A New Year!

Well i'm sitting at work today thinking of the old/new year. What I have done & not done & what the next year will bring. It is very crazy to think how fast a year goes by. I try to live my life to the fullest everyday. I will turn 36 this year & I still feel like i'm 18. My legs have really came back to life after not running for a few weeks & they will take me to places they have never took me this new year. I can't get out of my mind the Wild West Relay. This event will test every cell in my body. To travel 199 miles on my two feet? It will be a monsterous achievement & if we can raise some money & i can dress up like santa & deliver gifts to kids in the Childrens Hospital it'll be that much sweeter. Another thing about this year is i have really found out that i am not a fast individual at all. I believe the multi-day races & more extreme 100 milers will be my forte. You say how much more extreme can running 100 miles be? There are so many different 100 mile races to run from mountains, to road, to Death Valley ultras. I am going to try a 48hour race this year also to test my limits. Testing what my body can do is the real reason i do these events not for people to tell me i'm stupid or your crazy. In the end of the day when i'm doing a 20 - 50 mile training run spending 4 - 12 hours in the dark when most people are sleeping i'm thinking about pushing my body to the limit towards the redline to see what will give up first my heart or my body. During the Boulder 100 this year my body gave up which was my biggest disappointment yet to date. Everyday i think about the run & what was the real reason i quit? Was my knee hurting that bad? Did i just let my guard down & no one was there to tell me different? Who knows but until i finish my next 100 miler that race will keep running my life. Every run is filled with why did i not finish? Well what is done is done no going back in time but i promise myself one thing everytime i run, only serious injury not just knee pain will stop me from running in the future. I am going to start picking up my training alot more in the next few weeks so i can possibly go into Moab in March & win. I have set very lofty goals for the upcoming year here are a few-
1.) Win all three 100 mile races i'll be entering Moab, Laramie, & Boulder.
2.) Finish the Wild West Relay & Colorado Relay running them solo.
3.) Winning some prize money at Ultracentric in November a 48 hour event that i would like to shoot for 200 miles.
4.) Run 100+ miles on the Colorado Trail during my 36 hour b-day run.
Lofty goals indeed but i do believe when i'm writing about 2010 that some of those goals will be met. Well looking out the window it is snowing like crazy & making it home to illinois for christmas might not happen but i do wish everyone happy holidays & hopefully we see everyone soon. I love you all & i think about everyone everyday. PEACE, i'm out,
Stephen