a year in review

Around this time each year, many runners begin reflecting on their efforts and accomplishments. Some will share their thoughts online, while others will simply contemplate their past year on a solitary long run. For those who blog though, Miss Zippy has worked to standardize this annual reflection, offering six questions that serve as a template for gathering one's thoughts. Once answered, posts can be linked on Miss Zippy's blog and shared online using the #yearofrunning13 hashtag. Following the lead of Miss Zippy and a number of others, here is my year in review:

1) Best race experience?

This is an easy one, and not just because I only ran three races this past year. Every year I run the same turkey trot with my best friend on Thanksgiving morning, and each time we have finished the race just a little bit slower than the last one. This year though, we made a pact at the starting line to put an end to this, and by the time we had crossed the finish line, we had taken three minutes off of our time from last year. The streak was broken, and now we're looking to run an even faster race next November.

2) Best run?

Where I live isn't really the best place for running. You can either brave the dangers of twisting country roads or deal with the monotony of running circles around small neighborhoods; neither option is ideal. This is made even more depressing by the fact that prior to moving here I had always lived in places with a great selection of route options.

However, while talking to someone at the gym this summer about the lack of good outdoor spaces in the area, I was informed about the existence of Hickory Hollow, a nearby nature preserve with a few trails that loop around and intersect each other. I checked it out, and on my first run I immediately fell in love with the place. The terrain offered new challenges, and the wildlife and scenery quickly dispelled boredom. Ever since that first run, I've made it a point to get there at least once or twice a week, as much as daylight and scheduling will allow. Had it not been for that first run there, I'm sure I wouldn't have ended up running nearly as much as I have this year.

3) Best new piece of gear?

Tough call here. There are two items I purchased this year that have greatly impacted my running, and each as done so in a completely different way, one improving my physical well-being and the other doing wonders for my mental health. The first transformative piece of gear was a pair of Xero Shoes; these flimsy running sandals helped me transition into barefoot/minimalist running this past summer, and now that I've kicked the shoes and improved my form, this is the longest I've ever gone without some type of injury. The second item that makes the cut was a Garmin Forerunner 110. Since getting it, I'm no longer tied down to the same old routes; I'm free to wonder and explore, and I never worry about planning my runs when I visit a new place. 

4) Best piece of running advice you received?

I had struggled with iliotibial band syndrome for years, and I had just about tried everything to remedy the problem. It got to the point where the only thing I had left to try was barefoot running, but before I would take on something I was already extremely skeptical about, I made sure to read up on the subject. Pretty much all of the information out there echoes the same few points: take the transition slowly, increase your cadence, and shorten the length of your stride. It was incorporating these three things into my running that really enabled me to get back to running the distances I had when I first started running, before the nagging injuries appeared.

5) Most inspirational runner?

There's a huge pool of talented, accomplished runners to draw from, but in light of this year's events, I'm going to have to refrain from selecting a single individual, and instead choose the heroes of the Boston Marathon who ran towards danger to help those that had been injured in the bombings. From first responders to spectators and participants, when everyone else was running away, these individuals ignored their own safety and ran right into chaos and tragedy; it's hard not to find inspiration in that.

6) If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?

It's been a year of returning to the basics and rekindling my love for running.

a streak happily broken

With the Runner's World Holiday Run Streak currently underway, runners all across the country are making the pledge to run at least one mile every day between Thanksgiving and New Year's; I myself am among those attempting the 35 day challenge. I've gone on a streak a few times in my running career, and every time I've done one, whether long or short, I've always found it exciting to feel the tensions mount as the desire to not break the streak grows stronger with each passing day. Despite the benefits and the fun challenge that a running streak can provide though, there is one streak that I was very happy to break at this year's turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning.

As I mentioned before, I have run the same turkey trot around Rockland Lake near my hometown in New York for the past six years, and due to some combination of failing to properly train and requiring more effort to experience fitness gains these days, my finishing time has gotten slower each year. I knew that I was better prepared for the distance than I had been in the past few years though, but I had been running my training runs slowly and I wasn't feeling very confident in being able to post a faster time. I was fully prepared to just cruise through the race and celebrate the fact that I would be able to complete the distance without injuring myself, but as my friend and I were standing at the starting line, I told him about the downward trend in our times and he became committed to ending the streak right then and there.

We ran the first mile fairly slowly to warm up, but from there, my overly determined running buddy began pulling me along and steadily increasing the pace. We were running each mile faster than the one before it, and by the final mile I was really struggling to keep up. The pace was becoming more and more unsustainable, and just when I wanted to slow down most, we rounded the corner into the final stretch. The seconds on the clock ticked by, but I knew if I just held on a little bit longer the streak would be broken.

We ended up completing the 5 mile course and triumphantly crossing the finish line in 48:11, just about three minutes faster than our time from the previous year. With the streak of slower finishes finally meeting its demise, it seems only logical that the goal be to flip the trend. I'm sure a streak in which I get faster each year won't last nearly as long as the one where I got slower, but here's to a faster trot in 2014.

a perfectly timed delivery

As soon as we arrived home from work yesterday, my wife and I began packing up the car for the long drive up to New York for Thanksgiving with my family. Once the last piece of luggage had been loaded and the house had undergone its final inspection, we hopped into the car and started it up. While I was happy to be making the trip to see friends and family, I couldn't help but be disappointed in the fact that Vivobarefoot seemed to have broken their promise to deliver my shoes before our departure.

With the forecast calling for freezing temperatures and the remote possibility of snow on Thanksgiving, I dreaded the idea of having to run the turkey trot in sandals, but a number of shipping delays and complications with my order resulted in a predicament where having to do just that was becoming a very real possibility. While Vivobarefoot was very good about acknowledging the problems that they had caused and had assured me that their latest attempt at sending the shoes would arrive before we left on our trip, it was looking rather unlikely. Just as we pulled out of our driveway though, a UPS truck pulled in. We turned the car around, and met the delivery driver just in time for him to hand us the package directly.

The color ended up being wrong, but at least the size and the model were right this time; I was just glad to have something that would provide a little more protection from the elements tomorrow. While Vivobarefoot's customer service leaves something to be desired, they make a good shoe and the package did arrive as promised, albeit without a second to spare.

a blustery morning run

I know that it takes about two weeks for the benefits of any given workout to have a physiological impact, but that doesn't mean a run can't have an immediate psychological effect. With the temperature just below freezing and the wind blowing fiercely this morning, I opted against an easy run and traded it for a confidence boosting long run. With only four days until my 5 mile turkey trot I knew I should be tapering, but with the forecast calling for temperatures in the low twenties Thanksgiving morning, I wanted to make sure that I could handle both the distance and the cold.

I drove out to Hickory Hollow, a small natural preserve area that has a few different trails that loop around and intersect each other, and I set out for a four mile run, my longest run in almost a year. The ground was hard and unyielding from the cold and the wind had left many tree limbs strewn across the trails. It was pretty tough going, and at one point, due to concealment caused by fallen leaves, I lost sight of the trail and ended up running down a steep embankment, only able to arrest my rapid, uncontrolled decent at the bottom by grabbing onto a small tree. Despite the unforeseen adventure, I continued on my way, all the while hoping that it would warm up, but the cold winds were unrelenting. Far from my fastest run, I was just content to have completed the run without any other incident.

I know the cautious thing to do would have been to take it easy today and to ensure that my legs were as fresh as they could be for the race on Thursday, but I'm glad I put in the extra miles. Between IT twinges from a couple of weeks ago to my longest run being only 3.5 miles, I was a little worried about how things were going to go at the turkey trot. Would I have to walk? Would I end up injured? But after today's run, I know that I'm good to go. I don't have a lot of confidence in breaking my time from last year, but at least I know that I'm ready.

a chilly three mile triumph

My best friend and I have been running the same 5 mile turkey trot every Thanksgiving morning since 2008, and each year my time has gotten just a little bit slower than the previous year. This somewhat depressing trend can easily be attributed to persistent issues with iliotibial band syndrome caused only by my own past foolishness, but despite the ever increasing times being posted on the finishing clock, I've gotten a little bit smarter about my training as the years have passed.

I've worked hard to incorporate different techniques and routines to help keep injury at bay, and since making a smooth transition into minimalist running this past summer I was really starting to feel confident about breaking my predictable Thanksgiving day slowdown. I mapped out an eight week plan to steadily increase the length of my runs, and things were going extremely well up until last week when the scheduling began calling for distances of 3 miles and beyond.

On each run where I attempted to reach the elusive distance, I started to feel twinges in my IT bands, some days the left and on others the right. Not wanting to risk all of the gains I had made since the summer, I'd inevitably back off and end the run early, usually about a half mile short of an even three. But today, on the coldest day since I began running in just a flimsy piece of rubber held to my foot by a cord, I succeeded in competing a 3 mile run, and I hadn't even set out to do it.

In preparation of the cold I ended up deviating from my usual routine in several ways, and it's hard to tell which aspect or what combination of factors lead to my momentous run this morning; all I know is that something clicked and it worked. I did a quick foam rolling session before leaving the house, and I walked for about five minutes prior to starting. Then, when I finally got to running, I ran extremely slowly, nearly 90 seconds slower than my usual pace. The run was feeling easy, and all I kept telling myself was that I shouldn't look at my watch, that I should just stop when it started to get difficult. Eventually I started thinking that I had been running for what felt like awhile, and when I looked at my watch I saw "2.88 miles" on the screen. A celebration was clearly in order; obviously at that point I had no problem finishing out the 3 miles for the day.

So as of right now it's tough to say if I'll end up breaking my streak and clocking a faster time than I had at last year's race, but I'm content just knowing that it seems I've broken a plateau in my training. We'll just have to see how the next two weeks go, and maybe things will come together on Thanksgiving morning as perfectly as they had today.