My Favorite Race of 2010

2010 is coming to an end rather quickly. Tomorrow, or rather in a few short hours, it will be December 1, and the last month of the year always flies by. A few weeks ago I thought I had one, or two, stress fractures. I went to the doctor yesterday who said that I don't have any (yay!), but rather sometimes my legs need a break is more like it. Pretty much: I need to do more cross-training.

Today during my nice 5 mile run I thought about all the races I ran in the past year. I did not do a single race from June 2009 - May 2010 - a whole year off of racing. Part of that was due to being injured (stress fracture), but another major factor was the fact that I moved to a new state. I noticed when I moved from Minnesota to Ohio after college I did not do any races for a year as well. Hm...my habitual lifestyle carries over into all areas of my life!

This summer and fall I've run a variety of races - 7 to be exact. The most amazing thing was that they were all different distances - the shortest was 5k to a half marathon. I PR'd in 6 out of the 7, the only non-pr being my half. However, I was able to PR because of the randomness of the distances, not because I ran that well for some of them.

For the "I cannot believe I finished this race" award goes....the Bix 7 mile race. This race was in mid-July and it poured for the entire race. On top of that, only a few weeks before the race I found out I am anemic and my iron was so low my doctor was surprised I could even run. All 7 miles were on hills, which is especially tiring if you have a low energy supply to begin with. I ended up running sub-9 minute miles and was so proud of myself. Next year I will conquer the hills!

For the "I can't wait to sign up for this race again" award goes....the MC200. It is so different being on a relay team for a race. Although the weather was not favorable for my 3 legs of the race, I still had a good time and was glad to do it. If you run this race be sure to breathe in the fresh air before you run along the country roads of Wisconsin.

Lastly, the "my favorite race of 2010" award goes to....the Quad Cities Half Marathon. I love the distance of the half and it suits me well. Granted, I've never run a full so I don't' have anything to compare it to, but I just really like the half. The course at QC was flat as a pancake. It was nice to have my uncle sign up for the race with me, have my cousin working an aid station, and my parents, brother, his friends, aunt, and cousin supporting me. Even though I didn't PR, I still had a great time and would go back in a heartbeat.

Looking ahead to 2011, I have a couple races planned that I'll be posting about shortly.

What was your favorite race of 2010? Are you a nerd like me and give awards to the races you've run?