2014 in review for JD - the year of the injury!

Well, the year started off pretty rough when I found out in December of 2013/January 2014 that I had two small hib labrum tears in my left hip.  I went to see a few Dr.'s in the Northern VA area and ended up with Dr. Parker.  He looked at the MRA but didn't see any FAI (Femoroacetabular Impingement) but did see the two tears.  However, my flexibility looked good and we thought we would work on PT first before going to surgery.  So I hit PT hard for about 3-4 weeks and slowly began running again getting around 20 miles a week.  Ran the PR "Run your Heart out 5k" and came in 4th in my AG and then ran the Runners Marathon at Reston .  The race was brutal, here was my dailymile log:

Decent run, planned to live in the 10 min range and did on the back half...wanted this to be a relaxing training run. Weather was absolutely brutal....start of the race it was 20mph winds and pouring rain and around 39F to start...It only got worse from there, wind picked up and got some nasty hail by mile 20, then sleet at the end...all with even bigger winds...so, I was about a good 20 min from hypothermia...hands were swollen from being so cold....all that said, aerobically, felt good and legs felt decent, left hip aching towards around half point and end of race... - had a blast :)

The marathon consisted of cold cold rain and I got something like a 4:20:31.  Not bad for someone who was supposed to get surgery just a few months prior.

Thats me on the left...some random on the right!

Then I got injured.  I had planned to run a 50 miler (Cayuga 50) and Pittsburgh marathon but strained my upper hamstring/lower back on April 20th.  It wasn't until the end of July, early August until I got done PT and built the strength back into my hamstring.  However, on June 1st I paced Zach to his first 10k in Herndon, VA.  The hamstring was bothering me but I was just running through it which wasn't smart.

After I got back to running in September, I ran the 2014 National Capital 20-Miler, Carderock Park, MD where I ran a PR best 2:53:26 in 20 miles for a 8:43/mile pace.

It felt good to just be able to run somewhat hard again for any real distance.  After the 20 miler, I ran YUTC 50k in which I had a planned DNF and only ran 25k.  I could of probably run the whole thing but told myself I wanted only wanted to do 15+ miles that day.  After YUTC, I paced heather to her first 100k at Oil Creek 100 in Titusville, PA.

The month of November was fun.  I ran Richmond on absurd mileage (20+ miles a week) and almost PR'd my marathon time with a 3:54:48.  Actually, the best part about that race was both Zach and Nic placed in the top 5 at the Richmond 8k.

I was very proud of them running so hard and doing so well.  The Richmond Marathon took a toll on my knees but wanted to do another Marathon two weeks later to become a Marathon Maniac.  Heather was a maniac and I really wanted to do it too so I signed up for the Northern Central Trail Marathon which was on November 29th, 2014.  I ran that race and slugged my way to a 4:31:13 for a 10:21 pace/mile.   It was something I really wanted and finally became a Marathon Maniac:

MM #10300

All in all, it wasn't that bad of a year given I had been dealing with hamstring and back issues.  Currently, I am dealing with some piriformis problems in the same gluteal area.  Next year, I have a couple of 50 milers on the schedule and HOPEFULLY on 100 miler attempt.