Thursday, January 7, 2010

Obligatory End Of Decade Post (One Week Late)

This is how I started the decade:

March 2000, on vacation in California, with my uncle's late beloved cat A.C. I was in my final semester of graduate school and I was 26 years old.

This is how I ended it:

At the Eve on the Ave 5K in Jackson, Michigan, December 31, 2009.

The "aughts" were the years I finally left the safe, nurturing, insular world of academia and entered the cold, cruel world of Real Life. The decade in a nutshell:
  • 2000: got my master's degree in geology from the University of Michigan; took my last cross-country drive from Michigan to California
  • 2001: started my first post-higher education job; met and moved in with my eventual husband
  • 2002: went to Ireland for a week; bought my house; quit my job
  • 2003: found my current job; started taking voice lessons
  • 2004: got married in Hawaii
  • 2005: performed with Michigan Opera Theater in Puccini's La Boheme
  • 2006: went to Hawaii again; joined Weight Watchers
  • 2007: had the surgery which changed my life for the better; started running in earnest; ran my first half marathon
  • 2008: performed with Arbor Opera Theater in Mozart's Don Giovanni; ran my first marathon
  • 2009: major domestic reorganization (aka divorce); qualified for Boston Marathon
A year ago I laid out my goals for 2009:
  • Qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon at the Cleveland Marathon in May (success!)
  • Run a sub-1:50 half marathon (success! not once but twice!)
  • Run a sub-50:00 10K (success! again, not once but twice!)
  • Set another new 5K PR (success!)
  • OR break 22:00 in a 5K (fail!)
  • Run 1500 miles for the year (fail!)
  • Run at least one race each month (fail!)
I posted a 4/7 success rate (57.1%) which is worse than 2008's goal success rate (87.5%) but I achieved my biggest goal of the year, which was to BQ in Cleveland. I ran 1237 miles, which is 93 miles less than I ran in 2008. However, I decreased my average pace by 13 seconds to 8:58/mile. I also spent 183 hours and 9 minutes on the road and burned 136,864 calories.

My "one race a month" goal was toast in January when I came down with the flu the final weekend of the month, a weekend which I had planned to run a race. However, I did my best to make up for it the rest of the year. I missed September because I completely blanked and let the month slip past, although if I really wanted to I could categorize my run across the Mackinac Bridge on Labor Day as my race for the month because it was an organized group event even if it was not technically a "race."

Notable moments and races of 2009:
I don't really know what I would like to accomplish in 2010. The past year was one of great personal strife and triumph, and I do not know how I could better it. Yes, I will run the Boston Marathon in April. That race is my only goal at the moment. I would like to do well there. Ideally I would love to re-qualify, but I recognize that may be difficult. I have some modest goals in mind for 2010:
  • run 1500 miles
  • run a race every month!
  • reach my Weight Watchers goal weight and become a Lifetime member
And you know what? That's all. That's all I would like to accomplish. I realize that breaking 22:00 in a 5K or 45:00 in a 10K may not be within my reach anymore. I have to accept that I'm getting older and slower.

But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try.

3 comments:

Running Diva Mom said...

You continue to inspire me with every step of your journey (literally!). And, you don't look a day older, after an entire decade! How is that???? Looking forward to continuing to follow your journey this year.

Jen Feeny said...

Older & slower my @ss! You qualified for Boston!!!! Great year girl and cheers to an even better 2010!!!

mr loser said...

FWIW, you have the music in you to shatter 22 in a 5k.