The Best Of And The Worst Of (updated a bit on 12/22)

While on the flight to Dallas last week I started writing out category headings for a "best of" and "worst of" list, which would represent the highs and lows of my marathon a month effort.

As much as my blogging skills have improved over the year, this is the point when I wish I had gained all the necessary graphic skills to present an aesthetically pleasing list. I hope the readers appreciate substance over style as I am a bit short on the style piece this evening.

Best Weather--Dallas White Rock Marathon, December 13

Worst Weather--Gasparilla Marathon in Tampa, March 1 (rain, wind, turned cold during the run)

Best Finishing Time--Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, 4 hours, 7 minutes, 38 seconds (February 15)

Worst Finishing Time--Estes Park Marathon (Colorado), 5 hours, 12 minutes (keep in mind I ran a marathon eight days prior)

Best Scenery--Estes Park Marathon (Colorado)--This is a tough question. Forest of Nisene Marks (June), Whiskey Row (May), and Park City (August) were also great.

Worst Scenery--Tupelo (Mississippi)--First hour is run in the dark, rest of the course is not that picturesque. BUT, I like this marathon so this is not meant as an indictment of the event.

Best Medal--Mercedes Marathon--The medal is a Mercedes hood ornament. The first race I ran during my return to running was the Mercedes Half Marathon. I walked around with a medal half the size of the medal worn by marathon finishers. I promised myself that day I would eventually run the Mercedes Marathon to earn a full size medal. That said, the medals from Boston and New York are very special as well.

Worst Medal--Forest of Nisene Marks (California)--There was no medal. Finishers received a picture showing a bridge on the course. As a result, I ran a marathon the next week in Estes Park, Colorado to earn a medal for the month of June.

Best Physical Challenge--Running the Whiskey Row Marathon 12 days after running the Boston Marathon. That's not very much time to recover between marathons, and the Whiskey Row event begins at 5,600 feet above sea level.

Worst Physical Challenge--Finishing the Triple Lakes Trail Marathon (October in North Carolina) after spraining my ankle near mile 14. Second place goes to a very painful arch problem back in the First Light Marathon (January in Mobile), which started at mile eight and by mile 15 had me thinking I might not make it past one marathon in 2009.

Best Travel Experience--Boston Marathon (April)--Ran four miles at home on Saturday morning, flew to Boston, attended baseball game at Fenway on Saturday night, enjoyed a relaxing Sunday, ran on Monday and flew out for a business trip on Tuesday morning.

Worst Travel Experience--Gasparilla Marathon--It rained in Tampa, but snowed in Birmingham that day, which resulted in a cancelled flight home. I begged my way on to an AirTran flight to Atlanta at the very last minute, then rented a car to drive from Atlanta to Birmingham. Needless to say, that was a long day. Second place goes to the Tupelo Marathon when I ran out of gas along the highway while driving to pick up my race packet. Third place (tie) goes to the three "red eye" flights home after running marathons--Nisene Marks (June), Missoula (July) and Park City (August).

Best Airline Experience--Every upgrade I received on Delta Air Lines!

Worst Airline Experience--Southwest left me hanging in Tampa (but they did tell me they could rebook on a flight for Wednesday, which was three days later!)

Best Starting Line Experience--New York City (if you have questions, just read the post http://watchgregrun.blogspot.com/2009_11_02_archive.html)

Worst Starting Line Experience--Missoula (Montana)--Just before the race start time I discovered my Garmin GPS watch had lost all of its charge.

Best Finish Line Experience--Running the last mile in Dallas to accomplish my goal!

Worst Finish Line Experience--Boston (April)--I was nauseous, freezing, tired and just looking to find a mass transit ride back to my hotel.

Best Race T-Shirt--New York

Worst Race T-Shirt--Triple Lakes Trail Race Marathon (Greensboro, North Carolina)--Black shirt with purple skull and cross bones...Tupelo has proved you can do alot to dress up the skull and cross bones look. Second place, First Light Mobile Marathon...black Under Armour shirt (which is good), but the list of sponsors covers the entire back in print form.

Best Advice--Bill Hancock's suggestion that I print out each blog post just in case the posts disappeared from cyberspace. As a result, in addition to this blog, I have a notebook of running memories. Second best advice, I read that taking an ice bath helps aid in recovery...which it seems to do.

Worst Advice--Buying in to the marketing of Power Gels, which I blame for my nausea in Boston.

Best Crowd Support--The Women of Wellsley during the Boston Marathon. Who else asks for kisses from thousands of stinky, sweaty runners? Second place goes to anyone who stayed out in the wind, rain and cold in Tampa.

Worst Crowd Support--It wasn't this year, but during the Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota back in 2008, Al Franken (now Senator Al Franken) just stood by the side of the road waving with a very cheesy smile. I saw him twice during the race. Just kind of a wierd look happening there.

Best Aid Station--Really, there were many great stops along the way, which include outstanding volunteers. My experience in Prescott, Arizona (Whiskey Row) stands out because I had great conversations at many of the aid stations, just because I decided to enjoy the day without being overly concerned about my finishing time. Also, the people along the way at the Triple Lakes Trail Race were very helpful after my twisted ankle episode.

Worst Aid Station--Female employees from "Hooters" restaurant staffed the aid station at mile 19 of the White Rock Marathon...I had to say that because my wife and kids read this blog. But I would have said it anyway. Seriously.

Best iPhone Feature for Marathoners--The camera.

Worst iPhone Feature for Marathoners--The battery.

Best iPod Moment--When I heard "Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady," which is from U2's song "Stand Up Comedy." I had to replay it about 10 times during the Missoula Marathon to make sure it said what I thought I heard Bono singing.

Worst iPod Moment--Back in January, I was at mile 16 listening to a podcast of David Platt who is our church pastor. My foot hurt and I was frustrated with the thought I might have hurt myself during the first month of the year when David reached the point in his outline where the phrase was, "sometimes you just have to give up." Bad timing for that comment to play on the iPod.

Best Running Partner in a Marathon--Running with an 8-year-old boy in Mobile who was in his first half marathon. We ran and talked for about three miles until the half marathon course separated from the marathon course.

Worst Running Partner in a Marathon--Guy from Iowa who I ran with in Arizona who asks me where I work and when I tell him "the Southeastern Conference," he says, "I hate the SEC." Well, OK then.

Best Discovery--The iPhone camera. While I knew it was there, it took me until March to figure out how to use it to document my running.

Worst Loss--I lost my iPod somewhere after the marathon in Park City. It was a nano that was a couple years old and fit perfectly in the pocket of any and all running shorts.