It's Okay, You Can Stop Reading this Halfway Through

This last weekend I ran the USA Half Marathon Championships.  It was in Duluth on the same weekend as Grandma's Marathon.  Duluth has an awesome "Skywalk" system that is sort of like a sidewalk, but inside and on the second floor, complete with bridges over roads.  It reminded me a little bit of a mall, except there were a bunch of banks and grocery stores.  So a Scandinavian mall.  Also, a lot of the hotel lobbies were pushed up to the third floor, which was strange.

Sufficed to say, if I'd spend any more time on the Skywalk, you could call me Luke.  I was really happy for the Skywalk, because that meant I didn't have to go outside into this:

No, this isn't a Jedi mind trick.  It was somehow foggy and windy at the same time.  And there was a drizzle for three strait days.

On my way to Duluth, I rode in a shuttle van from the Minneapolis airport.  It was about a 3:30 ride (hours, not minutes).  At first I thought I had an awesome seat with not one, but two empty seats next to me.  Then, one of the largest men I have ever seen, who claimed he was wide enough to take up a seat and a half, but was wider than that, came and sat in those two empty seats.  Then the driver announced that we still had to pick up two more people.  One (a not small woman), had to squeeze in between me and the huge guy, so I was crushed between the two largest people I have ever had to sit next to and the corner of the van next to the window.  So I decided to go to sleep to put myself temporarily out of my misery.

Even though I'm describing things like this, I actually had a great trip.  Duluth is a really nice town as long as you don't have to deal with the weather.  I saw a ship so large that I couldn't see from one end to the other through the fog.  It had to have been at least a quarter of a mile long, if not more.  I met up with Cami Thompson, the Dartmouth Ski Team Women's Nordic coach for dinner one night.  She's married to Peter Graves, who was commentating, and the next thing I knew I was in the VIP booth at the restaurant eating with both race announcers.  So the next time you're at a race and wonder why the race announcers spent so much time talking about me, it's probably because I ate dinner with them, and not because I am actually deserving of any of it.  And Duluth kind of reminded me of Leadville, CO, which in my book is a compliment.

Anyways, I'm sure that you actually came here to read about my race instead of my review of Duluth.  Honestly, everything up until now has been a way of procrastinating talking about my race in the hope you'd get bored and stop reading before I get to that awful performance.  Going in, based on previous years' winning times, I thought that the leaders would go out in about 4:40-4:45 for the first mile.  I figured if I was close to them and tried to stick with them, maybe I'd end up having a special race and getting a huge personal best.

As it was, I went out of the start and wondered why my legs felt so bad.  I figured at the rate those guys were pulling away from me, I couldn't be going fast.  Then I reached the first mile mark and saw my time.  4:38.  A time I wouldn't having minded having run in the last mile, but the first mile...  From there on, I got passed.  A lot.  By a lot of people.  Sometimes I'd stick with somebody for a mile or so, but usually not.

When I got home, I looked at a book for converting times.  You know, a 14:45 for 5km is roughly equivalent to a 30:30 for 10km is roughly equivalent to a 1:07:30 for a half marathon.  The awesome part about this is that this is pretty close to my splits, so if anybody knows somebody who builds these tables, ask them what kind of time I could have run if I would have paced myself better.

But I prefer to look at the good news, so here it is.
My time through 5000m would have won the USA Men's 5000m Championship.  Take that Bernard Lagat.  Granted, my race went out at a sprinting pace, and the 5000m Championship could have been mistaken for race walking at the start.
I almost set a new personal best.  The problem was it was in the mile, and then again in the 5k, but I was running a half marathon.
They say if you're really good, you make more in appearance fees than you do in prize money.  I got a stipend for some of my expenses for the trip from the race organizers, but wasn't even close to winning prize money, so apparently I'm really good.

So, to end my review, Duluth: two thumbs up.  My race:  two thumbs down.  So as a tiebreaker...Grandma's Marathon, which seemed to be well run.  Plus, despite the fact that I didn't want to be outside any longer than I needed to be, there were a lot of spectators cheering.  So overall I give the weekend a positive review.

No Witty Title Today

Sorry about the delay since my race 6 days ago before I got this blog post up.  I've done a lot of traveling since then and been very busy, but those are just excuses.

Speaking of excuses, the Rock 'N' Roll San Diego Half Marathon was what Frank Shorter would call a "no excuses day."  I'm not the biggest fan of this label, because it carries with it a brother nobody talks about, "excuses days."  I'd prefer to call it "a day when you should run a fast time," but that doesn't sound as good, so I digress.

Anyways, the weather was perfect, the course was downhill, and all of the other things that people talk about with southern California.  Except traffic and crazy people.  I thought there were crazy people when the Kenyans went out at the pace they did, but it turned out the winner was with them and even splitted for the third fastest half marathon ever.  That's how fast of a day it was.

Back to the crazy pace at the start.  For the first 100m, I thought the Kenyans were just being a little overzealous about not getting tangled up.  Then, they kept going, and I thought I'd see a lot of them before long when people started blowing up.  Then we reached the mile mark, and I could no longer read the clock on the lead car.  Then they became little specks on the horizon.  Actually, the specks were the guys they had dropped, but I didn't know that.  Then we never saw them again.

In the meantime, on the backdrop of a record setting day, I managed a measly 20 second(ish) pr of 1:06:06.  Given that my previous pr was from the windy city (by which I mean Dallas) when nobody wanted to do anything about the slow pace, I had hoped to do a bit more, but complaining about a pr is really looking a gift horse in the...actually, given that this saying comes from The Iliad, and that if the Trojans had perhaps examined said gift horse a little bit more things would not have gone so poorly, that saying doesn't make sense.  Anyways, in the words of Joe Walsh "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do."

Next stop: Duluth.

BolderBoulder

I ran the BolderBoulder today.  I planned to just tuck in from the gun, and did.  I got dropped by a few seconds a bit before the halfway point but rallied to keep the lead group close.  Then I was that guy who caught the people falling off the lead pack for the rest of the race.  I ended up with a top 5 finish, so being that guy isn't all bad.  A fairly large pack was bearing down on me near the finish, and I think I held them all off and didn't slip on whatever surface they put over the field at the finish line.  So all around, I can call it a successful day.  Now to eat pizza and drive home.

Next weekend I go to San Diego for the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Half Marathon.  Hopefully I can put together a strong race there.  I feel like I should write more, but I think I've pretty much said it all.  A pretty uneventful day, other than the race.

Headless Chicken Race

The first question that probably comes to mind (hehe) for a lot of you about the Headless Chicken Race is "Why is there a Headless Chicken Race?"  The answer is that in 1948, a chicken named Mike lived for 18 months without a head.  Part of the brain-stem was attached to the rest of his body, which informs us about a lot of cool things dealing with brain function.  However, as I have not filled my head (hehe) with neuroscience, I'll stick to the race.  The Headless Chicken Race is part of Mike the Headless Chicken Days in Fruita, CO, a festival to celebrate the fact that people are willing to celebrate headless chickens.  Unlike the path of a real headless chicken, the Headless Chicken Race is 5km long and has very few corners.  It's not one of those races where you have to constantly use your head (hehe), you can really just run.

Given that I have several road races coming up, I figured running the Headless Chicken Race as a tuneup was a no-brainer (hehe).  I was looking for a quality effort more than anything else, so I put my neck on the line (hehe) and got out ahead (hehe) early.  I was not entirely sure how much of the Boston Marathon was still in my legs, but I tried to keep an open mind (hehe) about pacing and just listen to my legs, not my head (hehe), keeping in mind (hehe) that it is best to even split races.  I ended up running a 15:47 or something (I don't have the head for memorizing times.  hehe) and was really pleased with my effort, but I'm not letting it go to my head (hehe).  Next weekend I'm heading (hehe) to Boulder for the BolderBoulder, where I'll have to remember to keep my head on a swivel (hehe).  Actually, given BolderBoulder, the Rock 'n' Roll San Diego Half Marathon six days later, and everything else happening, I'm about to start running around like a chicken with my head cut off (hehe), but I really don't want to get ahead (hehe) of myself.

I am cognizant (hehe) that when telling jokes, one is supposed to assume that their audience has enough between their ears (hehe) to get them, but I just can't help myself.  It's like a reaction that doesn't need to go past the cerebral cortex (hehe).  I would probably laugh at these puns even if I were braindead (hehe).  Anyways, here's a picture of the race shirt.

Stay headless, my friends.

Long Overdue Update

Hi,
So it has been far too long since I've posted an update.  A lot has happened since then.  I've run some races, lowered my half marathon PR by a few minutes, and been chased during runs by enough animals to populate a petting zoo.  Note:  do not put the animals that have chased me into a petting zoo unless you are a fan of being sued.  If my new profile picture on this blog is to be believed, I also grew a pair of antlers.

I have also been accepted to graduate school, so starting this fall I'll be in Tempe, AZ.  I'll be sort of like some superhero with an awesome alter ego, studying physics by day and running at dusk and dawn (which is sort of like night), because apparently those are the only parts of the day that you can't cook meals on the sidewalks in Arizona.  I'm not sure which of those is the awesome alter ego, and I'm sure a lot of people would argue that both are the boring alter ego.  I prefer to think of them as both awesome alter egos, and neither one requires a mask, which will save a trip to the thrift shop.

I haven't really been blogging because I haven't felt like I had anything interesting to say.  My day to day life is, well, mundane and the sort of thing that happens every day, and I have to wonder about anybody who would eagerly await updates on that sort of thing.  I really should have done updates after races, but I updated Team Colorado and then moved on with life.  If I don't update about races here, you can usually read about them at teamcolorado.blogspot.com (I don't see any typos in the url, but that doesn't mean they aren't there).

After the Boston Marathon, I felt like I had nothing worthwhile to add.  A horrible tragedy struck a day in which a bad race was supposed to be the worst case scenario.  I like to put my races in perspective, but I prefer to do it on my own terms, and I am not enough of a wordsmith to add anything of substance to this tragedy.  Like so many, if they'll let me run, I'll be there next year.

Since I don't think anybody reads this except for my grandmother, I'll close with this.  If I don't post updates about future races, you are allowed to send me angry e-mails.  If you aren't my grandmother, I guess that applies to you too.

Hurricanes and Sketchy Ghost Towns

It was a muddy workout.

I've been training hard the last few weeks.  Two days ago I did my last really hard workout before NY.  I still have hard workouts, but nothing like this one.  To make it harder, it was pouring rain and windy.  Trying to kick it in against gale force winds is tough.

Anyways, I finished out the workout well.  Today I had a long run, and I think my legs are really starting to come around.  I've been running long runs on the same road for a couple of weeks, and today I started at the sketchy ghost town.  I was a little concerned that it would be foggy when I started, because starting a long run next to a sketchy ghost town in the fog seems like a scene from a scary movie.  But the fog had lifted and everything was fine.

I feel like I should write about something other than just my training, but I'm not convinced anybody would find anything else I've been doing lately all that interesting.

Oh, in the past week, we've gotten snow and hail.  Nothing has stuck on the ground here, but up on top it looks like there's at least some snow.  I'd prefer if the snow stayed up there, at least for the next couple weeks, until after NY, but as I have no control over that (short of trying to get more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, but what can one man do?), I'm not going to worry too awful much about it.

All the Stuff That's Happened Since My Last Post

So it's been a while since I last updated.  First, a few things for those of you who are wondering.

Apparently a bunch of us brought an intestinal parasite from World Mountain Running Championships.  But nothing about parasites makes for interesting blogs.  Especially the intestinal kind.

Also, the house now has electricity.  By which I mean it is connected to the electrical grid so I can turn lights on and fun stuff like that when it's been cloudy.  Actually, my life is almost no different.  The shower has more water pressure and the clock on the stove is right more often than twice a day.  That's really about it.  If I didn't know, I may not have even noticed.  But it will be nice to have grid power during the winter, because that can be a little tough.

As for training, it's going.  I am training and hopefully will run well in the New York Marathon.

Sadly, I think that is all that has happened worth writing about since my last post.  Getting on the grid seemed like a really big even when it happened, but basically nothing changed.