Ranked #9 in the country! :)

2010 is off to a good start so far, and the Letsrun.com marathon rankings at the end of 2009 gave me some great motivation for the year! I put the link at the bottom of this post.

I am ranked as the ninth best female marathoner in the country and hopefully by the end of 2010 I'll be in the top 5. After 2008 I was ranked tenth, so one place higher is a small improvement and better than falling lower, right? The rankings made me realize how much potential I have to improve in the marathon, given my low mileage and being pretty new to the event. My average mileage, even after taking out weeks off last year, was 59 miles per week! Many top female marathoners are running 100+ miles week after week. As my mileage increases and I keep putting in the hard work, I know my marathon time will improve so much. It really excites me to think about what I can accomplish in the event, and makes me proud to say that I am considered one of the ten best marathoners in the United States. :)

Some other great news for this year is that I am now sponsored by Brooks! I am so excited because I love their clothing and shoes. Their women's Trance has helped my arch and bone spur so much. It's incredibly hard to find a shoe that comes with a good insert, so the Trance 9 has been amazing for me. I don't like bulky orthotics either, so it's great. They are cushioned very well too, while also having great stability and some flexibility in the forefoot. Love 'em :) I can't wait to get my Brooks uniform in the mail and wear it proudly, along with my other sponsors' logos!

Training has been going well lately and I think things are finally coming around for me. I was not feeling very great recently and I thought my iron was low or something was wrong. My iron results came back great and I am also feeling a little better on my runs, so I am seeing some progress. I think it was just a matter of not being in as great of shape as I thought. I look forward to racing some shorter races in February to assess my fitness level again, since I have not raced a "serious" race since the Las Vegas 1/2 marathon back on December 6th, after only 11 days of running! I assume the next race will be better and I'll have some more realistic feedback. My mileage was about 80 last week, with one day off and only one double day, yet I feel great and my body seems to be fine after everything I did. I am doing longer runs at a pretty good pace, so I know those are making me stronger.

I continue to get treatment done to my foot with the bone spur, and I recently did a full evaluation with them, and now have some glute, hip, hamstring and transverse ab exercises that I have to do whenever I am up there. It feels great to make these steps toward working on things where I am weak. I know it will pay off as the months go on. I definitely need to get my butt and hamstrings stronger because I am so quad dominant, and my hamstrings and butt get tired the fastest in a marathon, ha.

Well, all for now...one quote I love that I have been telling myself more and more lately if I ever doubt myself is....."You become what you think about".........:)

http://www.letsrun.com/2009/09ranksmarw1201.php