Life (and running) is not all about time but about our experiences along the way.
- Jen Rhines
Let me just say that 2016 was another bigly year in racing for me. I ran some really really great races, believe me. And I ran them with great people, tremendous people, some of the very best people. I mean, some of the people I ran with are unpresidented -though of course I won't be saying that if they don't compliment me on their own blogs. A lot of clowns didn't run the races I ran this past year. Sad!
Yes, 2016 was off-key in some notable ways, while hitting all the right notes in others. As for my own year in racing, I've been told by many many friends who are excellent runners that it was a phenomenal year-I don't know, but that's what people are telling me. So clearly 2016 deserves a quick look back before we get on with the better business of looking forward-after all, nobody knows the past year better than me, which is why I alone can recap it. Trust me, this is going to be amazing:
Februarybrought one of the year's "must see" sporting events-the Olympic Marathon Trials-to our hometown of Los Angeles. On a sweltering winter day in SoCal, Galen Rupp dominated the Trials field in his marathon debut, Meb qualified for his fourth and final Olympic Games, and Shalane Flanagan willed herself across the finish line in 3 rd place thanks to the unwavering support of teammate and eventual winner Amy Cragg. The next day I opened my own 2016 race season and renewed my love-hate relationship with the Los Angeles Marathon. LA is a fantastic big-city course I'd recommend to any road runner, though the organizers at Conqur LA need to do a better job of attracting more runners and showcasing the city's historic landmarks to the runners they already have.
March was the calm before the April storm, the latter of which led off with the low-key Peace Love Run Half Marathon in San Diego. This would be my final tuneup for Boston, and what a non-groovy tuneup it turned out to be-a 15.1-mile half marathon, thanks to my running an extra loop on the pleasant but poorly marked course. The silver lining was that I still managed to finish 4 th in my age group. And in all honestly I probably could've run 20 miles with no worries, so strong was my anticipatory buzz. Because as promised, two weeks later I'd be lining up on the other side of the country to run...
... the 120th Boston Marathon. My Boston debut took place on a warm Patriots' Day that saw me struggle mightily in the second half of the race. Somehow, approaching mile 16 in the Newton hills where my father grew up, my body suddenly lost all interest in running-right in the middle of the most prestigious marathon in the world, with nothing I could do to convince it otherwise. And THAT in a nutshell is running. Not that my finish time (which luckily still began with a "3") mattered, since this was Boston... and if I were looking to name my firstborn I'd still consider "Right on Hereford, left on Boylston" Sohaskey. As the cherry on top of my victory sundae, Massachusetts would be state #11 on my 50 states quest. Wicked pissa!
Less than a week later, to close out April and as part of the bicoastal Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge, I came together with fellow B2B'er Krishna (above) and completed my second Big Sur International Marathon in winds that topped out at 40 mph. In the process I regained my running joie de vivre and and finished with a faster time than I had six days earlier. And I earned what (aside from Boston's iconic blue-and-gold unicorn) stands as the hands-down coolest finisher medal in my collection, the clay Boston 2 Big Sur medallion. If/when I run Boston again, you can bet I'll be lining up in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park the next week.
After an April featuring Boston and Big Sur, I could have been forgiven for thinking the rest of the year would be anticlimactic. Oh, how wrong I would have been. In May, thanks to some gently applied peer pressure, I joined Dans Otto and Solera in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine State Forest for what would prove to be not only the most ambitious challenge of 2016 for each of us but, ironically, my most successful race day experience to date. On a chilly day that Disney couldn't have scripted more perfectly, I knocked out my first 50-miler in less than ten hours at the verdant Ice Age Trail 50. Turns out Ice Age was an endorphin high that would keep me buzzing on cloud nine for quite some time. And it just so happened to be state #12 on my 50 states quest.
With such a front-loaded 2016 schedule, I'd planned to take some time off after Ice Age to rest my legs. But that was before June fired a shot heard 'round the world. On hearing of Muhammad Ali's passing, Katie and I made the spur-of-the-moment decision to fly to Kentucky to pay our respects at The Greatest's memorial service in Louisville. Appropriate justification for this last-minute trip came in the form of my running the excellent (albeit sizzling) Hatfield McCoy Marathon across the state that same weekend. For me, it's not the medals or the miles or any OCD desire to cross items off a bucket list, but rather once-in-a-lifetime opportunities like Kentucky that fuel my 50 states quest (state #13).
With the fall racing season shifting into gear, in September I joined fellow heartland lover Dan Solera at another start line, as together we triumphed over the "Anytown USA" ennui of the Omaha Marathon. The race start was delayed for an hour after someone started shooting at passing cars near the course-and on further review, that was probably the highlight of an otherwise nondescript event. At the end of the day, Nebraska would represent state #14 for me and state #45 for Dan on our 50 states mission.
In October I excitedly returned from a 4-year hiatus to run with my favorite Bay Area race organizers at the Brazen Racing Goonies Half Marathon. I even managed a sub-7:00 mile on the downhill, hair-on-fire mile 12. As much as I enjoyed another top-notch Brazen experience, the race itself paled in comparison to the thrill of meeting friends old & new in Lagoon Valley Regional Park, many of them united in sporting their RaceRaves gear. If you're ever looking to run some amazing (and challenging) trails in the Bay Area with equally amazing people, you can't go wrong with Brazen.
November led off with a reason to be thankful: an epic three-day running weekend, starting with 22 miles in 26-ish hours at Ragnar Napa Valley and concluding with another 13.1 miles of quintessential San Francisco at the Golden Gate Half. Two races with two groups of running friends (plus Katie) in one of the world's most beautiful locales-weekends don't get no better than that. And I'm never one to turn down a chance to run across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Last but not least, no better way to round out another memorable year than by convincing my brother Chuck to join me in December for the Toughest 10K in the USA, a tour-de-force of steep hills in nearby Newbury Park. And yes, the Toughest 10K would boldly live up to its name, with only the winner managing to finish in under an hour (barely). I even managed to max out my heart rate at 183 bpm. One ignominious asterisk to my final effort of 2016: having never run a timed 10K in my 76 career races, my 1:22:22 (13:17/mile) finish time now stands as my 10K personal best, less than 12 minutes short of my half marathon PB {yikes}.
So there you have it! While I don't have the time or interest to blog about every race I run, my RaceRaves reviews fill in the gaps nicely. And now, with 2016 in the rearview mirror, I can happily look forward to 2017 and what's already shaping up to be another amazing year. Not that I've mapped out my schedule in gory detail-in fact I've only committed to three races so far this year, with the first coming up next weekend in state #15.
No, the reason I have such high hopes is that the sun around which my 2017 training revolves is a race which once looked like a distant star-a celestial impossibility gazed at longingly by a boy through his bedroom window. Not many foot races could legitimately lay claim to the title of the "Ultimate Human Race". But this one does, and rightfully so. And it's a race that will require me to run stronger and more strategically than any I've run so far.
This June will see Katie and me strive to add continent #4 to the racing résumé as I tackle the celebrated Comrades Marathon in South Africa, where I'll have exactly 12 hours (and not a second more) to run 56 hilly miles at the world's largest ultramarathon. It's an awesome challenge that already has every neuron in my body crackling with anticipation. And it's one I slot in difficulty above all but the toughest 100-milers, since the strict 12-hour cutoff means that-after factoring in aid station breaks-a runner can't walk or even power-hike an appreciable distance and still have any hope to finish. Because at Comrades, to borrow a line from noted non-ultrarunner Ben Franklin, if you fail to plan you are planning to fail.
Now that is a race.
To help prepare my quads for the hills of South Africa, in March I'll be joining Bay Area friends at one of the most popular and scenic ultramarathons in this country, the Way Too Cool 50K. There I hope to improve on another of my questionable personal bests, a 6:33:45 at the scorching hot 2013 Harding Hustle 50K. Not to mention the real reason I'm running WTC-their signature frog cupcakes!
Thanks so much for following along on my (mis)adventures here, in 2016 and always-the fact you take the time to do so (especially if you're not related to me) is the ultimate compliment. My wish for 2017 is that you live strong, be healthy, run well, inspire others, laugh freely and celebrate often. I look forward to sharing my own revolution around the sun.
Trust me, it's going to be YUGE.
Other 2016 blog posts worth a read:
Through the (crack'd) looking glass: post-election thoughts on the state of America
Child's Play: our silly sport as seen through a child's eyes Looking for the best races around the world? RaceRaves.com makes it easy to find, track & review races you've run or want to run, and connect with other runners-you can also follow RaceRaves on Facebook and Instagram, though honestly the website is much more fun than social media. And as you plan your 2017 race schedule, check out our RaceRaves spotlight featuring "7 quick picks for 2017".
FINAL STATS for 2016:
2020.5 in 211 days (and on the 366 th day he rested), 9.6 miles/day average
0 days lost to injury
248.5 racing miles
11 races (one 200-mile relay, one 50-miler, 5 marathons, 3 half marathons, one 10K) in 5 states (CA, MA, WI, KY, NE)
Overall race percentile: 72.2 (down 22 from 2015, excludes the Peace Love Run Half and Ragnar Relay) → 15,763/56,786 total finishers
Fastest race pace: 7:21/mile (Peace Love Run Half, despite running two miles too far)
Slowest race pace: 13:17/mile (Toughest 10K in the USA)
8 blog posts & 9 RaceRaves original articles written
My Staging Area (profile page) on RaceRaves
