2010 Year end Musings (of a runner)

With the last training run and strengthening session of the year 2010 done it is time to reflect on the year gone by and look ahead at the goals for 2011.  By and large it has been another good year of running which includes making some fantastic new friends and strengthening bonds with other runner friends. I ran four full marathons, one 75K ultra and 81K at the Strides of Hope.  I also invested in a Schwinn  Searcher Sport  and did a long cycling trip thereby more or less achieving the goals I had set myself for 2010.

 2010 Highs

• My best marathon timing of 4:00:51 in India at SCMM 2010
• 75K at the Bangalore Ultra 2010 in course record time of 8:56:04
• PB 5K time of 22:55 at the Duathlon 2010
• My longest ever distance of 81Km run/walk at Strides Of Hope 2010
• Longest ever cycle ride to Nandi Hills covering 133Kms in 8hrs 15 mts

2010 Disappointments

• The transition times at the Duathlon 2010 that messed up my overall timing for the event
• Not being able to go for Athens marathon due to a personal reason
• Quads injury in August possibly due to the long cycle ride
• Missing my target times at ING Hartford marathon (FM)  and Midnight marathon (HM)  by a whisker

2011 Goals

• Sub 3:59 at SCMM 2011 - it will be challenge to shave nearly 2 minutes of my last year's timing
• Other marathons
• Auroville in February
• Hyderabad in August (target sub 3:55) - hopefully this will happen in 2011
• Kaveri Trail Marathon in September
• Bangalore Ultra Marathon in November (50Km or 75Km)
• Ambitious goal of sub 48 minutes in Sunfeast World 10K in May
• Stay on feet for 24 hrs and cover 120Km+ at Strides of Hope 2011 in January 

Of course, with a likely new job in 2011(31st December is my last day of work at my current job and I am starting 2011 with a few weeks off) I am a bit apprehensive as to whether I would be able to keep up my running schedule of the last few years. As usual I hope to start the New Year with a run - I have managed to do this since 2003. This year I am targeting 35K with a bunch of BHUKMP runners - my longest since Ultra 2010 and the last long run before SCMM 2011 two weeks away.