2009 will forever live in my mind as the year I qualified for Boston. It was a challenging year to say the least. I began 2009 by jogging a mile and walking a mile on New Year's Day. It felt like I had just qualified for the Boston Marathon that day. Considering I was coming off a broken foot that I suffered on October 27 I felt like I was going to turn the corner on a new year and things would quickly get back to normal. Boy was I wrong.
After that New Year's Day jaunt I would not run again until January 15. Then it would be February 1 before I ran again but February 5 before I would complete a mile running. My struggles continued and after another doctor's appointment and a CT Scan in late February it was painfully evident that it would be a long haul back.
On March 4 while working out at lunch time I decided to take this comeback one tiny step at a time. A mile was out and 1/4 miles were in. I was able to string together a week of quarter mile runs. Then half mile runs, followed by 3/4 mile runs and eventually back to back 1-mile runs on March 19 and 21. And even though I wasn't ready to compete in a 5k I did so on March 28 completing the Pennsylvania Highlands Sprint to Success in 21:44. My foot would continue to cause me issues through my summer vacation in June but by mid-summer things were beginning to fall into place for me. Even though my timetable for Chicago seemed a bit on the aggressive side I maintained hope that I would be ready to go by October.
On April 25 I was shocked when I set a 5k PR by running a 19:30 at the Wings of Hope race. I smashed my previous PR by 19 seconds. And despite dealing with ongoing pain issues I dropped back to the half-marathon in Pittsburgh and forced myself to "just finish" and found a way to do so in 2:01:35 on May 3.
I focused on simply running races and getting stronger throughout the summer and tried to maintain a consistent running schedule. Even though my times were not as fast as I wanted them to be and the adrenaline of simply running was now long gone I was accomplishing much by simply running. On August 29 I once again finished with a disappointing time in the Rockwood Rotary Half-Marathon. This time I completed the run in 1:38:51 and wondered if a Boston Qualifier was even close to being in the cards. I despite running I simply did not feel strong.
In September, however, something funny happened. On September 6 while doing a 20-mile training run I felt strong and followed that up with some additional strong runs the closer I got to October. Pain was seeping away from me and I hadn't really experienced many issues with the foot in weeks. On September 20 I declared myself ready after putting in a 10-mile training run in just over 1:11. All of my training runs were coming in under BQ times. Still, there was much uncertainty.
On October 11, 2009 I qualified for the Boston Marathon. I had perfect weather conditions and despite hitting a bit of a wall at mile 23 I overcame it. Then I followed that up by setting my second 5k PR of the year at the Red Cross Vampire run thirteen days later. This time I did it in 18:51, cutting another amazing 39 seconds off my previous PR. Not to be outdone, I finished 2009 by cutting another 32 seconds off that PR and set my 3rd 5k PR of the year on New Year's Eve at the Hollidaysburg YMCA Twilight race at Lakemont Park.
All told, I set a new record for races run in a year in 2009 by completing 15 races. I ran my five fastest 5k times of all time in 2009, setting 3 PR's along the way. I qualified for Boston. I overcame a slow start and recorded my third highest yearly running total (753.8 miles), while recording my fourth and fifth highest monthly running totals of all time (August - 110.8 miles and September - 105 miles).
Next week: 2009 The Year in Photos.
