The End of 2009

Photo of the Day

My Photo of the Day project was a success for 2009. I took a photo every single day of the year and posted them all to Flickr. I created this nifty poster-sized image below, which is being printed as I type and will soon be hanging on my wall. It contains all 365 daily photos.

This project really took a lot more time and effort than I initially thought it would. On the bright side, I think I've improved tremendously as a photographer over the past year, and I have some really great photos that will last a lifetime.

I am tentatively planning to continue the project. My motivation has been to do so has not been great lately (and I've completely run out of ideas on a number of occasions), but I've recently found a few good sources for inspiration. So I do plan to continue for the foreseeable future.

Races

Date	Time	Place	Div
Tecumseh Trail Marathon
2009-12-05	04:20:06	80/595
FOLEPI River Trail Classic
2009-11-28	00:22:38	15/439	2
Allerton Trail Race
2009-10-25	00:35:38	5/462	2
Danville Memorial Day 5K
2009-05-25	00:17:54	5/398	1
Rockford Marathon
2009-05-17	*03:09:05	15/249	3
Twin Cities Twosome
2009-05-09	00:18:15		3
Masters Swimming 500 yd TT
2009-05-07	*00:06:48	1/2
Tri the Illini
2009-05-02	00:55:05	10/301	2
Illinois Marathon
2009-04-11	*03:22:15	151/1620	24
Hillsboro Roubaix Cat 4 RR
2009-04-04	01:57:31	19/100
Land Between the Lakes 23K
2009-03-14	01:46:32	6/61
Masters Swimming 500 yd TT
2009-02-25	*00:07:10	1/1
Riddle Run
2009-01-31	04:56:42	1/10
Siberian Express
2009-01-03	00:50:49	25/398
*personal best for the distance

Running

My running in 2009 was really one of extremes, both high and low. I started the year with some really strong races and a spectacular build-up to the Illinois Marathon, which ended in spectacular failure on my part. I bounced back quickly with a great run at the Rockford Marathon, only to notice a gradually worsening pain in my right knee (my good knee) less than a month later. This knee injury kept me from running for over 10 weeks, and severely cut back my cycling. Around Will's birth I finally started running again and slowly built up both my speed and my endurance. I had a couple of good (though not great) races this fall before the horrible experience for me that was the Tecumseh Trail Marathon.

Despite the significant time off, I still ended up running about 17 miles farther than in 2008. I guess training for three marathons and an ultra-marathon will do that. I took it easy running for a few weeks after Tecumseh to make sure I wouldn't injure myself again. I'm relatively healthy at the moment, but I'm far from peak condition. I really wanted to run the Siberian Express tomorrow morning, but a cold this week put a damper on that. Running is the one sport I have going for me at the moment, which isn't saying a whole lot.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	109.34 Mile	10	10.934 Mile
February	55.83 Mile	7	7.97571 Mile
March	108.792 Mile	10	10.8792 Mile
April	74.85 Mile	8	9.35625 Mile
May	64.5669 Mile	9	7.1741 Mile
June	7. Mile	1	7. Mile
July	0	0	0
August	16.3 Mile	5	3.26 Mile
September	39.78 Mile	7	5.68286 Mile
October	42.52 Mile	7	6.07429 Mile
November	112.5 Mile	11	10.2273 Mile
December	41.04 Mile	4	10.26 Mile
Total	672.518 Mile	79	8.51289 Mile

Cycling

Cycling was one of my disappointments for 2009. I started the year decent enough, but I was really concentrating a lot more on running for the Spring marathons. Once I injured my knee in June I cut way back on my cycling and never made up for it. I ended 2009 with less than half the miles on the bike as 2008. I only competed in one cycling race and one triathlon, despite my intention of focusing completely on these events after mid-May. Fortunately, both were fairly successful for me, so it wasn't a total loss.

Sadly, I don't think 2010 is looking that great for me. I'm horribly out of shape on the bike. I've struggled to keep up with my friends on the last few easy training rides I've done recently. I really need to get my act together here before it's too late. 2010 starts now.

December 2009

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	19.4 Mile	5	3.88 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	65.82 Mile	3	21.94 Mile
Total	85.22 Mile	8	10.6525 Mile

January - December 2009

Bike	Distance	# Rides	Avg per Ride
Bianchi	611.15 Mile	139	4.39676 Mile
Big Red	12.07 Mile	4	3.0175 Mile
El Fuego	75.2 Mile	8	9.4 Mile
Pocket Rocket	329.78 Mile	44	7.495 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird	1857.4 Mile	46	40.3783 Mile
Total	2885.6 Mile	241	11.9734 Mile

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	139.41 Mile	22	6.33682 Mile
February	232.35 Mile	23	10.1022 Mile
March	411.9 Mile	26	15.8423 Mile
April	372.18 Mile	27	13.7844 Mile
May	347.83 Mile	24	14.4929 Mile
June	209.21 Mile	23	9.09609 Mile
July	206.74 Mile	12	17.2283 Mile
August	275.94 Mile	22	12.5427 Mile
September	287.11 Mile	21	13.6719 Mile
October	219.2 Mile	23	9.53043 Mile
November	98.51 Mile	10	9.851 Mile
December	85.22 Mile	8	10.6525 Mile
Total	2885.6 Mile	241	11.9734 Mile

Swimming

I had a good start to the year swimming. My swims mysteriously stopped around August 12 for some reason. Anyway, I swam a personal best of 06:48 for 500 yards in May. I did swim 25% farther than I did in 2008. I really need to get back into this. Again, 2010 starts now.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	1.87452 Kilo Meter	3	0.62484 Kilo Meter
February	14.9504 Kilo Meter	6	2.49174 Kilo Meter
March	19.5224 Kilo Meter	7	2.78892 Kilo Meter
April	13.3502 Kilo Meter	6	2.22504 Kilo Meter
May	12.7806 Kilo Meter	7	1.82579 Kilo Meter
June	17.15 Kilo Meter	8	2.14375 Kilo Meter
July	15.55 Kilo Meter	6	2.59167 Kilo Meter
August	7.9 Kilo Meter	3	2.63333 Kilo Meter
September	0	0	0
October	0	0	0
November	0	0	0
December	0	0	0
Total	103.078 Kilo Meter	46	2.24083 Kilo Meter

Walking

I didn't plan to keep track of walking stats, but now I'm kind of glad I did (at least after my June knee injury).

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	3.75 Mile	2	1.875 Mile
March	0	0	0
April	8.51 Mile	4	2.1275 Mile
May	6.7 Mile	4	1.675 Mile
June	11. Mile	3	3.66667 Mile
July	29.52 Mile	10	2.952 Mile
August	35.02 Mile	14	2.50143 Mile
September	29.82 Mile	12	2.485 Mile
October	19.42 Mile	9	2.15778 Mile
November	41.17 Mile	12	3.43083 Mile
December	29.65 Mile	8	3.70625 Mile
Total	214.56 Mile	78	2.75077 Mile

Skiing

I'm certainly not good at skiing, but I enjoy it. There was just very little snow in 2009.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	26.67 Mile	6	4.445 Mile
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	0	0	0
August	0	0	0
September	0	0	0
October	0	0	0
November	0	0	0
December	10.36 Mile	2	5.18 Mile
Total	37.03 Mile	8	4.62875 Mile

Scooter

It sure seemed like more than that. Well, it was a transitional mode of transportation anyway.

Month	Distance	# Workouts	Avg per Workout
January	0	0	0
February	0	0	0
March	0	0	0
April	0	0	0
May	0	0	0
June	0	0	0
July	13.4 Mile	4	3.35 Mile
August	0	0	0
September	0	0	0
October	0	0	0
November	0	0	0
December	0	0	0
Total	13.4 Mile	4	3.35 Mile

Blog

I ended the year with roughly half as many blog posts as last year, with the rate of entries really dropping off in August. William has tried to pick up some of my slack with his blog.

Additionally, I assume you have noticed how all the titles of all my blog entries begin "The ...". It has been a lot more difficult to maintain this naming scheme than I originally thought it would be two years ago. In fact, there are a number of times when I thought about writing a short entry but never got around to it because I couldn't think of the right name. I think it has been holding me back a little. So it is with mixed emotions that I declare this will likely be the last entry to strictly follow that convention.