It’s been a while since I’ve
sat down to document my running on here, but a lot of times I get a little bit
bummed when I do go to blog something because I read all these other guys
blogs, like Ferenc, Jim Johnson, or Dave Dunham and I just feel like what I am
writing is super boring. Awesome, I ran seven miles in the morning around the
streets of Flowery Branch. Yep ran out past the feed mill, down Gainesville street,
past the creepy trailer park/horse stable by the lake and back through
“downtown” to work. That’s been pretty much every run that I’ve done over the
last couple of months. That same seven mile route, the only exceptions have
been races (which have been surprisingly awesome), the occasional day I decide
to slack off and run five and when I run in whatever city I travel to for work
(which hasn’t been too exciting lately.
However, even though I haven’t
really had a ton of exciting stuff to write about lately, this past year was my
best year of running since graduating from college in 2006. Moving to Georgia
has been really good for my running. Despite being away from my friends and not
really having anyone to train with finding the Dirty Spokes trail series in
2011 sparked me to get back into racing. After a solid spring and summer that
year I wanted to add workouts and try to keep my running going throughout the
football season. I was able to do that and the results were, like I said
before, my best year of running since college.
The biggest contributing
factor to my successful year of running was being selected to run for the
Saucony Hurricanes. The great support that I received through Saucony and
having a teammate (Mitch Novy) to race with pushed me to try and carry my
running through the fall and early winter so I could hit the ground running in
2013. It has been an absolute blast running for the Hurricanes and I really
hope that I am lucky enough to continue to run for them.
I was able to win another
Dirty Spokes Series title and finished on the podium in all eight races, as
well as run a solid 10k and 5k going 33:13 and 15:58 on the road and I
fulfilled my new year’s resolution of spending more time outside just enjoying
running. While I was definitely pumped about all of that the thing that really
made 2012 a great year for running was the fact that I was able to keep
training throughout the football season. This is an insanely busy time of year
for me with work and there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get runs in
sometimes. At least that’s how I viewed things in the past.
This season, I made a
commitment to continue running during the season and try and race the XTERRA
Georgia trail series races that take place in the fall. Fortunately, my travel
schedule lined up and I was able to run in four of the five fall races,
surprisingly winning all four. I think it stemmed from entering the Kaiser
Permanente Corporate Challenge 5k with some of my co-workers. This race kept me
motivated through training camp and got me out in the early mornings for five
to seven miles and I ended up really surprising myself with the result. It made
me a little hungrier to get back to road racing.
During the football season I
was able to carve out a seven mile run to get into a steady regiment of what I
called maintenance training. It was a little tough to find that long of a run
around the office but once I was able to find the back roads and neighborhoods
that are about 10 minutes away I was ready to roll. While my spring and summer
running were really good, I was hitting 70-80 miles regularly, running tempo
runs and toeing the line for races ever few weeks, I was really excited with my
running in the fall. The 15:58 5k and the four XTERRA wins, I felt like came
out of nowhere. The only race I really felt strongly in was the Little Mulberry
10k, but that was only after the race had already started.
I ran 2,655 miles in 2012 and I
know that’s not some earth shattering number that I going to impress anyone,
but it was a great year. Not only was I able to run well but I had a lot of fun
and I got a chance to do some really cool runs. My Daily Mile year in review
shows the bell curve that comes with trying to train and work in the NFL. I’ve
enjoyed using daily mile as a training log for the last couple of years, I feel
like it helps me hold myself accountable to document my running. That’s one of
the reasons I wanted to start blogging. Going forward though I think I am going
to start using Strava.com more. Now that I have a Garmin and I know a few of my
friends are using it, I think it will be a cool way to track my training.
Here’s a couple other 2012 in
review things:
My top 5 races of 2012:
1 – XTERRA Georgia Little Mulberry 10k – First this park is a gem,
2.2 mile paved loop around the pond + another couple miles of paved paths on
the other side of the pond then it has a cross country course, gravel trail and
a five mile equestrian trail. The race course is very fast at the start, almost
like a road race then pure XC until 2.5 miles then it becomes a trail race
dropping down from and then climbing back to one of the highest points in Gwinnett
County. One of my new favorite places to run.
2 – XTERRA Georgia Thrill in the Hills ½ Marathon – this was my
first half marathon and the course is one of my favorite places to run, Ft.
Yargo State Park. The course follows the mountain bike trail with one detour
onto the inner loop hiking trail to avoid the monster mile. It has lots of
twists and turns and a good amount of up and down but also a few places that
you can really fly. I finished second and ran pretty well, but I wasn’t 100
percent ready for this one. I am hoping to improve my time this year.
3 – KP Corporate Challenge – I’m picking this one because I never
thought I’d dip under 16 minutes, I was hoping for under 17 and thought I had a
shot at 16:30 if I ran really well. I made up a ton of ground over the last two
miles but in the end I didn’t have the wheels pull out the win. Still it was
really cool to run through the streets of downtown Atlanta and finish under the
Olympic rings and the site of the 1996 torch.
4 – Battle of Allatoona Creek – This race was a random one that I decided
to run after seeing the flier on the wall at REI after the Olde Rope Mill race.
It was a fun race that started with 5k on a grass field and then headed onto mountain
bike trails. It was my first race as a member of the Saucony Hurricanes and my
first win of the year.
5 – Tie –Gainesville State & Central Park trail races – These
two tie because I was able to defend my title at both and I ran them both
really well. Gainesville State probably should get a slight edge because it’s
another place I run all the time. I like to call that my home course. Central
Park was tough because of the course change and the fact that it was 100
degrees.
Worst race of 2012
The one and only Sutalee Trace Trail Challenge – I learned why it’s
a trail challenge pretty quick. Just an awful day, 100+ degrees and seven
minute pace for the race, but second place did get me a free pair of shoes that
I gave to Amanda, now she has some sweet trail shoes for her mountain bike
rides.
Top 5 Runs of 2012
1 – Ft. Yargo
2 – Windham, VT – Awesome run
with Josh starting and ending at the falls
3 – Little Mulberry
4 – Balboa Park (San Diego) –
even though I got lost
5 – Boat House Row (Philly) –
I’ve got a soft spot for Philly
On to 2013
I know we are a few weeks into
2013 and I have my first race coming up this weekend, but my goals for 2013 are
to stay healthy and continue to have fun running. One of the reasons I was so
inconsistent in the past is because it became a chore to run every day. I still
have those days once in a while but getting back into racing has helped me with
that. I want to win the Dirty Spokes and XTERRA Georgia series titles and try
to get back to run some solid 5ks and 10ks. A few of my target races for this
year are the Peachtree Road Race (I really want to run this one and I’ve got a
time for it this year), the USATF Trail 10k Championship and of course the
Vermont City Marathon. I really want to run my first marathon this year. I think
the timing of VCM works perfect with my schedule and it helps to have a bunch
of friends that are planning on running it. Hopefully I’ll be able to pull it
off. I’d also maybe like to enter either a Duathalon or mountain bike race. I
know I’ll get smoked but I think it could be fun.
You can follow my running antics on twitter @falconsmhaley
