LIGHT YEARS AWAY

In that Jack Daniels video I mentioned in my last post, he’s actually pretty funny. He mentions how lucky we are when we get injured. It’s not because it’s our body’s way of telling us we need a break. He says it’s because it extends our running careers because we tell ourselves “Just wait until I get back in shape, man, I am going to tear it up.”

That’s where my mind is at right now – looking ahead to getting back into shape and tearing it up.

Last year I wrote a lot about not wanting to look back on my "career" and just see a bunch of 5K and 10K performances, with some marathons mixed in. So I started putting together a list of other things I wanted to try. I have marked a couple of things off my list and now I find myself missing road racing. Or maybe I’m missing being in the shape I was when I was racing more than I am now.

At the time, it seemed like I was never as fit as I wanted to be and I never seemed to be as fast as I wanted to be either. I was consistently so-so. Looking back, I can see that I was really just taking my fitness for granted. Being able to consistently run 30-minute 8Ks and 1:25 half marathons should have provided satisfaction, rather than frustration because I wasn’t running 29 minutes and 1:23 consistently.

Now I find myself struggling to get fit and stay healthy. Thoughts of running those old times are now appealing, but seem light years away. With these thoughts on my mind lately, it has me considering 2012 and actually putting together a road race season - complete with a training plan and, dare I say it, some real goals. Jack Daniels’ video has me convinced that even when I was running well, I wasn’t nearly maximizing my training. I mean, just thinking about intervals, I haven't done a hard interval workout in probably 5 or more years. I’m curious to see where a proper training plan will put me – hopefully not in the Doctor’s office.

In addition, I’m kicking around the idea of treating 2012 like my first year of running. I won’t compare my current fitness to my all-time PRs, my times from my 30s, or even my 40s. I will only compare myself to where I am right now and I’ll seek to improve from here and get faster as the year progresses.

Quote of the Day;

“You don’t think about the finish time. It is like the Olympics or World Championships; everybody thinks about the medal. Today was like that, I was thinking who was going to finish first. Kebede is my friend but today was about fighting together. He is my friend but when you go to the race you must fight each other.” – Sammy Wanjiru

EASING BACK

Well, so much for jumping back into running conservatively. After last Thursday’s 1 mile run, I went 4 on Friday and then 9 on Saturday. The foot is feeling fine and my knee is even feeling pretty good. Maybe there’s hope after all.

Last weekend I watched a DVD I got for Christmas last year that basically shows Jack Daniels lecturing on his thoughts about running. One thing he talked about was the gains achieved from running vs. the risks. For example, a 10 minute run has low risk, but also low gains, whereas a 2 hour run has high risk and high gains. He talked about 30 minutes being an optimal range where your gains are fairly large, while the risk is still fairly low. Sure your gains for a 60 minute run are better, but you increase your odds of injury.

Of course, you’re not going to get super fit on 30 minutes a day, but I thought it’d be a great way to ease back into running – and I mean it this time - except for longer group runs on the weekend. The nice thing about 30 minutes is it’s easy to squeeze in just about any time of day and even twice a day; morning, noon and/or night. Or I can spin or ski in the morning and run 30 minutes over lunch. With that in mind, I ran 4 miles yesterday and this morning I took a spin class for an hour and then jumped on the treadmill for 3 miles.

Finally, congrats to the Wisconsin Badgers and Georgetown Hoyas for winning the men’s and women’s cross country titles yesterday. The nice thing about growing up in Wisconsin and now living in Minnesota is that I can root for both states. I recently heard someone say something like, “Show me someone that likes more than one NFL team and I’ll show you someone that doesn’t really like any team.” That’s probably true for me when it comes to pro football. However, as a fan of running, I like both programs – so it’s great to see the Badgers dominate.

Quote of the Day;

“NY Marathon is famous for the energy of its crowds, but since the pro women start 30 minutes before the other 47,000 participants, everywhere we go there is a feeling that we are a bit early for the party, the hosts still mixing the guacamole and figuring out where the guests will put their coats.” – Lauren Fleshman

ITCHING

I mentioned briefly that I’ve added some biking to my routine in the form of rides on my trainer during football games on Sundays, as well as spin classes once a week. Each of the last three Thursdays I’ve started my day at Cycle Quest. As a runner, I tend to try to exert roughly the same amount of effort throughout a race. If there’s an uphill, I’ll slow down and keep a similar effort to the flats and vice versa on a downhill. That’s great for running, but I find it puts me at a disadvantage when it comes to biking or skiing. These athletes are constantly going hard and recovery, depending on the terrain. So it a ski race situation these guys are going hard up hills, knowing they’ll be able to recover at the top, whereas my “steady as she goes” philosophy gets left in the dust. I’m hoping these spin classes will help with that.

I’ve kind of been itching to run lately, so after spin class, I hopped on the treadmill for 1 mile. I’m being overly cautious because I haven’t run in 6 weeks and I want to avoid a setback. Plus my doctor gave me some metatarsal pads to add to my inserts and I want to be careful with adding something new like that to my shoe.

By now I’m sure you’ve all added Flotrack’s Run Junkie to your favorites. If not, here’s the latest episode;

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

Also, the 8th episode of Ryan Sutter’s season is up on Universal Sports. In this episode he takes on a half ironman with a goal of sub-5.

Meanwhile, I didn’t even know Adam Goucher had a blog, let alone a book. Has anyone read it? I’d be interested to hear what you think.

Finally, watching all the NYC Marathon coverage a couple of weeks ago has definitely moved that race up on my “must-do” list. I know it’s a hard race to get into, but they do have guaranteed entries based on half and full marathon standards. The problem is that they’ll be tightening those standards for 2013. Currently, a 40-44 year old man needs to run a 1:30 half. I don’t think that’s overly difficult - it’s about a 70 on an age-graded scale. After 2012, that time standard drops to 1:23, which is closer to 75 on an age-graded scale. Much harder, but I guess it’ll give me something to shoot for. Otherwise, there’s always the lottery route.

Quote of the Day;

“I like the high pace. You must do that tactic to kill the other people.” Sammy Wanjiru

FIGURING THINGS OUT

Quick update on my foot; I don’t have a stress fracture. The foot feels about 98% and I could probably start running on it again. However, with no running races on the horizon, and since I have the ability to roller ski and bike/spin, there’s no reason to rush back.

What’s been bad for my running has been awesome for my skiing. I’ve already spent more time roller skiing this year than I spent on real skis all of last year. I try to stay on as flat terrain as possible for roller skiing. While that doesn’t help me work on my hill climbing, it helps keep me upright. I think it has also helped me figure a few things out when it comes to technique. When you’re on similar terrain on roller skis, you don’t have the same variations on the ski trails that come with the terrain and the snow conditions, so you can really feel the things that make you go faster. I feel like I’ve made improvements with the timing of my arm swing, getting my hips forward, and getting my weight over my glide ski and letting the ski do the work. I can’t wait for the snow to start flying.

Cool story of the week; while in New York City for the marathon, Minnesota’s own Erin Ward ended up rooming with the women’s champion, Dado Firehiwot.

A few years ago I used to mention the Runnerville website that used to post podcasts with Toni Reavis. It was a great site, but it disappeared as quickly as it showed up. This morning I came across House of Run, another website with running podcasts. I’m currently listening to Flotrack’s Ryan Fenton (one of the guys from the Run Junkie videos I’ve been posting) discuss his thoughts on NCAA X-C nationals.

I haven’t listened to any of their other podcasts, but I’ll check them out. I do like the bio the guys wrote up;

Mediocre high school runners turned podcasters, Jason Halpin and Kevin Sully, co-host the weekly House of Run podcast. Jason and Kevin analyze and discuss the latest news from the world of track and field, road racing, cross country. If running is a metaphor for life, then this podcast is pretty much about your life.

I can relate to the “mediocre high school runner” part.

Quote of the day;

“Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.” – Anselm LeBourne, 52, old person to break 2:00 for 800m

W2G NYRR

Watching all the NYC Marathon coverage over the weekend has definitely moved that race up my list of must-do races. I know I mentioned that the Chicago Marathon was live-streamed this year. But honestly, the coverage at NYC is head and shoulders above any other marathon. Not only is it streamed live, but they also have tons of other live segments, as well as on-demand videos leading up to the race, as well as post-race. Great job, NYRR.

Since I don’t have much to write about running at this time, it seems like sharing links and videos is the way to go.

I found a couple of new Team USA Minnesota member blogs, so I thought I’d compile a list;

Matt Gabrielson
Josh Moen
Meghan Peyton
Emily Brown
Andrew Carlson
Heather Kampf
Chris Rombough
Matt Llano

Awhile ago I found a tribute to Sammy Wanjiru that my college coach wrote for Track & Field News.

While digging around on the T&FN website I came across a photo gallery of the last 10 or so NCAA champs for men and women. It’s kind of cool to look back over the last decade. I think they should try to find as many past champions as possible and add them to the gallaries.

Quote of the Day;

"My plan was to push the limits, push my body. Our Kenyan bodies are not used to a slow pace, and a slow pace would have been suicidal.” – Sammy Wanjiru

PLEASANTLY SURPRISED

Hope you were able to check out some of the links from yesterday. I totally forgot to include Carrie Tollefson's Daily cooldown;

nyrr on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

These were really good last year, and they're even better this year. As she describes it, these are sort of like the Entertainment Tonight of distance running. Her espisodes are a lot of fun, so be sure to check them all out.

Not only is it NYC Marathon weekend, but this weekend also represents the State x-c meet. I was pleasantly surprised this morning when my daughter Katie said she wanted to go and watch the meet with me. I thought she'd be a little bored having to wait 45 minutes between races. However, she did great and even seemed to enjoy the whole thing. She has expressed some interested in running x-c next year on the team I coach, so we'll see. Maybe I'll have a runner on my hands after all.

I've been having some thoughts lately about what else I can do to help improve coverage of our sport in Minnesota. I've mentioned Flotrack's Run Junkie videos a few times. I think it'd be fun to do something like that for just the Minnesota Scene. Watching today's meet has me thinking about a Running with the Buffaloes type project covering either a local high school team or a little bit of all-things Minnesota cross country. I haven't worked out a single detail, but it seems like these ideas could have some legs.

Quote of the day;

"Make friends with pain and you will never be lonely." - unknown

REALITY T.V.

Just a quick update before I share a bunch of links with you. I had a great week of training which includes about 5 ½ hours of roller skiing (bumped my longest ski to 90 minutes) and 2 hours of biking – including my first spin class.

Since not much else is going on with me right now, I thought I’d share a bunch of link and videos I come across lately. First, here’s the latest episode of Run Junkie;

Watch more video of Run Junkie on flotrack.org

Flotrack has become my new Reality TV. I just go there and start clicking all kinds of videos. The other night I was watching a bunch of interviews of elites running the NYC Marathon this weekend, including Minnesota’s Jen Houck;

Watch more videos on Flotrack

My only gripe with the site is that I have to watch the same 30 second commercial prior to each video. I wish there was a way to skip it if they knew I already watched it. I will say that the commercial did pique my interest. It’s for a series that follows Ryan Sutter throughout the year while he trains for different endurance events. You may remember him from the Bachelor a few years ago.

Finally, with NYC Marathon this weekend, here’s a nice interview with Mary Wittenberg. She’s awesome for our sport!

Quote of the Day;

“Life is not a straight-up trajectory. There are going to be peaks and valleys. I remain utterly convinced today that climbing out of a valley gives you great strength and opportunity you wouldn't have had if life had continued on a straight path up. You don't always get what you want in life. You just don't. Hard work doesn't always translate a hundred percent to outcome. You have to know that in life. The journey is what matters.” – Mary Wittenberg

OFF TO A GOOD START

As usual, I go 2 weeks without blogging and I have a ton of things on my mind. First, an update on the foot. It feels A LOT better, but still not 100%. The Dr. said to transition back to normal shoes once I’m pain free. I’ve done that even though I’m about 98% pain free. I still can’t push off of my big toe. I go back on the 11th for (hopefully) a last evaluation and maybe even a follow-up x-ray.

Not running in July or August doesn’t really bother me. Not being able to run in October really sucks. The good news is that I’ve been able to roller ski without much pain – again, I can’t fully extend my right leg because of the strain on my right big toe.

Typically, I think of skiing in terms of hours spent skiing, rather than miles or kilometers. During the 2009-2010 winter I roller skied about 10 hours before the snow arrived and another 40 hours on snow. The result was a 2:53 Birkie. Last winter I didn’t bother roller skiing at all and then I only spent 23 hours on snow. The result was a 3:25 Birkie. This season, with my foot injury, I’ve already been able to roller ski for 12 hours. So the ski season is off to a good start. Speaking of, I signed up for the Birkie last night - all $115 of it.

I’ve been hyping Lauren Fleshman’s website a lot lately. Sometimes it’s hard to explain why you like something. Luckily, Lauren did it for me in her recent interview with Runner’s World.

RW: Your blog has more of a two-way street going than most athlete blogs do. You have a lot of respondents and you address a lot of the content to them. What's the overall purpose of the blog, and have you learned things from the comments and queries?

LF: Definitely. I think most athlete web presences are very unidirectional. They're more like, "Here's what I've done, here's information about me," and it's generally to promote yourself and get sponsors and things like that. I just felt if I was going to do a blog, I wanted to add value and create content that people could get something out of on a fairly regular basis. I waited until I knew how to do that. I didn't have a website the first six years of my professional running career. And just the name of my website alone, asklauren fleshman.com instead of laurenfleshman.com, is meant to signify that there's a two-way street. You're going to get something out of it and I'm going to get something out of it. This is a communication. It started as an experiment. I didn't know what would really happen, but it's gone really well. For me to get feedback from athletes across the world is so cool, it's such a gift. And I'm really excited to do that, because running is a pretty lonely sport sometimes.

Another thing is to provide information on the successes and failures that I've had, in the hopes that other people don't have to go through the same thing but can learn from my mistakes so they can skip over those sand traps. And the last thing is to connect the recreational running community that's more interested in marathons and half-marathons and road races with the track community because most people have no idea what we do and we hardly exist in the collective consciousness. I think our sport needs to reach out to those marathoners who do love to run but don't understand track, and I'd like to be a connecting point for them. I think on all those accounts, I'm happy with where it's going and I'm going to keep working on it and see where it goes.

She gets it!

Unfortunately, she’s planning on running NYC this weekend and experienced some sharp knee pain within the last week. Hopefully, it’s one of those phantom injuries that we’ve all probably dealt with.

Quote of the Day;

“If I boiled it down, my major objectives are to provide something of value for the running community, to inspire young athletes–female athletes in particular–to grow their relationship with running in a deeper way, to let it into their life.” – Lauren Fleshman

GETTING THE BOOT

Re-reading my last post, I didn’t appear overly concerned about my foot. After limping around for 4 days, I finally made an appt. to see Dr. Langer. I was able to get in on Friday before heading out of town. He took x-rays but wasn’t able to see a stress fracture. Still, he put me in one of these just to be safe;



His thoughts are that a couple of weeks in a walking boot early on are better than 6-12 months on lingering pain.

Today is actually the first day when the pain is barely noticeable. So maybe I’m progressing. Needless to say, I didn’t run the half marathon. I’ll call it an $80 donation to the Ashland Chamber of Commerce.

I was thinking more about my running career post from the other day too. Typically, I’ve relied on my running, more than my career, when it comes to pushing myself and having things to focus on. Now that my running is in the crapper, I wondering if that exacerbates how I feel about my career. I’m just throwing ideas out there.

Finally, how’s this for lame? I subscribe to Rachael Ray’s magazine. No, it’s true. Anyway, I got a new issue the other day with a letter stating how big the issue was, along with all the fabulous stuff inside. Well, because the issue was so big, they decided to count it as 2 issues towards my subscription. I’ve never heard of anything so lame. Luckily, it was my last issue anyway.

Quote of the Day;

“Every marathon becomes a theater for heroic acts.” – Dr. George Sheehan

MOMENT OF WEAKNESS

After Friday’s 10 miler I looked back in my log book and found that it’s been 14 weeks since my last double-digit run. I enjoyed it so much that I ran another 10 miles on Saturday, giving me 46 miles for the week. Should I be surprised that ball/big toe area of my right foot is sore today? The frustrating part is that it didn’t bother me at all yesterday. However, stay off my feet for 8 hours and all the sudden it hurts.

I was up at 5 anyway, so I got dressed to run. Eventually I made the wise decision to wait and see how things felt at lunch time. Well, it’s lunch time right now and I’m blogging rather than running, so it looks like a zero in the log book today. Hopefully it’s just a little tender and tomorrow morning I won’t even think about it.

I gotta give a shout out to NBC Chicago for live-streaming the Chicago Marathon. Not only that, but on the course they had Toni Reavis following the men, Joan Benoit following the women, and Ed Eyestone was in the studio. I thought the NBC staff also did a decent job of bringing up topics and asking questions and then letting Toni, Joan and Ed do their thing. They even managed to fill in with some special interest stories that didn’t seem to take away from the coverage. My one (minor) gripe is that kept flashing the World Record splits up on the screen even though it was pretty obvious that a new record wouldn’t be run.

So after my back-to-back 10 milers and watching the Chicago Marathon, but before my foot pain, I had a moment of weakness and I signed up for this weekend’s Whistlestop Half Marathon. My goals are very modest at best – I’d be shocked by a 1:40

Finally, congrats to Ryan Hall on his 5th place, 2:08:04 finish at Chicago. I know everyone thinks he should be running sub-2:05 every time he starts a marathon. But consider this, of the top-9 qualifying times for the Olympic Trials, Hall has 5 of them, including the 3 best times.

Quote of the Day;

“Regardless of what some people think about American distance running and it not being a big deal to be on top of that, I think it is. I’m going to go into the trials very low, very humble, and know that it’s going to take a war to get onto that team.” – Ryan Hall

RUNNING CAREER

As the day progressed yesterday, I felt worse and worse - runny nose, constant sneezing, tired, etc. I didn't feel much better today, so I called in sick. I took advantage of the day off to catch up on some of the running-related emails that come through my in-box. Usually, I sign up for a bunch of stuff, but end up just deleting it or never reading due to lack of time. Well, today I had time so I clicked on an email from flotrack and ended up spending probably an hour watching various videos, including a bunch with Ryan Hall as he talks about running Chicago this weekend. There's also a fun series called Run Junkie where they review what's going on with the high school, college, and professional ranks.

After that I opened an email from competitor.com and saw that they have an online magazine. The October issue even features a couple of articles from Minneapolis's own, McKenzie Lobby.

Like most times when I have a cold, the best I feel during the day is when I'm out running. So I headed to Lebanon Hills and ended up running 10 beautiful miles. I'd have to look back, but that's probably the furthest I've run in 3 months. Not only was it a great run physically, it was a great run mentally. Actually, the whole morning was a great mental boost. So much so, that I'm ready to declare that I'm back. No, I'm not back physically - far from it. But I feel like I'm back mentally and want to focus on getting back into running shape. I'll even throw this out there, 2012 TCM, baby!

A whole bunch of things have kind of snowballed lately and they have me wondering if there's a career to be made with running. Obviously, I'm not talking about collecting prize money as a slow Masters runner. I'm referring to other avenues, such as, writing, coaching, running organizations, retail, etc. When I think about Flotrack, Letsrun, Runnerspace, Competitor.com, TCM, MDRA, Team MN, etc., there must be money to be made.

McKenzie has the following quote on her website;

"I think that if you were advising young people going out into the job market, in this very tough job market, I'd say: find something that you're passionate about, regardless of what the prospects are. Do what you are passionate about and stay interested in it and it will work out for you somehow, one way or another. Because there's unemployment among lawyers for Heaven's sake, there's unemployment among MBA's, so why go the practical route?" - Garrison Keillor

Along those lines I once read the advice "Find what you love to do and then find someone to pay you to do it." As a father, that's what I'd like to pass along to my kids. But it's kind of hypocritical if you're not passionate about what you do. Or is it just telling them not to go down the road you did? In any case, I don't hate my job - at least not most of the time, but I'm not passionate about it either. Is it too late or is there a way to make a living at the only thing I'm passionate about, running?

Quote of the day;

"There's no place I'd rather be than on the start line of a marathon. Man, you feel alive." - Ryan Hall

HERDING CATS

Another year of coaching 3rd – 6th graders is in the books. Throughout the year we joked that it was like herding cats. It was definitely organized chaos, at best, when you have 37 kids and 2 coaches. We threw a lot of new stuff (games, relays, obstacle courses, etc.) at the kids this year in order to keep it fun. At times it’s really hard to get a feel for what they like and don’t like – especially given the rather large differences in age and abilities between our runners. After our last practice I got a very nice thank you card from one of our 6th graders. He mentioned how much he enjoyed running for us and much he’d miss it. He was very grateful for everything we taught him and said he’d be sure to use it throughout his “running career”. It was very touching.

I do try to share some “secrets” with the kids to help them improve, like running the tangents, keeping their effort up all the way over the hill, changing their stride to match the terrain – stuff like that. I feel like I can expand on this in the future, but I don’t want it to feel like I’m lecturing them either. I guess now that I know someone is listening and feels like it’s helpful information, I’ll try to add more next year.

In my last post I mentioned a glaring error on the Houston 2012 site. If you’re wondering what I was talking about, they listed results for 10,000km. It should be 10,000m or 10km – not 10,000km or 10m. I know it’s sad that; 1) I caught this in the first place, 2) it bothers me and 3) I blogged about it. But I have nothing better to do.

Running still has its ups and downs for me – and I’m not talking about the terrain. After a 34 mile week, I only ran once last week. I don’t even have an excuse why I didn’t run. This week I’ve run 6-7 miles every day. Both my knees have been achy. I’m wondering if it’s due to all the time off and my body getting used to the pounding again. The pain is the worst when I’m going up stairs.

Quote of the Day;

“You must be fast enough. You must have endurance. So you run fast for speed and repeat it many times for endurance.” – Emil Zatopek

PASSING FANCY

If you happened to go to the TCM expo (via 35E north) did you happen to notice the sign on the Children’s hospital that advertised their newly update Emergency Room? Almost makes me wish I’d gotten in an accident so I could check it out. If I’m in an accident in say Bloomington, now I’m going to have to request that the ambulance takes me all the way to St. Paul. Seriously, isn’t that a waste of advertising dollars? If I need an Emergency Room, I’m picking the closest one around.

I really enjoy the excitement and energy surrounding marathon expos. Sunday I woke up to nearly ideal racing conditions – ideal, at least, for the first 2 hours or so. After that, I imagine it got toasty along Summit for the runners. Things like that make me want to run another fall marathon some day. Then I think about running 20-milers in July and August and the moment passes. Maybe I can work something out where I jump in around mile 22 (after the St. Thomas hill) and run pass the TCRC RV at mile 24. Then I’ll loop back to the RV and hang out with everyone for the rest of the race. I don’t have all the details worked out yet, but I have a year to figure them out.

Sunday’s race also got me fired up for the 2012 trials in Houston. I was checking out the Houston 2012 website to get a better idea of the top qualifiers. For the second straight time, runners can also qualify by meeting standards for a half marathon or even a 10K. For a list of athletes that have qualified (as of 9/25), check out this page. One reason I bring it up is because there’s a glaring error. (Hint: look at the different qualifying distances.)

I don’t have a QOD handy today, so I’ll just “borrow” from Letsrun.com.

Quote of the Day;

“I prefer to celebrate and remember how great he was, how great an athlete. I had a wonderful conversation on how fast that he thought he could go. (He believed he could run at least 2:02.) That we won't see him again is hard." – Chicago Marathon director Carey Pinkowski talking about Sammy Wanjiru

CAN YOU SMELL IT?

Can you smell it? It's that time of year again - fall! That means two things; 1) cross country season and 2) marathons.

For the second year in a row I'm the Program Director and co-coach the Eastview Athletic Association's 3rd-6th grade program. It's hard to believe our season is almost over. We have our final meet tonight and then we have a final practice on Monday. We run a time trial at our second practice and another one at our final practice, which allows us to see how much the kids (hopefully) improve during the season.

Here's a photo of the troops this year. I decided to stray from the traditional Eastview colors of black, blue and white. I figured neon green and yellow would be more fun. A huge thanks to Adam and his crew at TCRC. As I told Adam, without his support the kids would be wearing cotton t-shirts and getting dum-dum suckers for rewards.

We were at a meet last Saturday for 5th and 6th graders and one of the girls on another team wore her iPod during the 1 mile race. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I thought it was a little sad that she couldn't "unplug" for 10 minutes.

It's TCM weekend here too. I'll be out there cheering for both the 10-mile and marathon. I'm thinking about heading to the Expo just to check things out - maybe take in the elite press conference. Good luck to all the racers.

A few posts ago I mentioned that Lauren Fleshman is my new favorite runner. Apparantly the folks at Runner's World took note of my post and contacted Lauren because she'll be on the next cover. Lauren's so pumped that she'll even sign your cover if you send it to her.

One of the things I like about Lauren's journal is how she talks about the mental side of the sport and the belief she has in herself. She's even gone so far as to create a Believe I am website with apparel and what looks to be a cool training diary.

Quote of the day;

"My natural tendency is to fill my cup to the point of overflowing. I’ll just keep on pouring it in until I flood the whole damn kitchen. I’ve been that way since high school when I was taking five honors classes alongside cross country and working at In-N-Out Burger. I’d like to blame my parents for this but they are reasonable, laid back people who were always telling me to “chill the F out.” Since becoming a pro runner, I’ve had to learn to be extremely choosy about what to pour in my cup (I no longer waste my efforts on things that I’m not passionate about like I did in high school). I don’t like to be busy for the sake of being busy, but alas, for me to be “fulfilled,” I need to be “full” and “filled”." - Lauren Fleshman

ALL OR NOTHING

Well, it seems to be all or nothing lately. I basically stopped P90X, cold turkey, and switched back to running. The whole time I was doing P90X, I was singing the praises of the added strength, balance, flexibility, etc. I’d think things like “No matter what, I have to keep these kinds of workouts in my fitness plan.” That being said, I haven’t done a P90X workout in 10 days. However, I’ve watched my weekly mileage go from 0 to 20 to 30 to 40. I didn’t really plan any of this, it just sort of coincided with my favorite running weather.

So far my body is holding together fairly well. My knee is still a little wonky, but all the other aches and pains associated with going from 0 to 40 MPW have taken my mind off my knee.

While I feel stronger, it’s no surprise that a 2 month break from running has hurt my cardio. I don’t care that P90X folks call Kenpo (their kickboxing workout) a cardio workout. It can’t replace a good old fashioned run.

Losing cardio fitness definitely has an impact on group runs. During this morning’s trail run, I was dropped within 2 miles. I took a short cut and ended up running 7 miles in the time everyone else ran 8.

Before my layoff I had thoughts of trying to get back into racing shape, then I shut things down and thought I had no desire to race again. Now I really have no idea what to expect, so I won’t make any more predictions – at least not for awhile.

Off topic, I’m wondering why there are a couple of blogs that I can’t comment on. They are blogspot blogs and everytime I go to comment, it makes me log in. Then it says I’m “anonymous” even though I select my user account. And then when I go to post anonymously, it sends me back to the log in screen and it’s a vicious cycle. Anyone else experience this?

Finally, here’s the QOD from the feel-good story of the week.

Quote of the Day;

"I didn't think about my race, I knew I needed to stop and help him. It was something I would expect my other teammates to do. I'm nothing special; I was just in the right place at the right time." - Josh Ripley

LET IT RIDE

Ah yes, this is a “running” blog, so what’s new on that front?

My right knee was driving me crazy and I basically shut things down on July 8th. On July 18th I switched my focus to P90X. Typically, that’d mean I’m on week #9 of the program. However, back in August I was busy installing our floor, plus we went to the Brainerd Lakes area for 4 days. So I basically took a whole week off and just jumped back in once we got back. In any case, I’m on like day 52 right now. I wouldn’t say I’ve followed the program to a “T”, but I’ve probably done 90-95% of the workouts.

Oh yea, back to running. After 7 weeks off, I ended up going for a 4 mile run while in Brainerd – mainly because I just felt like it. I wouldn’t say the knee hurt, but it felt “funny”. I took another week off. Then without really thinking about it, I ended up with 21 miles last week. Obviously, relatively speaking, that’s not much at all. But maybe I’m heading in the right direction. P90X will continue towards the end of October. Perhaps I can continue mixing in 30 MPW of running. Once P90X is complete, I can switch to roller skiing and get ready for the snow. The knee still isn’t 100%, but I’ll let it ride and see what happens. If it’s not “fixed” after 8 weeks off, there’s a bigger problem.

Quote of the Day;

“We are lined up and led single file through various tunnels and small passageways through the belly of the stadium to a ladder that will pop us up 100 meters from the 5k start. Music and cheering gets louder as we approach the ladder until the sounds from up there make us forget we were chit chatting with the woman next to us, and the vibration of the arena seduces the performer in most of us and paralyzes a few with fear. A Japanese girl next to me starts shaking, pulling her hands to her face and groaning quietly, and I am distracted for a moment with empathy for her. I’ve been there and it’s awful. But in this moment, I look up towards the source of the vibration with wanting.”- Lauren Fleshman – talking about being led to the start of the World Championship 5,000m final

REMODELING BEFORE & AFTER

Here are the much anticipated "before and after" photos from our recent home remodeling project. What was originally conceived as a new kitched turned into bascially a new whole lower level. The only things we didn't touch were our computer room and the mud room.

View upon entrying the front of our house - family room with vaulted ceiling and built-in shelving. The wall to my right will be removed.

New view from our entryway.

Looking back towards our front door.

Old living room.

Now it's a dining room.

Look into the kitchen - note the wall off to the right and the 2 peninsulas.

The wall is gone and we extended this penisula to make it a breakfast bar. And added pendant lights.

Looking through the old kitchen and into the dining room. Note the dome light.

Laminate counter top is now granite, second penisula is gone and new cherry cabinets.

Looking through the kitchen the other way and into the living room. Notice the floor.

New floor, penisula taken out, and new antique hutch.

Messy desk and refrigerator.

Cleaner looking area without the desk.

Old dining room.

New sitting room.

Recessed lighting. Also, since we lost some cabinet space when we removed the wall in the kitchen and the penisula, we decided to extend our new cabinets up to the ceiling. In the end, I think we ended up with more cabinet space. Of course, some of it requires the use of a step-stool.

My wife and I painted the new dining room, kitchen and sitting room and I installed the floor - otherwise we can't take any credit. Overall, it seemed to take longer than we initially thought, so it's nice to finally be done.

NEW FAVORITE

Maybe it’s just mine, but it sure feels like blogs are dying. When I first started this thing 6 ½ years ago they seemed pretty new. Now I think everyone that had a blog back then has stopped updating it. I haven’t decided to stop, but obviously, updating it has become sporadic. I feel like I finally have some stuff to share, so here it goes;

It’s not every day I get to interview a member of the U.S. Track and Field team competing at the world meet. While my latest interview is not of a runner, it’s still worth checking out.

Speaking of interviews, years ago I interviewed Kara and Laurie. At the time they were going around sharing their secrets to balancing exercise and motherhood at various expos. Well, those secrets have evolved into a book; Hot (Sweaty) Mamas. I happened to find a copy at our library and decided to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised and ended up writing the following review;

Guys like Hot Sweaty Mamas too!

"This book is not just for women. I found it informative, funny, entertaining and insightful. I love the Mom2Mom quotes as well as Kara and Laurie's personal examples. The appendix is loaded with great lists and resources, along with a fitness challenge, priority inventory, and a great "sweat decision tree" which lets you know when it's okay to miss a workout or when you'd better suck it up and sweat.

As a running dad of 2 girls I tend to exercise early in the morning before they're awake. This book has made me realize it's okay for them to see me exercise and it's okay for me to involve them with my exercise routine."

If you want to check out more of their writing, you can check them out at Laurie’s blog and Kara’s blog. Then go pick up the book.

Finally, I hope you made it down this far because I want to share with you my new favorite runner, or perhaps new favorite writer. As a fan of this sport, I have lots of favorite runners. Over the weekend I added Lauren Fleshman to that list. I’ve been aware of Lauren for years, but I happened to come across her journal entry which described her day leading up to the finals in the 5,000m at the world meet. As someone who’s biggest events were a couple of conference meets, it’s interesting to read about life at the elite level. I enjoyed that post so much that I’ve been going back and reading all her post for the last 2 years or so. I’m guessing you’ll hear more about her writing here soon.

So maybe blogs aren’t dead.

Quote of the Day;

“I am barely surviving, reaching into the corners of the toothpaste tube to squeeze out just a little bit more, and I catch one more woman right before the finish line. I didn’t know who won, who got medals, who I pipped at the line, what time I ran, or what place I finished. Complete immersion into maximum effort drowned out all my senses.” - Lauren Fleshman

INDISTINGUISHABLE

Okay, I'm through the first 4-week cycle of P90X and here are the results so far compared to Day 0.

Day 0.

Day 28.

Day 0.

Day 28.

Yeah, the photos are almost indistinguishable. But that doesn’t really tell the whole story. I can see and feel little changes. For example, the other day I was making a lane change and as I checked my blind spot it sure felt like I was able to turn further around with less difficulty. I attribute this to the added stretching and yoga sessions included in the program.

It’d be easy to get frustrated with no visible results after 4 weeks, but then I was trying to compare P90X to a new running program. If I were to follow some 12 to 16 week running program, I’m pretty sure I would not be in much better shape after just 4 weeks. It takes longer for the body to adapt than that. I figure that first month was just for laying the foundation. Now I can build off of that.

Adding some cardio to my program would probably help too. During those first 4 weeks I did not do any other exercises outside of P90X. I’ll see if I can add some cardio during this next 4 week block of training.

I was hoping to be able to provide some before and after photos of our home renovations by now. However, things came to a stand-still as we waiting over a week for a city inspector to sign off on the wall we tore out. That finally happened last week, so the contractors were able to finish dry walling and painting the ceiling. Granite arrives today, so we’re getting close.

One other update, I sold the dining room set for $100. Probably could have got more for it, but that’s alright. The gal was excited and she appreciated the refinishing job.

Quote of the Day;

"It’s not the runner, but those impersonating the runner, who is at hazard.” – Dr. George Sheehan

SPEECHLESS

Believe it or not, I still consider this a running blog. With that said, be sure to check out my interview with Minnesota's newest Olympic Trials qualifier. Her progression over the last 2-3 years is truly inspiring.

I'm not exactly sure what's going on lately, but I've been receiving a lot of really nice emails.

This one came via Facebook on my birthday;

"You give everyone a present in each of your interviews; a heartfelt thanks for the insights gained reading them...no birthday $ for a gift, so this'll have to do." - Phillip G.S.

I got this one from someone I don't know;

"First, I enjoy reading your interviews with all of the good/famous/talented local runners. They are all really good interviews (and runners alike), and I've managed to glean a lot of good insight and information from quite a few of them." - Tom H.

Then I got this one from my buddy, Jim, who was my 2nd ever interview;

"You are an amazing person--what you accomplish and what's on your plate is inspirational. I'm really pleased to see that you have continued the interviews on Minnesota Running." - Jim G.

Finally, the youth cross country program that I'm the program director and assistant coach for has started up again. We have 35 kids in grades 3-6 signed up. This is my second year with the program and we've made an effort to focus more on fun, in the form of relays, games, obstacle courses, etc., and less on race results. We're only two practices in, so I was really surprised to receive this email;

"I wanted to let you know that after practice Thursday, Molly told me she now wants to be a cross country coach when she grows up. You guys are very inspirational. Thanks for all your hard work." - Julie H.

WOW - that one leaves me speechless!

I wish I could take credit for all the new cool stuff we're doing this year, however, I have to admit I'm "borrowing" a lot of ideas from this awesome site put out by the New York Road Runners. Anyone that coaches kids cross country should check it out.

Check back in the next day or two for some P90X 4-week progress photos, along with an update.
As for quotes of the day, it doesn't get any better than what I've already posted.

ONE MORE

I mentioned before that I had refinished another dresser a few years ago. It's probably my favorite. I still can't believe someone covered this beautiful wood up with white paint.

BEFORE & AFTER

Here are some before and after photos of two of the projects I've been working on. The first is dining room table and chairs that we picked up from my wife's uncle's estate when we moved him to an assisted living facility. We tried to sell it for $100 at his estate sale, but no one bought it. I thought maybe refinishing it would help increase it's value - but mainly I thought it'd be fun. I refinished a similar dining room set a few years ago for my family. If I'd been doing this set for our family I'd have put another coat of polyurothene on it and I'd have re-upholstered the chairs. But since it's 90 degrees outside with a dew point of 70, I just wanted to get this thing done with.





And here's the dresser I brought back from my parent's place. I'm really happy with how this one turned out. I don't know what kind of wood makes up this "tiger stripe" pattern. All I know if that I like using a light stain on it in order to highlight the pattern. I originally bought single handles to go on the top two drawers, but when I filled in the two holes left from the old knobs, it looked bad, so I went back to knobs. I can't tell you how long that Pizza Pub sticker has been on this dresser. I think I put it on there when I was about my kids' age.

SO FAR AWAY

Pretty quiet week, but I’m still here. The remodeling project at home is in full-swing. Luckily, we still had a stove last week. That changed yesterday and we are now without a stove, kitchen sink, and dishwasher. Basically, everything is in the basement except the fridge. Whenever we make a meal it seems like we’re walking up and down the stairs 3 or 4 times because we keep forgetting things. New cabinets arrive on Monday, so hopefully things will be semi-back to normal by next Friday. In an effort to save some money, I (foolishly?) agreed to install the new laminate flooring myself. I did this about 10 years ago in our first house and back then you had to glue all the pieces together. Now everything is click and snap, so it should be easier. The only difference is last time I replaced about 200 square feet, this time it’ll be more like 800 square feet. It’s look great when it’s all done, but right now that seems so far away.

The dining set and dresser are coming along great. I started staining them yesterday and may even be done tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have some photos to share soon.

As for P90X, I’m still plugging along. Yesterday was the first workout that I missed – mainly because I took the day off from work and was working on the projects mentioned above – but I’ll just rearrange the schedule a little and still get everything in this week. The program does call for either one day off or a day of stretching each week. Maybe I’m looking too hard, but at almost 2 weeks in I can see subtle changes. Two more weeks and I’ll post photos of my progress.

All of these restoration projects have somehow lead me to discover my new favorite TV show, American Restoration on the History Channel. It is amazing the things these guys can restore no matter how rusted and dented they may be. It’s shows like this that make me question my career path. Seriously, I think doing that kind of work would be so much more fun than sitting at a computer all day looking at spreadsheets. Even the work our contractor is doing would be so much more fun and rewarding.

Finally, here’s today’s recommended read regarding the Afton Trail Ultra and the difficulties overcome by race director John Storkamp had to overcome given the state shutdown. Looking at the byline, I don’t think I’ve read anything by Alex Kurt before, but I look forward to seeing more of his stuff in the future.

Quote of the day;

“I never considered canceling the event. Trail running and ultrarunning is not for quitters. We would have had it on a track, in a parking lot, or in my backyard if we had no other choice.” – John Storkamp

AS PROMISED

As promised, here are a couple of before pictures of me without my shirt.



I know what you’re thinking, “Dang, those look like after pictures.” I know it’s hard to think I can improve upon on this, but I’m going to try.

Yesterday was a yoga day, which led to this email to my buddy Scott; Running makes it easy to think we’re these super-fit athletes that can do anything. Then when we try something new, like yoga, you realize how limited we are with range of motion, flexibility and balance.

Instead of sending in before and after still shots, I think P90X users should send in actual videos from their first and last workouts. Now that would be comical – watching people struggle with seemingly easy movements (and I’m not just talking about the yogo portion of the program). And it’d be impressive to see how people improve over the 90 days. I’ve done the Ab Ripper X workout 3 times now. The first time was a huge struggle, but things went a lot better today – expect for the Oblique V-ups. That is impossible at this point. But I find the challenge kind of fun.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I have some other projects to keep me occupied this summer. Here’s a dining room set that I’m working on refinishing. The table is stripped down and I’m working on the chairs. I should say, I would be working on the chairs is the heat index weren’t 110 degrees all week. If anyone is looking for a new dining room set, let me know. It’s 42” wide and ranges from 28” to 78” long depending on whether you fold down the ends or insert one of three leaves. I’m not sure what color to stain it yet – perhaps I’ll just let the natural color of the wood shine through. Of course, if someone is interested in it, I’ll stain it whatever color they’d like.



And here’s a dresser I plan on refinishing too. I brought it back from my parent’s house. I refinished a similar dresser for them a few years ago and it turned out awesome. I’ll dig those photos up sometime too.



Finally, just for fun, here’s a photo from a recent Twins game. Back row!


Quote of the Day;

"Being an athlete is a state of mind which is not bound by age, performance or place in the running pack.” – Jeff Galloway

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

Probably like most runners out there, I’ve gone through numerous running lives over the years. These can be split up by different phases of your life; high school, college, pre-children, etc. Between two of my phases I spent 4 years in the Navy where running took a backseat and I spent more of my time playing basketball and lifting weights. I don’t know if I’d call myself a bodybuilder during those years as my super-fast metabolism wouldn’t let me weigh more than 160 pounds. However, magazines like Muscle & Fitness and Flex replaced my Runner’s World subscription. I can remember stretches during this time where I paid a lot of attention to the foods I ate. I was very disciplined, placing emphasis on how healthy foods were, rather than how they tasted.

I bring all this up mainly as a reminder to myself as I begin this P90X journey. I’m on day 3 so far and the workouts are going pretty well. There’s an issue with trying to do the new exercises correctly, as well as figuring out how much weight to use. However, overall things have started off rather well. I did take some “before” photos, but I haven’t loaded them to the computer yet. I hope to do that for my next post.

While a new set of P90X DVDs runs $140 on their site, I was able to get a set that had not been opened from Amazon for $90. It also includes their nutrition guide. I’ve decided not to follow that – it’s just too hard with family dinners. For right now I’m focusing on cutting out as much crap as possible – especially those times when I find myself digging in the pantry for no other reason than there’s a commercial on TV. And instead of eating all 4 Snackwell cookies in the package, I’ve just been eating one to help curb that sweet tooth. Another change is to only drink alcohol during social settings. No more beer just because we’re grilling out, or wine while reading at night. I’ll see what kind of impact those small changes have to begin with. I can always adjust as I go.

So that’s where I’m at right now. There will definitely be more to follow on this topic.

Quote of the Day;

"If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.” - unknown

NAKED FOOT

Let’s start off by posting a link to another interview. Enjoy.

I have a couple of more race entries to giveaway. These are for the Naked Foot 5K to be held around Lake Nokomis on Saturday August 20th. As the race director told me, “I know barefoot running is quite the polarizing topic in running circles, but our event is all about getting out there and having fun.” The websites says they're not about the 'barefoot movement, but rather the 'movement movement'. And although the title of the event suggest it’s exclusively for barefoot runners, that’s NOT the case - they do not discriminate against those of us the wear shoes. They also mention this is not just another 5K. They have an all-grass 1-mile race, a free kids 1K, games, face painting, er I mean, foot painting, prizes and other healthy living vendors will be there as well. They are also collecting shoes for Soles4Souls. Sounds like a fun new event!

If you’re interested in a free entry leave a comment or shoot me an email or facebook message. I promise I’ll be more patient this time when it comes to selecting the winners.

Okay, I have to close the week with a gripe. At work we have free coffee set up in each wing of the building. The coffee maker has 3 separate burners, so there are 2 pots for regular and 1 for decaf. The decaf pot is rarely used. Typically, in the mornings there are 2 pots in use and then only 1 in the afternoon. All this makes sense. The gripe I have is when people finish off the pot and then place it back on the burner – without turning the burner off. Seriously, either make another pot or at least turn the burner off. If this happened once a month it wouldn’t bother me. But I would bet 3 times a week I end up removing an empty pot from a burner. Anyone else have this problem in the office?

Quote of the Day;

"I always knew that ‘some day’ I would get back into it, it was just a matter of that desire coming back and coinciding with life circumstances that were conducive to running.” - Amy Halseth.

QUALITY POSTS

The problem with shutting down your running when you have a running blog is that things get really boring very quickly.

I’ll try to keep posting so you can learn valuable things about me like this;

Last night it occurred to me that I like fruit and I like ice cream/custard, but I really don’t like fruit in my ice cream/custard. This occurred while eating a very berry cobbler from Culver’s. The very berry cobbler would have been a yummy dessert by itself – same with the custard – but mix them together and it was just okay. The same goes with seafood and pasta for me. I love them separately, but mix them together and I’m not a big fan.

See, this is the kind of quality posts you can expect while I’m not running.

I haven’t run since last Friday and am doing my best to turn into a fat blob before starting my P90X program next week. I figure a nice double butter burger and a very berry cobbler dessert will “help” with my before photos. Given how I haven’t really been able to stick with any sort of routine lately, I have no idea how the P90X program will go. It might turn into P10X, where 10 is the number of days I actually follow through with the program. Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to it, so I’m guessing I’ll stick with it fairly well.

Besides a new workout program starting next week, I have some other transformation projects on my plate. These include a kitchen remodeling, as well as refinishing a couple of pieces of furniture. Hopefully, these projects will keep me busy during my down time – and provide some material for blogging.

Quote of the Day;

"I was never a graceful runner, but then, I never have thought an athletic event should be a beauty show.” – Clarence DeMar

ACCURATE ASSESSMENT

Looking through the results from last year’s Minneapolis 13.1, I only recognized about 2 names. So I wasn’t sure if anyone would jump at the two free entries I had to giveaway or not. Besides, I never know who’s reading this thing – other than me. Anyway, after not getting any responses, I sent out a mass first-come-first-served email. That sparked a little interest and I was able to give them away. Then, of course, readers of my blog started to chime in. I guess the moral of the story is that I need to be more patient. In the future I’ll give people a chance to actually respond before giving away the good. Thanks for your interest.

Friday mornings I typically do group trail run in Hyland Park. This morning I showed up intentionally late. I figure with the shape I’m in, there’s no way I could hang with the group. Instead, I ran the course backwards and met up with them for about the last 2 miles. Given that I couldn’t even keep up with them for that short stretch, I’d say my thinking was right on the money. In the brief time I was with the group one of the guys mentioned that I’d fallen off the face of the earth since running the Grand Canyon. That’s a pretty accurate assessment. That’s basically how I feel about my running right now. Another guy mentioned he was thinking about a little forced break from running in order to recharge his batteries. I like that idea too. Typically, I perform my best when I have a long run-way to build up my base. For me, in the past, this is what winter is all about. Shutting things down, recharging, building back up. That’s where I see things heading right now, it's just that the shutting down process will start earlier in the year. If that’s enough to help heal my knee, then I’m all for it. Of course, one never knows if that’s enough or not.

Quote of the Day;

"I’ve strained my body to the bounds of endurance and running had become a nightmare.” – Herb Elliott, upon his retirement at age 22

MY PROBLEM

This is the problem I’ve been having lately; I say one thing and do the opposite. I talk about getting consistent and building off of the previous week and then I proceed to take 3 of the next 4 days off. Granted I had some family commitments that required physical labor, but that’s just an excuse to help get me through the week.

To make matters worse, my knee was bothering me again when I finally laced my shoes again. I ended up struggling through a mile and then walking 3 more. I figure I had the time, I might as well try and burn some calories. For the first time in my life I find myself thinking of exercise as a way to stay fit rather than doing it in order to compete.

Now I’m trying to figure out what kinds of exercise I can do to stay fit and still help my knee recover. Do I break out my bike again, continue running, dust of my roller skis, walk, lift, hit the elliptical, etc.? I broke down and ordered P90X yesterday. I figure if I can’t run it’ll be a good way to gain some strength and burn some calories. Maybe if you’re lucky I’ll post some photos, without my shirt, along the way.

GIVEAWAY
Any readers out there interested in running the Minneapolis 13.1 on August 22nd? I may have the opportunity to giveaway some free entries and I wanted to see if there’s any interest out there. Either leave a comment or send me an email.

Finally, I’ve mentioned my neighbor’s blog before because he takes tons of great photos and has lots of great info on biking. Well, he posted a couple of photos of our daughters at their horseback riding lessons. Mine is the one with the braids in her hair.

Quote of the Day;

"Part of a runner’s training consists of pushing back the limits of the mind, of proving to his doubting intellect that 66 seconds a lap for 12 laps won’t reduce him to another cinder on the track.” – Kenny Moore

BUILD OFF OF IT

I’m up to 48 miles in the last 7 days. Nothing spectacular, but I have to start somewhere. The important thing is to build off of it. When training isn’t going that well, I find it very easy to skip the only hard workouts that I typically do; tempos and marathon paced runs. Once that cycle starts, it’s easy to continue. Usually, I’m able to justify it by tell myself I’m not fit enough to do a workout. I figure if I can’t improve upon the last workout, why do it. Well, now I don’t care how bad my workout times are, I need to start somewhere. So this week I did a 3 mile tempo at 6:54 pace. Sure, that’s a lot slower than “normal”, but things haven’t been “normal” for awhile. This is the new me for right now and, as with my mileage, I’ll build off of it.

Last weekend were the U.S. Track & Field Championships. I really didn’t follow along until the meet was over. Then I went to Letsrun.com for their recap and was able to watch some videos. Here are my random thoughts. Jen Rhines continues to impress. I don’t have her info handy, but she must be 36 or so. She been an Olympian at 5K, 10K and the marathon. Last weekend she made like her 10th U.S. team. She never seems to get a lot of recognition, perhaps because she’s always solid, but never spectacular. Just looked it up, she’ll be 37 tomorrow. Happy Birthday to one of my favorite runners!

On the other hand there’s Christin Wurth-Thomas. I don’t know a lot about her, but every time I see her race she zooms right to the front and then gets passed by everyone. Last weekend was no different. She built a HUGE lead and then was passed by 3 women in the last 100 meters. She finished 4th, 0.01 seconds from qualifying. What really bugged me was summed up nicely by Pre’s Mustache. In her post race interview she talked about food poisoning and lack of sleep and then said “But I’m not making excuses.” Umm, yes you are.

With sites like Flotrack, Runnerspace, etc. all interviewing these runners after their races, fans are getting a lot more exposure to these athletes. Of course, this can be either good or bad and what they say can leave lasting impressions on the relatively small fan-base surrounding track & field. While runners like Wurth-Thomas and Will Leer made excuses, youngster Matt Centrowitz said all the right things and made some fans along the way.

Quote of the Day;

"I don't think it's set in yet. Taking a victory lap with guys like Lagat and Leo Manzano is just exciting and just to be running alongside of them and to be mentioned with them is an honor. I'm pumped." – Matt Centrowitz, after winning the U.S 1500 meter title

WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT

First off today, happy 13th anniversary to my wife – that means we’ve been together 16 years total. Hard to believe anyone could put up with me for so long. Even my parents could see the light at the end of the tunnel after 16 years.

I’ve talked about being fired up lately and getting more serious about my training. As always, it all starts with getting out the door on a consistent basis. Luckily, my knee is feeling better, so that makes being consistent a little easier. Who would have thought running 26.2 miles would help make the pain go away?

Since I don’t have much going on right now, I wanted to share a couple of other websites that you might enjoy. Dave Elger’s site is one of those sites I always forget I have saved in my favorites. Yet every time I go back, I tend to find some little nugget. Toni Reavis is one of the best promoters of our sport around. You may happen to remember the Runnerville Podcast that I enjoyed awhile ago. Toni was a big part of those.

Big weekend in running with the U.S. Championships as well as Western States. I hope to share some thoughts on those later this week.

Quote of the Day;

“There's something intensely satisfying about racing and pushing yourself as far as you can but it's not necessarily fun at the time, especially if you fail at your goal, whatever it may be. That's why I couldn't let the hard day's work go to waste.” - Ian Sharman talking about his 10th place finish at Western States