2014 was a pretty good year running-wise. I finally went below 30 hours at Wasatch after eight years of trying. I also notched my sixth finish there, thus ensuring me of guaranteed entry for as long as I want to run that race. No more lottery for me!! So, that was my big running effort for the year.
For the ninth year in a row, I ran over 1900 miles. Only three of those years were below 2000. For 2014 it's looking like I'll log close to 2200. Not my biggest, but not the least either. Additionally, Strava shows that I logged a little over 231,000' of vertical gain.
In the racing department, I, as usual, ran a bunch of races.
January - My first race of the year was the New Year's Revolution Run. Five hours of indoor laps yielded 29+ miles. Once again I ran the Kahtoola Bigfoot Snowshoe Festival 25K. I had my best finish ever there, coming in 2nd male and 3rd overall. Podium finish, I'll take it. My third big run of January was my Good Water Rim adventure run. Stay tuned for a race there later in 2015.
February and March were kind of lacking in the race department. I did RD the Buffalo Run for the 9th year, and it probably was the most organized it's ever been.
April - Ran the Zion 100 for the second time. This year Karen attempted her first effort at crewing me. She was pretty nervous about it, but she did fantastic. Organized, got me what I needed, kicked me out of the aid stations, and never got lost. My time wasn't the greatest. 28 hours and change. Really really slow over night. Three weeks later I attempted to run the Salt Flats 100 again. I failed miserably at 80 miles. The weather did me in at that point. We had an epic 500 year storm hit about dark and it never let up. The race start was under six inches of water when it had been dry the day before.
May - May brought the Timp Trail Marathon once again. One of my favorite local races. I just ran it with Curtis and we basically moseyed. No time goals, just the goal of having a good time. At least it didn't rain this year.
June - In June I ran three races. The first was the Bryce 50 Mile. Wow, scenery overload. This was a new race for me to run and it certainly didn't disappoint. My time was nothing to write home about, but I really didn't care. It was fun to spend the weekend at Bryce with my wife and sister-in-law, do some hiking after the race and just relax for a weekend. The second race was the Kettle Moraine 100K in southern Wisconsin. I've run this race before and did reasonably well at it. Scored my first age group hardware here. I managed to score age group hardware again with a 2nd in the 55-59 age group. The third race was my usual running of Logan Peak. I've run this race a bunch of times and it never disappoints.
July found me just training. No races at all.
August - I ran El Vaquero Loco 50K again. One of the most scenic races around, it's 31 miles of high country running through the western Wyoming mountains. My time wasn't the greatest, in fact it was substantially slower than in 2013, but so what, I had fun hanging with the HUMR crew for the weekend.
September - Ahh, Wasatch 100, my goal race for the year, the one I train for. This was the year I was officially gunning for a sub 30 hour finish, and I got it. 29:40. That time fired me up for the 2015 version to go even faster even as I get older. I had a great time this year. Everything went pretty much according to plan. I was a bit slow for the first 75 miles, but managed to make up all of the lost time over the next 10 miles and pretty much cruise it in. It was still hard but knowing that I had a sub 30, barring unforeseen circumstances, just put a smile on my face. My second major event of September was to return the pacing favor for Breein, one of my friends. She has paced me several times, but I finally got to pace her at IMTUF 100 in Idaho. She did great and the weekend with friends was too much fun.
So that's it, my year. I've naturally got big running plans for 2015, so the miles are starting to ramp up. What's tentatively on the schedule? Well, I'd like to do a few adventure runs so the racing my be cut back a bit. Having said that, here's the tentative race schedule.
Kahtoola Snowshoe 25K
Antelope Canyon 55K
Pickled Feet 12 Hour
Salt Flats 100
Timp Trail Marathon
Speedgoat
Logan Peak
Wasatch 100
I'm thinking about throwing in Capitol Reef 100, but haven't fully decided yet. It's the same weekend as Hardrock and I'd like to go out there just to hang out for a few days. Hmmm, that's the same number of races I ran this year, maybe my racing isn't going to be cut back.
Possible adventure runs include:
Zion, Teton Circ, Kings Peak, Wind Rivers, and possibly the Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier (bucket list item).
Other plans include helping others meet their running goals by pacing, crewing etc., putting on a couple of new races in addition to the ones I do now. Maybe I can get enough races going that I could do that for a living and quit my day job. That would be awesome.
As far as running goals for 2015 go, I do have some that a few people know about. We'll see if those come to fruition. I am getting older and I like to play the age card with my running and blame getting slower on my advanced age, but I still think I can go faster. Maybe that's just my 18 year old brain trying to cash checks my 56 year old body won't allow.
As far as a job goes, I was gainfully employed for the entire year, but I am looking for a different position since the one I'm in now is a temporary contract one and could end at any moment. So, if anyone knows of Engineering, Project Management, Production Management, Quality, or anything similar, or has contacts etc., let me know. There's a reward for any info that leads to me getting a direct position.
Outside of running, my goals include learning new things such as how to card and spin wool, maybe take a programming class or two just for fun, and getting my PMP certification.
So there you have it. I hope to see a bunch of you out on the trails, at races, or where ever you may be.
