2009, The Year in Review.. the 1st 6 months

Hard to believe another year has gone by. I had a great year of running, met and ran with some awesome new friends, and set a few PR's along the way. With the good, there was some bad, but all in all, a good, mostly injury free year.

Here's a quick bullet point review for the 1st half:

• 1/1/09 Hamilton Hangover 5 miler.. 1st race since the ankle issues.. PR'd broke 40 min mark, and finished in 39:02.
• 1/25/09 Chilly Cheeks Trail race.. Wow, what a crazy event.. Traveled to Reading,Pa with the HATR's, and never walked so much in a race before.. It was an extremely challenging race.. hills, or mountains, bushwhacking, with running mixed in.
• 2/1/09 Took a road trip with Shoreturtle, to meet up with Joy & Progman, to run part of the NJ Marathon course.
• 2/22/09 Ugly Mudder Trail Race.. Who would have thought that a race could be harder than the Chilly Cheeks, but this was. More hills, and I overheated myself. It was flurring at the start, and I wore too much, and it caught up to me a little over 1/2 way thru.
• 3/8/09 Another road trip with Shoreturtle, this time to Seaside Heights, to run with JoyRun and the world famous Ted ! It was a great run.. 16 miles of fun! And what better way to finish a 16miler, than pizza on the boardwalk.
• 3/21/09 Ran part of the Ocean Drive course, to prepare myself for the race the following week.. The toll bridge was out, heading back into Wildwood, and I had to scheme my way across.
• 3/29/09 Ocean Drive 10 Miler... I invited Shoreturtle to spend the nite at our place in Wildwood. My sister in law came down to run the race with us. It was her 1st 10 miler, and she did great! We met up with JoyRun on the bus, and had dealt with a little misty ran at the start, but the winds cooperated, and it was another PR! 1:20:23. In the span of 3 years, I had knocked off about 20+ mins from the 1st time I ran this.
• I didn't have any races in April, but I continued my long runs on Sunday's, getting ready for the Long Branch 1/2 in May.
• 5/3/09 Long Branch 1/2 Marathon... Another gloomy day for a run! It was spitting at the start, and by the time I finished, it was raining hard! It was an awesome race for me! I didn't know what to expect, and I ran a great race. Crowd support was awesome, and while I hit a little rough patch in the gut around mile 5-6, I hung in there. I ran with the 3:30 pace group, and actually left them with a mile or so to go! Another PR at 1:43:20 !
• The month of May started the 5k race season, and I had a few I planned to do.
• 5/16/09 Great Cape May FootRace 5k.. This was the 1st time I had run this in probably 10 yrs, and they changed the course a bit. One thing they didn't change was the free beer at the finish! This was one of those runs, where I went out way too fast, and payed for it in the end. My 1st mile was a 6:39, and mile 3 was 7:39... pretty bad! I did place in my age group, so all in all, a good day of running! 22:18
• 5/24/09 Turtle Trot 5k... I had a bad few days of running leading up to this race,and had no idea what to expect. I met JoyRun and her family at the race, and all I wanted to do was run a nice even paced race.... Mission accomplished! Not only did I run even splits, but it was my 5k PR! I broke the 22min barrier, and finished in 21:54.
• 5/31/09 Fabulous Feet 5k... This was a nice small local 5k, about 100 runners, and I met up with Jess, who was running this race with her son in the stroller. I wanted to build off the last 5k, and keep the even miles. I did that, and if not for the nice up hill around the 2.5 mile mark, might have even pr'd! I did get a 2nd in my age group, and finished under 22 again! 21:59
• June was more of the same.. logging miles, and enjoying the warmer weather to run in. It had been a rainy spring.
• 6/21/09 Run for Dad 5k.... This is the one race we as a family look forward to all year. They have a "100 yard dash" for the kids to race in, and my boys love doing it. As luck would have it, it was a rainy miserable day! The 5k itself wasn't bad. I of course was back to my old ways and went out way too fast. No PR, and I finished in 22:02!
• There ya have it.. the 1st half of 2009 !