2022 Year in Review

 Let's start 2023 with a quick look back at 2022. 

I'll start by saying that 2022 was kind of a recovery year in a way. After 2 years of hard running in virtual races, then an epic Fall of 2021 doing ultra distance events, my body was tired. Initially I had planned on training for a Spring 10 km race, but instead, as time ticked away, I knew what I really needed was to recover. 

Now, I also kept to my monthly goal of a 5K run under 18 minutes, and I made it all through 2022 with at least 1 fast run a month. It is nice to know that I can still summon a little speed, even when I am not at 100%. 

After some physio (thanks Anita at Beaverbank Physio), so massage therapy from Seaside Chiropractic, and of course the mighty Alan, my chiropractor also at Seaside, my recovery took a mere couple of months, and I was feeling decent again. 

So let's look at some of my highlights and get to it (with pictures!):

Parkrun started back up, and I was on the line from the first run. I ran with lots of friends, made new friends, and after a 2 year break, finally hot 50 official parkruns.

Parkrun also became the venue of my fastest official 5K event, and for those that know the Chain of Lakes parkrun course, it is a tough one. I ran a 17:11, knocking 8 seconds off my old 5K PB at age 48. 

That same day, I also hit my longest ever open water swim. It was a solo effort and as a non-swimmer, I was super happy to have achieved this over 1 hour swim. 

Though I was not at my peak in the Spring, I wanted a new challenge, so I took on the world of canicross. I was happy to have had so many friends that helped me out by loaning me dogs to run with. While, I had many great runs, I have to say my 14:50 min 4.6km run in Moncton with Loki was a thing of magic. 

I didn't enter many races this year other than parkrun but I did find some good results when I did.

First place at the Bridgewater Tire Trot. That is 3 years in a row (with a 2 year break of not being held).

Natal Day I did the Mile and ran a 5:06, followed by the 5.6 mile event the next day where I ran a 3:37 pace, which was what I wanted to be able to hold for 10km. I felt good after that run, so I knew that my 10 km goals were not too far away.

And finally I entered the Valley Harvest 10km race. Here I finished second overall (which is great enough) but also achieved a new PB in the 10km. Now this PB is hard to nail down. My official race time is 36:11 (my old PB was a virtual race in 36:15) but the course seemed to measure long (based on a lot of factors, but it seems consistent with all runners) and I crossed the 10km mark at 35:51. So either way, PB. I am happy. 

I took a trip to Moncton to meet up with Gilles at O2Max testing. Honestly, this was before I hit many of my fastest times, and before I did my VO2Max test with him, I was kind of in a funk. Part of it was a still recovering body, but also the idea that maybe I had maxed out my abilities. Gilles assured me, after my test, that I still had a lot to give. I began breathing training with him and even a few weeks of that really helped open up the air ways and by Fall my lungs were happy as ever. It was nice to find out my lung potential was no where near maxed out. So this is a journey I will continue on and see where it leads. 

I still managed to hit the trails as well, leading the Sportwheels Thursday night trail ride all Summer long. We ended the season with a 50Km ride from Hubbards to Chester and back. 

In all I ran 2463km, biked 2761 km, swam 27344m and hiked 306 km. 2022 wasn't too bad at all.