January 1, 2024 - A Look Back And Forward

2023 is a wrap. And I wrapped up the year with one final race on December 31, a local 10k race that allowed me to set a personal best at the distance…mostly because my personal best was very soft since there aren’t a lot of opportunities to run 10ks around here. So I woke up, had a small breakfast, and ran the two miles from home to the Florida Atlantic University football stadium where the race would be starting.

I had only ever run one 10k, years ago in preparation for my first time trying to qualify for the Boston marathon. At the time, I surprised myself by running a 40:30 time which seemed way faster than I should have expected. This time things would be very different. I just wanted to check off that under 40 minute 10k thing in an official race, though I had unofficially done so during longer races. That meant I could run a nice, controlled pace with effort, but not having to really take any risk or push too hard. And that’s really all I wanted to plan for, having run very little since California International Marathon and eating everything in sight for four weeks through the holidays.

And the race went exactly according to plan. A nice, controlled, hard effort finishing in 38:24. How nice and controlled? The race was held concurrent with a 5k, and the 10k was simply made up of two lap of the 5k course. My first lap: 19:11. My second lap: 19:13. Pretty darn even and controlled. A nice, big personal best while doing exactly what I planned to do.

It was a nice way to wrap up 2023, a year that had plenty of great running memories even if I didn’t end up hitting my goal at CIM. 2023 began with a silly chase to run a much faster 5k than I’ve ever run before, a failed effort that led to me kind of hating running training. Then I shifted to preparing for pacing at Hardrock, which resulted in a fun day running the Black Hills 100 50 miler. Then it was off to Hardrock, the highest highlight of the year. Once Hardrock was done, it was time to get serious about CIM. Oddly, I didn’t enjoy the marathon training as much as I have in the past, which I credit to my growing interest in trying to chase a Hardrock entry and the idea behind this blog, the High Five by 55 idea. CIM was another highlight of the year, even if not the day I’d hoped for. There was also the eventual setting of a personal best by a few seconds at the 5k distance during this year’s turkey trot. And then finally this silly, little 10k registered for last minute because the weather forecast looked ideal (and turned out to be just so.)

One of several early year 5ks

Black Hills 100 50 Miler

Oh, just the coolest aid station I’ve ever visited…Kroger’s Canteen!

California International Marathon

runBoca 10k

But now it’s time to really focus on this High Five By 55 project. Sure, I’ll continue pacing marathons, something I enjoy greatly. But that doesn’t require dedicated marathon training and offers a great incentive to maintain really robust aerobic fitness. The training beginning today begins to focus on doing everything I can to make myself as mountain ready while training in Florida as possible.

That will mean quite a bit less pure, raw running and quite a bit more time hiking at an incline on the treadmill and power walking with a weighted vest. It will mean less speedwork, and more strength and balance exercises. It will mean less tempo sessions, and more muscular endurance sessions. While I’m not excited to spend so much time on the treadmill, I am very much excited to get focused on this project and to be less focused on straightline endurance speed.

2024, the year the High Five By 55 project begins in earnest.

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