Year-End Summary

It seems obligatory...First, some links.

Track & Field News' men's and women's Athletes of the Year, men's and women's Performances of the Year, and #1-ranked men and women

The IAAF's end-of-the-year reviews for sprints, middle distance, long distance, road running, hurdles, jumps, throws, and combined events

Race Results Weekly's Marathoners of the Year; Runner's Web's Ten Best Moments of 2006 for US Distance Running

Now, the year in review for the Superfan.

The blog was launched on June 11 with a review of the NCAA Championships TV coverage. Since then, I've also begun blogging for Trackshark and Garry Hill gave me a positive review. As of right now, the blog has had 4,337 hits.

As a fan, I got a few nice opportunities. Early in the year I was given a chance to announce at our local high school conference championships. It is hands-down the best job to have a t a track meet. Then the USATF championships came to Indianapolis, the NCAA XC regionals came to my little town, and finally I saw two NCAA XC Championships in one weekend (part 1 - part 2).

I was asked to take the boys' cross-country coaching job at my school. While our season wasn't the most successful, we had fun and a lot of improvement.

As an athlete, this year was a disaster. I bombed a marathon in April, then developed achilles tendonitis which I wasn't able to get under control for six months. I don't keep track of miles anymore, only training time; my annual total was 252 hours, or just under 5 hours per week. Short of injury, I prefer to keep it in the 8 to 10 hours per week range.