I'm staying at a place that is named after a sword now
Know that I will soon furrow
Into my bed where I'll sleep just like a king
And I'll keep my individuality
I'm staying at a place that is named after a sword now
Know that I will soon burrow
Into my bed where I'll sleep just like a king
And I'll keep my...

I got into Vegas last night.  It's a strange place.  Getting around is like finding my way through a labyrinth, except instead of having to fight a half-man, half-bull, I have to fight crowds.  I feel like I should give some witty description this city, but it is in some ways a caricature of itself, almost as if the people who design it are aware of how ridiculous it is, and seek to outdo themselves.

I've checked in and gotten my bib.  I received a headlight in my race bag, which I'm pretty excited about.  I had to speak to the help desk for some time about getting my bib, whether the number was correct, how to spell my name...  I also got a booklet of coupons.  I could spend a lot of money saving lots of money.

Hopefully the race goes well.  Sunday evening.  The last title was based on Lunch Lady Blues, by Adam Sandler.

Well, this blog ain't adorning
And I'm sure you'll agree
But I'll soon be in Las Vegas
With all the palm trees
You know the course won't be turny
And it won't be cold
And now I've got a spatula
You can call me cajoled
Weigh as much as Paul Bunyan
But I will be all right
Unless I eat pudding
From the buffet all night

It's been a rollercoaster of a last couple days.  High points include getting in my latest PowerBar order and getting a spatula from USATF.  Low points involve that spatula contributing to what some might call girth, a dentist appointment, and spending the entire day waiting for the service people to do...I'm not sure what they were actually doing, but I waited for a really long time after they fixed the recall on that vehicle.  And then they lost the keys.

Here's a picture of the spatula I got from USATF.

I guess it's been a while, so here's an update.  I ran the Chicago Marathon.  I went out at 2:15 pace (or thereabouts), and in the end, felt like things didn't go very well at all.  I got 20th in 2:20:40, which I guess isn't that bad.  But I did get passed by a lady.  A Russian lady who ran one of the fastest ever marathons run by a woman, but that didn't feel very good.  Oh well, there will be other days, and a 2:20 is good enough to open a lot of doors, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.

Since then, I've been eating lots of bear sausage, which may explain why I'm ready for hibernation.  I've also been doing some good, bad, and ugly running, and enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures.  I almost ran in short sleeves today!

As for how things are going now, I'm not sure if I've got a little cold, allergies, or am turning into a hypochondriac.  Either way, it's a good reminder to drink lots and lots of water.  Leaving for Las Vegas in a few hours less than a week.  Running the Las Vegas half marathon a week from Sunday.  Should be exciting.  It goes up and down The Strip at night, and amongst the bands playing on the course are Pearl Jam.  I'll try to get another post in before I leave.

The last post's title was based on Who'll Stop the Rain by Credence Clearwater Revival.

It's now mid-September
The rain is comin' down
Un'verse is abhorin'
Intervals, almost drowned
Well, the wind it rages
I'm just glad it's done
Pavement under, was no thunder
Grouling in rain

First of all, knee update.  I've been doing what I can to train enough and still recover, and I think I threaded the needle, knock on wood.  My theory is that I had a bruised tendon, and it's feeling much better.

Today I ran some intervals.  It wasn't a good day.  Given how my body felt, it wouldn't have been a good day if it was sunny and nice.  As it was, the wind, rain, and standing water on the road made a bad workout miserable.  It was like the whole Universe didn't want me to run fast today.  Oh well.  At least it wasn't a race, and these days happen.  The good news is as bad as today felt, the times weren't that bad.  They were bad, but not as bad as I might have expected.

Sorry about not getting a post on Monday (I'm looking for Monday, Friday posts, just not finding them as much as I want), but I was a little on the tired end of things.  As I said, I was doing all the training I could manage without hurting my knee more, and then I had to help pack out and skin a bear on top of that.  And the Broncos playing Monday Night Football until some terrible hour of the night didn't help.

Oh, and the last post's poem was to the meter and rhyme of 99 Red Balloons, originally by Nena, but I'm partial to the Goldfinger version.

Lot's of training, but now I cannot
And if I was a horse, well then I would be shot
Legs feel good I want to run on
But injury is foregone
Lost training's more than I can bear
Of snowplows I advise beware
Now my training's gone awry
Whine and whine, I just want to cry

Write to rhyme words with tunes
And now I'm left wond'ring why
And that snowplow, man it hurt
And now my knee hurts, nothing else
When I run now, pain is rife
Blunt force inj'ry underlies
Overuse does not apply
I whine and whine, I just want to cry

The other day I was doing a little snowplow maintenance.  I tried to walk over to check the manual and hit my knee on the plow.  It hurt.  It still hurts, four days later.  Hopefully it stops hurting soon, because it's starting to affect my training.  If a snowplow injury keeps me from reaching my goals, I will never forgive myself, or the snowplow.  Well, I'd probably forgive myself eventually, but the snowplow on the other hand...sometimes I hold onto grudges.  But the good thing is that it hurts much less today than it did yesterday.

Not much else worth writing or reading about.  The last post's title was based on Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams.  Hopefully that wasn't a self-fulfilling prophecy, given my snowplow related injury since then.

It was a lonely road
With 890s on dirt and I have flown
And I presuppose
You're not reading this 'cause I'm unknown

I did those mile repeats
And the sweat ran down my face in streams
Did those miles in heaps
And if I do them fast I won't be unknown

But I'm unknown
Yes, I'm unknown
I should have known
I run un...

My birthday's no reason to take it easy
By ten I thought that my heart would stop beating
My cooldown was slow 'cause I had no esprit
And I still am unknown


My birthday was two days ago.  To "celebrate" I did the hardest interval workout I've ever done.  I finished feeling like I'd just done a long, hard race.  I was almost too tired to do my long run yesterday.  Almost.

I'll spare you all the details of the workout.  Mainly so that if somebody other than my grandmother is actually reading this, they won't steal my workouts.  Sufficed to say, I thought my legs were on the verge of giving out before I hit the halfway point.  To clarify a bit from above, I wore New Balance 890s.  Lightweight with enough support for what seemed like a million miles.

I guess I'll also finish my Switzerland update, since I've been back for almost a month now.  The race organizers hired a gourmet chef to cook breakfast and dinner every day for the invited racers.  We had free lunch in a different gourmet restaurant every day.  Except for the day that we gathered at somebody's house for wine and raclette, a special cheese from the Alps.  It comes in a giant wheel and they heat it up and scrape a bunch of melted cheese on top of potatoes.  It was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.  Quote of the day from another runner:  "These kids are so smart.  They're like five and they know French.  I don't even know French!"

The race was pretty good too.  I wasn't quite ready for the steepness of the Alps.  Or, more accurately, I wasn't quite ready for the race course ignoring switchbacks going strait up, and far more terrifyingly, down.  I guess I know what to be ready for next time, because I fully intend to race Sierre-Zinal again.  Running with my own drinks was a good plan, because PowerBar Ironman Perform is much better than taking your chances with feed stations and wondering if you'll get sparkling water, tea, wine...  Little things like that helped me be the 8th place and the top American.

Next up is the Chicago Marathon.  We'll see how that goes.

I'm not writing a poem today.

I guess I’ve sort of been on a hiatus from blogging and just generally haven’t felt poetic in quite a while.  Well, I did compose a poem on a run several weeks ago, but I’d forgotten it by run’s end.

I suppose most people don’t end their blogging hiatus to brag about an especially good packing job, but apparently I’m not most people.  I’m in Switzerland to run Sierre-Zinal and I have never been prouder of the way I packed for a trip.  I have no checked bags, and I had one of the smallest carry-on loads in the airport.  Sometimes it’s really nice to travel without 100lbs of skis and winter clothes.  I’ll just be in trouble if I buy any souvenirs or win a trophy.

I was going to post some pictures of how well I'd packed, but I forgot my camera in the room, so you'll have to wait.  Hopefully less than 5 months, though.

I have one complaint about this trip so far.  The kid sitting behind me kicked my seat for the entire 7 and a half hour flight into Geneve, making for a tired me my first day out here.  That is quite literally my only complaint.

To tell you about this place, I believe there is a building code in this part of Switzerland that everything (roads, trails, hotels, churches, everything) has to be built on a cliff.  Or a very steep hill at least.  Apparently exceptions to this rule can be made within municipal limits and for farmhouses over 300 years old, but both are frowned upon.

Every bus driver out here has a different sort of attitude and none of them seem to have any fear.  They use the horn so much that they have musical horn tones (I once heard the same one repeat at least 4 times as the driver laid on the horn).  They charge along curvy roads built into cliffs with no guard rails and blind corners at high speeds.  When I got on the first bus, the driver seemed quite miffed about our lack of understanding a common language, ripping my wallet out of my hands in what I really hoped at the time wasn't a robbery.  Apparently his reaction to somebody not knowing French was angrily speaking German.  The next bus driver flaunted his door opening abilities to the German climbers who wanted to put their bags under the bus.  And by the way, the German climbers reminded me of Alpine skiers clunking around in their heavy boots.  I'm not sure why I told you all that, but hopefully somebody finds it more interesting than I do.

As I arrived in Zinal, I asked myself if I'd be lucky to survive the week or whether this would be the greatest week of my life.  I think the answer is yes.  Apparently last year there were some "bad falls" on the descent, and the race official I was talking to refused to translate the rest of what was said at my request.  Ignorance about what can happen to me on that descent is and will be bliss, especially given that the descent is fast and important.  I'll describe the rest of what has happened to me since arrival in Zinal in a later post.  Mainly because I don't feel like posting it now, but also because it builds suspense and makes me feel good about myself.

Oh, and my last post's poem was based on the Backin' Up Remix.  I forget who made it.

I'm packin' up
Packin' up
Packin' up
Packin' up
And I hope Canmore goes good
I'm packin' gettin' outta here
I have for Stowe, a nod
Stowe, a nod
A nod
I'm packin' up
Packin' up
Packin' up
Packin' up
And I hope Canmore goes good
And I think Dartmouth's doin' great
But I gloat
I hope Canmore goes good

Leaving today for Canmore.  Hopefully the roads are good, because driving up there will take me through 4 states and a province.

Yesterday I got the best news I've gotten in quite some time.  Sam Tarling won NCAAs.  I spent a few weeks with Sam in northern Finland this fall, and he skis for the Dartmouth Ski Team, so I'm basically excited on all fronts.  I almost cried.  To make things better, Men's Nordic went 1, 4, 5 and Women's Nordic went 4, 5, 10, plus Dartmouth had some really strong results at Junior Nationals.  What can I say?  I'm excited.

Anyways, the schedule for the next few weeks is all the distance races in Canmore, then all the races in Sun Valley.  At least that's how I see things happening.

The last post was based on Otherside by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.