thanks joe kleinerman.

up the hill after the finish.

2009 running has been a mixed bag. starting off the year with the disappointment of finding out that i would not be able to run new york (ING marathon) this year took a lot of the wind out of my running sails and planted the seed of resentment towards new york road runners (the reason i wasn't able to run). starting the re-qualification process over this year felt overly laborious and many of the races weren't much fun... especially after being out with an IT band injury for the end of winter/beginning of spring.

that said, i did it! today i ran my last race of 2009 and my final 2010 new york city marathon qualifier... and even though it was really, really cold, i had a good time doing it. i ran smart and i ran hard and i finished with a sprint and a smile... and an automatic 2010 qualification.

thank you to victoria for encouraging me to follow through with the qualifying process, telling me i would regret it next year if i didn't. and thank you to my awesome friends for the encouragement all year long... i hope to hear you cheering november 1 next year...