Happy (early) New Year! Yes, the blog (and myself) are still alive. It’s been quite a year. While I certainly can’t promise that this thing will start updating again with any sense of regularity, it is one of my goals for 2023 to start outputting more content again. But that’s a problem for future me, while right now I want to at least do an end of year wrap up on how my racing season went.
My year started with me recovering from the worst sickness I’ve ever had. I didn’t realize how much the pneumonia and long period of inactivity had diminished both my endurance and my lung capacity until I finally started getting back on the treadmill at the end of January. Suddenly my easy jog pace was no longer an easy jog, but nearly unobtainable except for short distances.
Only trouble was, I had a marathon to run in June.
I had run the Swan Lake Marathonin June 2021, when it became my first (and to this date, only) DNF. The 2022 race was announced as the 20th anniversary and final edition of the race, which meant I had exactly one shot at redemption on that course.
The day started with rain that turned the dirt roads into slippery mud, and quickly soaked through my shoes and socks. Once the rain stopped and the sun came out, the day turned hot and humid. The course is relentless, with very little shade over the last seven miles. I dragged myself over the line for a 5:45:00 finish, collected my medal and a bottle of water, got ten more steps, and then promptly sat down in the grass to empty the contents of my stomach. But I finished!
My next race was the Sioux Falls Marathon. My hometown race hadn’t been run since 2019, due to the Chinese Flu in 2020, and severe weather putting half the course underwater in 2021. This year was special too, because my parents came out to visit. My mother ran the half marathon (her third!) and my dad cheered for us both. Once again I ended up disappointed by my performance though. The day was warm, and I ran out of steam somewhere around mile 17 after successfully holding my target pace for the first 10 miles. I crossed the line with a 5:07:38 time. At least I didn’t throw up this time, and got to enjoy my celebratory beer.
I picked up one last race for early December, because I’ve found I really like training for these late Fall events. All things being equal, I’m at the top of my training by this time, and the cooler temperatures always feel like a speed boost after training through the South Dakota summer heat. Which was how I found myself in San Antonio to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio marathon.
RnR San Antonio was a phenomenal race. They plotted three miles of the course through Fort Sam Houston, the marathon course was mostly flat, and the San Antonio crowds really turned out on a cool, damp day. I finished with a brand new PR, shaving 20 minutes off my best time for a 4:36:18!
This was a big win for me personally. With the disappointing previous finishes, the health ups and downs, and a lot of other up and down issues in my personal life, getting a reminder that sometimes you just have to trust the process and keep grinding was exactly what I needed.
Rolling into 2023, I’m putting that attitude into serious application on more than just running. It’ll be interesting to see where I am in December 2023 as compared to now.