance moving forward.
• Raced only 21 DSE races which is my lowest total since moving to California. This means I met my goal of running a bigger variety of races.

Most Enjoyable Races 2011 Races:
1. Castle to Coast 8.2 miler – a low key 8.2 miler from San Simeon to Cambria, straight down CA-1 west of Paso Robles. Very scenic and only $25. “Castle” refers to the Hearst Castle. Enojyed a hike at Pinnacles National Monument on the way home.
2. Red Rocks Canyon State Park Desert Trek – a Saturday/Sunday pair of 4 hour orienteering races in Southeastern California put on by Terraloco. Compass needed.
3. National Snowshoe Championship – had a great time as always, especially hanging out with New Englanders Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, Tim van Orden, Bob Dion, Carolyn Stocker and Richard “Mr. Snowshoe” Busa.
4. Brisbane Scenic Runs (5k and 12k) - The out-and-back races start simultaneously, the 12k up and down a 1000 foot mountain and the 5k only part way up before turning around. I race the 5k and then try to catch as many as I can in the 12k. Didn’t meet my goal of catching Gary Brickley but it’s a lot of fun trying.
5. Pair Fair 10 miler – a small XC 10 miler through orchards in Courtland, CA up the delta from the SF bay. This was a great alternative to the overpriced SF marathon that weekend.
6. Mill Valley Street Scramble – an urban orienteering race put on by Get Lost covering trails and roads in Mill Valley. It was nice to run a race in Mill Valley that went somewhere other than Stinson Beach.
7. Pikes Peak Marathon – this race has everything (except air, at the top): Tough course, competitive field, scenic trails, small town feel, and a really big hill.
8. Willow Glen Holiday Lights – a favorite from 2010 as well, an urban night orienteering race where the controls are holiday decorations.

Best Performance Races (seems I race well the week after an ultra):
1. Pikes Peak Marathon – I ran a 5:09 which was good enough for 35th overall and a 5th place age group award. This beat my previous bests of 5:23 and 73rd. Had my fastest ascent and fastest descent ever, despite 2 falls on the way down.
2. Skyline 50k – course PR of 4:21:18 and 10th overall.
3. Lake Merced CCW (8/11/11)– after consistently improving in this weekly race from the beginning to June through the end of July I didn’t expect a good time only 4 days after the Skyline 50k, my first ultra since May. Somehow I pulled off a 25:35, my best Lake Merced time of the season and 4th best ever.
4. Headlands 50k – 6 days after Pikes Peak I ran a 4:44:12 for 6th overall in a competitive field. Had a solid race throughout improving my course PR by 9 minutes.
5. Boston Marathon – Just a week after the AR50 I pulled off a 2:49:48 at Boston, only 2:13 off my PR. I struggled near the end which is too bad because if I finished strong I could have had a 2:46 with that massive tailwind we had.
6. Tamalpa Track Meet 9/13/11 – after finishing my first 100 mile race only 2 days earlier with my ankles still bloody and swollen, I literally couldn’t put on any shoes let alone race in them. So I showed up to the Tamalpa track meet and raced 4 events in socks including a mile in 5:47, 400 meter in 1:10, 100 meter in 13.7, and 800 meter in 2:45. The 100 meter is becoming one of my best age grading distances (71.46 here), even without shoes.
7. Clarksburg Country Half Marathon – Normally a 1:34:03 on a road half marathon wouldn’t be a “good race”, but this one came a day after finishing the Last Chance 50 mile in 7:41:03 (a new 2nd best 50mi. time ever). I raced Clarksburg only to ensure we had a full NB Excelsior team with a 1:55 within the realm of possibility as I hobbled out of the car before the start. I ran a 7:30 first mile and then turned on the juice. I finished every mile between 6:42 and 7:31, after a pregnant Anan Bretan and I pushed each other to go fast despite our current handicaps.
8. Los Gatos Dammit Run 5mi. - Ran a 32:03 2 days after the above Lake Merced race. This was a PR by 37 seconds and was the 3rd year in a row with a course PR. Everything seemed to come together in August.

Worse performances 2011:
1. PA XC Champs – a wet and rainy course, the 3rd race of the weekend for me (which doesn’t usually matter), and a nearly completed extremely aggressive fall ultra schedule were not good ingredients at this very competitive race.
2. New Year’s Day 12 hour – 45 miles in 12 hours on a flat 1 mile loop course. Only 4 types of races have I run a slower pace: the 100 miler, Ascent-only mountain races, orienteering, and the treacherous Seven Sisters 12 miler. At least I wasn’t embarrassed since I eclipsed my 6 hour PR of 44 miles.
3. Ruth Anderson 100k - The race was 5 days aftre the Boston Marathon. Ran a mediocre 26 miles and then the wear and tear started to add up, especially since the course was so flat and paved.
4. Silver State 50mi. - I've really enjoyed the 50k course 2 years in a row so I decided to try the 50 miler. I was having a hard time starting with the Tahitian style aid station after crosing over the Peavine Saddle for the first time. THEN the course went all the way down to the highway only to have a long grueling climb up to the saddle again, a climb I should have done well on. I finished in 11:11. Back to the 50k next time...
5. Not a race but had an unsuccessful attempt at climbing Mt. Elbert, the highest mountain in Colorado and the 2nd highest in the U.S. outside of Alaska. After climbing from the base of 10,072 feet up to an elevation of 13,907 feet on Mount Elbert I had to turn around short of the 14,440 foot summit to sprint down the mountain as a lightning storm engulfed the area.

Almost Fell Apart but Didn’t
1. Donut Dash 4 miler – Chikara Omine talked me into this: run 2 miles, eat 4 donuts, run 2 miles. I never wanted to DNF during a race as much as I did starting that 3rd donut.
2. American River 50 miler – had a really difficult time in the mid-30s. Then inexplicably bounced back for my then-2nd best ever 50 mile time (7:44:21)
3. Cal International Marathon - Hoped for a 2:55 which was 6 minutes slower than last year. I started with 3 miles in the 6:30's, then 2 in the 6:50's, then migrated over 7 minutes for every mile until mile 25 where I finished with a 6:54 and 6:44. Never fell apart since my slowest mile was only 7:51 but I should have been able to run sub 7 minute pace for at least 10 miles.
4. Rio del Lago 100miler – The sparsely fooded aid stations, 93 degree temperature, and going off-course 5 times were hardly factors. Blisters arrived on the back of my heels and ankles before mile 50. Erika Kikuchi caught me as I was re-taping and stayed just in back of me for a while after. If she was going to run almost 30 hours, how long was I going to have to be out there? Only 38 of 84 starters finished and I was one of them, in 20th place in just over 29 hours. Didn’t wear shoes for the next 12 days.
5. Quicksilver 50mi. - Started off well, struggled in the middle section, and finished strong largely due to the significant downhill at the end. Finsihed in 9:27 which is worse than I should have run but wasn't nearly as bad as the 11:31 I ran in 2009.

DNFs:
1. Splash and Dash, Cupertino – my first DNF ever, at anything. It was the first Thursday in June. On a cloudy day where it rained only a couple days before, the air AND water temperature were both around 60 degrees. I was surprised I even finished the first lap with how much the cold hit me. Unfortunately the race was 2 laps of 750 meters each and although I voluntarily crawled on the lifeguard’s surfboard after almost 1300 meters (which for some reason is not a DNF in this race) somehow I ended up on a boat back to the start where it took me an hour in the paramedic van to warm up.
2. Roberts Regional Recreational Area Bay Area Orienteering Club Blue course 4.4km - Blue is the most elite course. I had never done a course more difficult than orange which is several levels down. It's not that I couldn't finish, it's that I couldn't finish in time. I covered 6.06 miles in 2:23:01 and only got half the controls. My Garmin track shows the circles I went in looking for the orange orienteering control bags. I don't know how the winner finished in 48 minutes.

Goals for 2012:
1. 50 mile PR at American River (7:20)
2. A mid distance PR – 5k, 10k, or marathon (17:14, ~36:08, 2:47:35)
3. A mile PR (4:52) or 400 meter under 1:00 (haven’t done this in 10+ years)
4. Enter 2013 ready to assault all existing PRs marathon and under.

Hopeful Races:
1. Mt. Washington Climb
2. New York Marathon
3. TransRockies or Pikes Peak in August (why are they always the same weekend?)