Saturday I went to the Midwest Regional meet, hosted by the Gophers. The Gopher women looked tough as they finished 2nd to Illinois. The Gopher men looked strong too, but so did the 5 teams that finished in front of them.
At the meet I met Gloria and Pat for the first time. These are 2 women that have given a tremendous amount of their time and energy into making the Minnesota running scene such a great place; Gloria through the Minnesota Distance Running Association and Pat through Team USA Minnesota.
I first learned of Gloria at the 1997 Grandma’s marathon. At the time I had only been in Minnesota a year. It was my second attempt at the distance and there was a stretch during the race where I kept hearing, “Nice job, Gloria.” I heard this over-and-over and I kept thinking, “Who the heck is this Gloria gal?”
I ended up running 3:17 that day and got my butt kicked by the 49 year old. Gloria thinks she ran 3:12 that day. She was able to put that “brutal” performance behind her and run 3:03 at the age of 50 the following year.
Needless to say, Gloria (and Pat) are definitely candidates to be interviewed on my other blog. Speaking of which, I posted another interview over the weekend.
As for training, Saturday’s 8 mile run gave me 57 for the week. Sunday I had a great 12 mile trail run at Willow River State Park in Hudson, WI. It’s near my mother-in-law’s house, so I went there while she hosted a baby shower. This morning was another 8 miles before work. I decided to get off my regular paved path and hit the dirt and woodchip sections. I was a little worried about being able to see ruts, roots and rocks in the dark, but it turned out alright.
Quote of the day;
“Success is 90 percent physical and 10 percent mental. But never underestimate the power of that 10 percent.” – Tom Fleming in Joan Samuelson’s Running for Women
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