Running out of 2011

Most of you are excused from feeling like you need to read this post. It is going to be filled with more inane trivia and such from this year's running events than most people, including runners, can possibly care about.

Sorry.

Note: I'm a tiny bit early with this since I still have one more race to do this year, on New Year's Eve. If I waited to do this after that race, this likely wouldn't get written until the middle of 2012, if ever. (Keep your rude remarks to yourself!)

This was an AMAZING year in running for the Notthats.

The spreadsheet is pretty much impossible to read this year. The one cool thing was that I added a section for The Boy. If he didn't work most weekends, his section would undoubtedly be a lot fuller.

I save all my bibs (including the bonus "bib" I made for the Brazen Dirty Dozen 12 hour run - the handwritten one below 23). Tragically, Mrs Notthat saves almost none of hers.

One thing that sticks out is that there are only three bibs with four-digit numbers - this is because I mostly do trail races and they rarely have more than three-digits worth of runners. My favorite number this year was "88," which others pointed out can represent the mythical "double infinity" if worn sideways (which I of course did). Odd note - the race before this, it was Mrs Notthat's turn to have 88. I was insanely jealous. I couldn't believe I got it the very next race.

Side Note: There has been some debate about what to do with the bibs. I believe they would look fantastic covering a wall in our bedroom, but Mrs Notthat oddly disagreed. There was talk of making them into coasters, but I could never bring myself to cutting them up. Placemats would work though, but who really needs 39 placemats (and that's just for this year)? I'll just keep them hanging from a hook in my office at work. For now. Maybe I can talk Mrs Notthat into giving me a bathroom wall - the bibs are all water proof.

I almost always opt for getting the shirt at the various races, even when I am volunteering and not actually in the race. These are most of the shirts - I thought it would be cool to lay them out in a "rainbow of colors" style, but I didn't want to bother working out the actual order of rainbow colors plus I'm pretty sure rainbows almost never have gray or white.

(Yes, the tan shirt is out of place, but I was not going to shuffle all these shirts around just to put it someplace else almost as dubious. Plus the dog was determined to walk on these, and I needed to get done before they all ended up needing to go into the laundry.)

Cool shirts to point out: Palo Alto Moonlight Run, Brazen Bear Creek, Western States 100 "Official" volunteer, PCTR Skyline to the Sea, and a Marathon Maniacs singlet (!).

Out of the bottom section, Golden Hills, Brazen Bad Bass, Dolphin South End Runners ("Start slowly and taper off" - my racing strategy to a T), Turkey Track Trail, the wildly uncentered Wharf to Wharf, Urban Cow, and Brazen Summit Rock.

One thing that surprised me as I laid these out - there are no black shirts. Last year I got at least three of them.

And then, the bling. A few favorites: the bonus coaster I got from PCTR when I finished the Skyline to the Sea 50K - my first ultra; the hard to see small clay medal from the Turkey Track Trail race in Colorado; the Brazen Dirty Dozen medal that is a medal, coaster, and bottle opener all in one; the cow bell from the Urban Cow Half in Sacramento; and the Brazen Turkey Weekend three for the price of two deal. The stylish arm sleeves were from the Golden Hills Marathon, which did not give out medals, but had these sleeves, a great shirt, and a great goody bag.

Mrs Notthat's medals look a bit different, mostly because she has a lot of age group winner medals (six!) mixed in there. She also got two "medals" that are more like jewelry (Nike Women's Half Marathon and the Mermaid Run) - these are in the lower-left corner of the picture. She also has a bunch of ribbons from the Dolphin South End (DSE) Running Club races, which is a group in San Francisco that put on ridiculously inexpensive and fun races in a variety of city locations on almost every Sunday morning.

My firsts this year:
• First ultra attempt, followed shortly by...
• First DNF (Did Not Finish); the Brazen Diablo Trails Challenge in absurdly foul weather
• First successful ultra attempt (PCTR Skyline to the Sea)
• First race requiring a boat ride (Coastal Ayala Cove on Angel Island)
• First DLF (Dead Last Finish - Coastal Cinderella Marathon), which ironically was also...
• First first place age group finish (sometimes it's good to be in an unpopular age group)
• First out of state race (Turkey Track Trail in Colorado)
• First timed event (Brazen Dirty Dozen 12 hour race), which included...
• First "cookies tossed"
• First night run (Palo Alto Moonlight Run, oddly with thunder, lightening, and rain in September)
• First (and hopefully not last) cowbell medal (Urban Cow Half Marathon in Sacramento)

I ended up running in 39 events, volunteered at 6, and cheered others on at 7 others, making for a total of  52 events attended this year. Yikes! Probably the most stunning accomplishment was finishing six marathon or longer races this year - all on trails. At one point I had done one a month for four months in a row, which got me into Marathon Maniacs (one star, but still...).

I covered a bit over 533 miles in races this year, including 62,446 feet of climbing, all in 139:45:50 (I'm estimating 3:00:00 for my New Year's Eve Half Marathon) - about a 15:45/mile average pace.

Mrs Notthat covered nearly 311 miles, including 24,326 feet of climbing, in just over 72 hours - about a 13:50/mile pace (astonishing!).

The Boy ended up in 9 events covering 76.3 miles with 6,705 feet of climbing (and a mud pit along with other Warrior Dash obstacles) in 14:45:11 - about a 11:32/mile pace (wow!).

And the best thing was no injuries (although there was a scare when I had some knee pain in one race).

Next year should be interesting. I figured I would tone it down a bit, but then I signed up for the Coastal Crystal Springs Marathon (in a bit over a week), I made it through the lottery for Way Too Cool 50K, I need to make a second attempt at Brazen Diablo Trails 50K, I'd love to do PCTR Skyline to the Sea again, and we are hoping to get to go to Pagosa Springs Colorado again for the Turkey Track Trail.

All of that is before July. This is pretty exciting!

That's it - move along...

PS: The following is just for my purposes. They are links to all the posts I did about the various events I was involved in. It's a shockingly long list.

Brazen New Years Half Marathon
Brazen Coyote Hills Half Marathon
Coastal Steep Ravine
Brazen Bay Breeze (volunteer)
PCTR Redwood Park 20K
Brazen Diablo Trails 50K (DNF)
PCTR Skyline to the Sea 50K
Brazen Western Pacific (volunteer)
Coastal Ayala Cove 10 mile
Brazen Wildcat 10K
Mermaid Run (cheerleader)
PCTR Sequoia 30K
Coastal Cinderella Marathon
Apple iWalk 5K
Coastal Horseshoe Lake (volunteer)
Brazen Hellyer (volunteer)
Healing Hearts 5K
Brazen Nitro Half Marathon
GECKO Turkey Track Trail Marathon
Coastal Zombie Runner San Francisco Half Marathon
Western States 100 (volunteer)
Brazen Dirty Dozen 12 Hours
Redwood City Fourth of July 5K
Wharf to Wharf 10K
Brazen Bad Bass Half Marathon
San Francisco Progressive Marathon (cheerleader)
Brazen Bear Creek Half Marathon
PCTR Sequoia 20K
Coastal Zombie Runner Vasona Lake Half Marathon
Palo Alto Moonlight Run 10K and Brazen Drag-n-Fly Half Marathon
Coastal Mt Diablo Half Marathon
Brazen Trail Hog Half Marathon
Urban Cow Half Marathon
Golden Hills Marathon
Brazen Rocky Ridge Half Marathon
Brazen Diablo Adventure Half Marathon
Brazen Nitro Turkey 10K
Brazen Quarry Lakes Half Marathon
Brazen Summit Rock Half Marathon
Coastal Zombie Runner Bay Trail Marathon

Yikes! (If you read this far you have too much time on your hands! But thanks!)