Good-bye, 2009... Hello, 2010!

My last race of 2009 is in the books, so I figure it's a nice time to reflect a little.

Ironman

I started the year dreaming about Ironman Canada. I'm ending it still glowing from it.

It was awesome, the greatest experience of my life.

When 2009 started, I had one season of triathlon under my belt. More specifically, I had completed a try-a-tri and a Sprint! So to close out 2009 as an Ironman is a pretty awesome feeling, it represents a year of dedication and training that I couldn't have imagined even a couple short years ago.

Other Stuff

In the spring, I did Around the Bay for the first time, the oldest road race in North America. That was really neat, especially the finish in Copps Coliseum.

I crushed my 10k personal best at the Sporting Life 10K, and went sub-45:00. I had to gut out the finish to get under 45:00, now that was suffering!!!

I set a personal best at the 1/2 marathon in Peterborough in February (then beat it again at the Hamilton 1/2 in November).

I finished my 4th straight Paris to Ancaster, an annual mountain bike race and the first race of any kind I ever did.

My triathlon season was all about Ironman preparation: the Muskoka Long Course in June, the Peterborough 1/2 Swim/Bike and the Belwood Sprint Tri in July. Some success, some failure, lots of lessons to apply at Ironman.

And I finished it all off by doing my first bit of trail running in the fall, building up to the 25k Vulture Bait trail race.

2010

How do you top 2009? You don't. It was a special year, one I doubt I can ever repeat. First time doing anything is special, first Ironman was once-in-a-lifetime.

But I still have things I want to accomplish.

• Muskoka Ironman 70.3 - I've wanted to do this race since it started, it's local (Ontario) and the course is quickly becoming legendary for its difficulty. This won't be a "I just want to finish" thing, I want to rock it! I plan on doing a lot of work to improve my swim, and I think I have room to improve in the bike/run as well.
  
• Full Marathon - I've done one, and as soon as I crossed the finish I wanted to try another one. I didn't want to risk a spring marathon in my Ironman year and I wasn't up for training that much in the fall, so 2010 will be a better year to go for it
• Trails - I enjoyed the trail running and love mountain biking, so I want to put it together for an adventure race or something along those lines. We're eyeing the Moraine for Life Adventure Race.

I have some other smaller goals, like completing my 5th straight Paris to Ancaster, maybe improving my 1/2 marathon best, etc... but I'll firm those up in more detail as the season unfolds.

2010, bring it on!!!