Another year down. Another year with very little blogging. I had the best of intentions at the beginning of the year, but it didn’t happen again. But this blog gets like 8 hits a year, so perhaps that’s a factor in the lack of motivation.
Regardless, it was another good year of running. Ran PRs for the 10k (35:13, Bolder Boulder); Half Marathon (either Georgetown to Idaho Springs (1:14:08) or my first half split at NYC (1:16:52), depending on whether you count downhill PRs); the marathon (NYC, 2:38:19), and 50k (3:25:13, on the track, in Salida). Also ran my most miles ever (3,950 and counting). Made top-20 on the all time list for the Bolder Boulder for my age, which was a bucket list item. I’m on a nearly three-year run streak that started February 19th, 2023.
Some other changes went down this year. I’m no longer coaching high school running. I was just too busy with work to handle the full commitment to coaching track, and there were some others that were motivated to take it over, so I only coached part time last year, and I am fully handing over the reins with distance coaching in Salida this spring. There’s some sadness attached to that change, but with changes to my work schedule, I know there’s no way I can handle coaching, my own training, and work without sacrificing quality of attention in one or more of those endeavors. It’s best to let someone else take it over. There are parts of it I will miss (mentoring, getting to know the kids) and there are parts of it I will not (12-15 hour days at meets almost every week from March to May).
Plus, I’ve taken on somewhat of a role in my son’s U6 soccer coaching. That’s super fun. My kid loves that I’m doing it, so even though I’m no soccer expert, it’s rewarding to show up and have fun with the kids.
I went on a long trip this winter. Took the family to Iceland, Barcelona, Istanbul, Copenhagen, and Ireland. It was a fabulous experience, but we’ve since returned to the US and are in Texas visiting the in-laws. Texas is stupid hot right now for December.
Not much in the way of planning yet for 2026. I hope to run the Bolder Boulder to see if I can crack the top 20 again and then run the Chicago Marathon to see if I can run a PR on a faster course. But other than that, the year is wide open.
At some point, I’d like to run a fast, low-altitude 10k and half marathon, but no plans in the works right now. And in the back of my head, I have the notion of representing the US at some event or at some distance as a masters runner. I’m thinking I might make a push to make a masters, short-flat ultra race, but nothing definitive planned yet.
I’m very grateful to be healthy and improving. Running is fun and rewarding right now. I try not to take that for granted.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
