2021 Running Review and a PR

 2021 is over, even if the pandemic isn't. 

Strava says I ran 2654 miles and gained 315,000 feet of vertical over 573 hours. That's the most miles I've ever run, about 50 more than in 2019. Coming off an injury year and still in a pandemic, I'm very happy about that. And at the end, I was very happy to pull off a PR. More on that below.

I ran 8 races:

Canyons 100K (16:00)

Capital Backyard (25 hours, 104.16 miles)

Black Hills 100M (28:32)

Kodiak 100K (17:40)

Mogollon Monster 100M (31:42)

Cuyamuca 100K (14:11)

Euchre Bar Massacre (Missed cutoff after 5 Hills, like usual)

California International Marathon (2:59:18, PR!)

I never wrote up reports on Cuyamuca or Euchre Bar. I started training seriously for CIM right after Mogollon Monster, so I wasn't even sure why I had signed up for Cuyamuca, but I was glad I did it. It was a really pretty drive there through some places I'd never been, it was easy camping in the car walking distance from the start, and it was a pretty, runnable course on a gorgeous day with three different loops all passing through the start/finish, where a friend who was crewing and pacing someone else helped me out. It was just a nice day.




Euchre Bar Massacre was amazing as always. There was a nice new segment of trail along a cliff side and I had a much better experience on the dreaded Sawtalian climb compared to two years ago. (Stay left!) The fact that I drove all the way up the day before and all the way down the day after kind of tainted the weekend, but the run itself was delightful, even if I did miss a cutoff around 11PM as usual.

North Fork


North Fork of the North Fork

I ran these races on weekends while doing deliberate speed workouts during the week. Then November it was all marathon training. A track workout, a tempo workout, and a long run each week. I wasn't making my goal pace, and I didn't quite get in the training runs I wanted because of a trip to DC and a leaky roof at my house there, but I was pretty close. I figured I was headed for a 3:05 race. But the week before the race, I realized I was close, so why not go for it? If I went out easy in the first half, I'm just not the type to be able to make up time in the second half. (And who runs a massive negative split in a marathon?) And if I went out too fast and blew up, who cares? I've run 100+ marathons or ultras, what do I care if I have a lousy second half and run a 3:12 instead of a 3:05? The only thing I'm going to care about is a PR. 

So I went for it. I started at 3-hour pace right off the bat. It got hard in the second half, but there was a team of runners from the Bay Area (Team Burn) all wearing matching uniforms with fan support, and I hung on to them for dear life. 2:59:18. My second sub-3 and a PR by 22 seconds. Amy also ran her second marathon, first in nearly 10 years, and finished sub-5, especially good given she didn't have nearly any time for training.

Me crossing the finish line
 

State Capitol after Finishing


 

So what's on tap for 2022? I've got some ideas (see my previous post). As far as centerpieces go, a longer backpacking trip (such as to Alaska) doesn't seem to be in the works, and right now I'm leaning towards a race or possibly two in Europe, and right now I'm especially excited about a big 200+ mile race like Tor des Geants. That's lottery-dependent, so maybe Swiss Peaks 360K could serve as a backup

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