In reflection, 2011 included 1500+ running miles, a bunch of extra hills, and continue to receive some great training advice from Coach Rosling, The motivation and encouragement from "Pain Train", "Daddy Long Legs" Jensen, and Tonya was much appreciated. In addition, I appreciated all the race directors, volunteers, family, and friends who kept me motivated this year. The Run Wild Team in particular is awesome, I always feel welcome at those training runs and races.
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| Keep your eyes peeled, you never know! |
I got beat a couple times by Smilin' Kristin Rosling at the Champoeg half and again at Silver Falls half, that's teachin' me some lessons about finishing strong. The "Guam Bomb" beat me regularly most of the year and I only started to feel like I could compete with him late in the year. Gene and I got to enjoy getting passed by the Smilin' Rosling first hand with about a mile to go. Getting beat, is not all bad. It turns out those races were some of my favorite runs.
Here's some 2011 memorable runs - Some I hadn't planned to run, but that gave me some new running confidence and experiences. Others planned, but provided lessons unexpected, with a peek at some 2012 options:
1) Hagg Lake 25K - (Tougher than it looks with the mud and all the little up/down hills), but I'm bumping up to the 50K in 2012 for twice the fun.
2) St Patrick's Irish Heritage weekend runs with family (10K Eugene (Sat) / 15K Portland (Sun) - back to back, fun to see the costumes and Irish Setters dressed in green in PDX). I haven't decided whether I'll run these this year, with all the other runs planned (Need to get in some long runs +20 miles).
3) Peterson Ridge 20M - (Best trail run east of the Cascades I've done, re-learned to run with a cramp - slows you down, but it doesn't have to ruin the run!), Gimpy's bumping up to 40M in 2012.
4) Forest Park 50K (Most satisfying redemption), but switching to McDonald Forest 50K in 2012
5) Gotta feel good about the improvement in my half marathon time at Pacific Crest Duathlon. I gain a lot of satisfaction out of my tag team with my Brother-in-Law (Joe Rothery) - Ultra-biker extraordinaire. Hope you get those knees healed up for 2012.
6) Mount Hood 50M (Had two of my top 10 best training runs training for this race, Gimpy's 1st 50miler, first time I felt the OMG! I'm glad I'm done relief!, and appreciation award for my sister Darlene hiking me to the finish). This will be a repeat for 2012 to see if I can break 11 hours and qualify for Western States 100M.
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| They used to run over there (Wow!) and back! |
7) Santiam and XDog Mt Hood Scrambles (Scrambles are just plain fun!!) - Not sure what'll happen in the 2012 scramble world.
8) Flagline 50K (Highest altitude just get 'er done run), hope to do Waldo 100K in 2012.
9) Autumn Leaves 50M (2nd 50 miler - flat course, but confidence booster once I got under 10 hours). Probably not re-running this one, as they've removed it as a Western States 100M qualifier for 2012).
10) Multiple runs with Coach Rosling and Derek, I always run faster when I'm running with Speedy. Derek has shown lots of heart and he just keeps on running. I like it when my running game is raised to a higher level.
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| Eric and Mike beatin' it to top of Mary's Peak |
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| Derek up at Dimple Hill |
2012 is looking challenging and I've signed up for some new runs while including a few repeats to see how much I can improve from last year.
First runs in 2012 - Capitol Mile (6:47), Hangover run (14:57)
More pics and clips at this link for Hangover Run:
Run Wild Adventures - Hangover Run Images-Clips
Happy New Year! Now let's go Gimpy, Time to Run!!!
Thanks for the finger tappin' on the old keyboard. It's awesome reading about your runs and successes and it is really motivating. Cool stuff Roger. You are getting what most will never get.
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