Running Event Planning - 2009

My recent time off from running has given me much time to consider what I would like to accomplish in 2009 with my races. Obviously there will be much work early in the year to get my mileage and strength up. I will continue to focus on long-distance endurance events. In my opinion, trail is preferable to road. Having a baby boy 2 months ago, and now having a family of 5 will keep me grounded somewhat for the time being. One day, I foresee doing some 'destination' races, but as for now, I am content tackling the local events and the local trails.
In my list of races, the key races will be those long-distance races. I have 5 ultra planned, and that is both ambitious and exciting for a novice ultra runner.

The Nootka Trail will be done this year, finalling finishing the major coastal trails of the Island. I am pretty sure the time will not be as important as just completing it, and enjoying the experience.
The E/B 50k will be one where I attempt to run a consistent 50k distance without walking. This is always much easier said than done.
The 63k Great Walk will take the place of the Kusam Klimb this year. I will hopefully cruise out in front for the duration of the race with Myke Labelle.
Again, the JdF Trail will be done once again in August. I imagine not trying to be a record-setter this year, and hopefully I will be a bit more social this year with the group I run with.
After that, the rest of the year is slightly uncertain. The 56k Great Lake Walk begs me once again. I really hope that if it does happen, then it happens with a little less walking!

2009 Races:

• Jan-Apr Island Series (I have no idea how many I will be able to do)
• Mar Nootka Trail 35-40k
• Apr TC 10k
• Apr-July GutBuster Series (I have no idea how many I will be able to do)
• May Elk/Beaver 50k
• May Campbell River 56k or Oak Bay 1/2
• June 6 Great Walk 63k
• July 19 Full Monty 50k
• July 26 Esquimalt 8k
• Aug Juan de Fuca 47k (North to South)
• Sept Great Lake Walk 56k
• Oct Shawnigan Lake 1/2
• Nov Bazett Farm XC
• Dec Stewart Mountain XC 16k

All Systems Go - December 22, 2008

While some days in life you may question how could your day possibly get any worse, there are days which counter this argument, and just end up being great days. Today was a great day.
After getting just over 30 cm of snow over the past 24 hours, Victoria residents were pretty much slowed down completely today.
This rare occurrence meant that the day would be a snow day. And, I love snow. Two things on the agenda now: playing outside with the kids, and shovelling the driveway. After spending much of the morning shovelling the driveway and the entire cul-de-sac, I went back to my door to find two bottles of wine there. The wine was a thank you gift from our neighbors for shovelling our shared road.
A thought came to me while working away. I thought that the snow might mean there would be some other people cancelling to see Dr. Jamie Grimes, and that I could take their spot. Originally, I had been booked for Jan. 5th for my final appointment, but I saw a real opportunity here to see the doctor that was very hard to get a hold of.
Sure enough, there was a time in the afternoon free, so I made the booking with much excitement.
At the appointment, I told him that my last appointment (with a fill-in substitute doctor) was not entirely successful. Dr. Grimes confessed that the fill-in doctor did not have much experience, and that he would Shockwave me for free today as compensation. This was very cool, as these treatments are ordinarily $200 a shot. Cool. The extra treatment could only benefit my recovery, and not harm it in any way.
He also told me that I could initiate running once again, starting in 2 weeks. He also told me that it would be around this time that I would start to notice some improvement with my knee. This was the great news I was really looking for from him. Awesome.

Injury Update - Dec. 3, 2008

At this point the Shockwave Treatments are now completed. The treatments were painful, but hopefully they work. As I understand it, my knee has now been 'triggered' (at the bone and tendon level) to activate a response to stimulate healing.
The chiropractor, Jaime Grimes, has reassured me throughout saying that for my type of injury, I have a 93% chance of a full recovery. Now that the treatments are done, I have 4 weeks of recovery (ie. doing nothing) to let my knee heal. After these 4 weeks, I have a follow-up meeting with him, and pending a positive result, I will be running again on a fully recovered knee.
I expect things to work out. My knee has already showed signs of improvement. At this point, I just have to be cautious to not do too much.
I have Janaury 1st as a target date for my return to running. I hope to be training with the Harriers on January 6th. I hope to race again as early as February.
December will, no doubt, be a frustrating month for me. Waiting is often the hardest part. I have been told that I can remain active, but only in a non-impact way.
As a result, I have crafted a December program involving bike windgates, deep water running, and core workouts. Provided I can stick to this program, and not over-do it at the same time, I should stay in pretty decent shape.
My fingers are crossed that everything works out!