My 2013 year of running in review

When I look back at this year, I realize how little I race these days. The exception was the fall trail series, here in Duluth, but we will get to that.

March: Fyr til Fyr 60K. Lots of asphalt. Did ok until 5K to go, when the cramps came and I had to walk it in.

May: Mallorca Half Ironman. Terrifying swim. Fun race. Half marathon in 1:21. We think it was a little short.

All summer: I was in ok shape, but DID NOT RUN A SINGLE RACE! Not sure why. It was just a busy time. The Girl raced a lot and I was watching the kids a lot. No, I did run a slow, tactical 5K in Fælledparken (in mid 17s, I think). Three old guys surging and drafting and then finally sprinting, in a tiny 5K. It doesn't get better than that.

And then there was Winforce 100K. Finally a straight up tough trail race in Denmark. Not run at night or up and down a rock face on Bornholm. An actual "runner's" trail ultra in Denmark. 100K is not my distance but I thought if I started really slowly, then just maybe... But no. I started slowly, started feeling good, sped up maybe a little too much, and then foundered. Interestingly, my downfall was nausea. The Girl, a budding authority in ultra medicine, informs me that nausea is the most common cause of ultra dropouts. Who knew?

Then we moved to Duluth and we discovered the Minnesota Track Club Fall Trail Series. I had a slowly declining fitness curve over the fall and went from second place to barely top 10 over the course of the series. Goal for the spring: a win.

In October, we ran the Glacial Trails 50 (kilometers for me; miles for the Girl). Surprisingly, I won in 3:56 without having any leg issues at all. That came in the middle of declining form in the trail series, so it really came as a surprise.

I am not sure what this year will bring. My 7on/7off schedule makes it easy to run a lot of miles - every other week. By default, I will be forced to run every other week short and fast; there's not much I can do about it. I have always liked intense workouts anyway.

We will both run Chippewa this spring. If this weather continues, I will not have run a single step on the trails before Chippewa but, again, there's not really anything I can do about it. Beyond that, I have no specific goals. I will certainly do a lot of the short trail races in Duluth and then once again I will try (and once again suck at) Voyageur in July.

But come on. We don't even know if we are going to be in Duluth, Baltimore, California or Salt Lake City this fall. There are plenty of trail races to choose from out there.