Hang Nine

News
- CU men dominate the PAC 12s with a 30 point total.  30 points as a team is impressive.  The 12 second spread between their 1-5 guy is insane.  Cranny was second on the women’s side.
- this could be a big deal in the marathon world.  As in just the beginning …
- latest ATUC.  Great stuff on balance in there.
- got to listen to the latest E/T on the run today, and it pretty good /funny.
- maybe you are interested in what the top 15 men ran for the marathon in Kona.
- I am loving that I wake up Friday morning and I get a new Foo Fighters song.  This latest one in their release from Sonic Highways is my favorite so far.  Dig the “western” root riff of it, as it sort of reminds me of RCPM/Refreshments.  And I always love the build to the scream.

Yeah, Dave is living the rock and roll dream, but the dude is bustin ass.

Let my opportunity to run yesterday (early AM) slide and got nada.  I am trying to look at these as a take it as it comes sort of thing and not worry about it.  In the past I would force a late night run to make it happen.  I am not sure if that is more beneficial or if grabbing the running when I can and maximizing it is better.  One approach drives consistency, the other forces effectiveness and probably a more hard easy approach.

Still fighting the snot monster today.  Got out for a decent run that was what I would call easy aerobically (not breathing hard) but solid on the legs for that sort of running.  16.1 miles. 

Month of October finishes at 271 miles.  Not great, not bad but I am happy with it given the international travel, the uptick in work, family vacation, 8 days off.  Year is at 2819 miles (and just under 65 a week).  Things are flat these days though.  Seriously – my vertical for all of October was less than what I would get in one day in Manitou in August.

25 more influential …Greg Weich. 
I am sort of “double dipping” here.   By saying Greg, I am actually giving the hat tip to the all the coaches out there, as they are hugely influential.  Anyone who has been on any high school sport team probably remembers their coach.  I have not seen my HS XC/Track coach in nearly 30 years and I remember the guy, his mannerisms, his speeches before and after meets, the inflection in his talk, and his bone dry humor that makes more sense to me now then it did then. 

By the very role these people are in, they are influential.  With young runners, they are gearing them up for that next level of success (or not), or a love for the sport for a lifetime (or not).  In terms if Colorado running in HS, I could be talking about Greg or Paul Roberts or Sean O’Day.  They get their hands on a part of the tiller of the young minds for a period that sets a direction of sail for a long time.

As a parent, you doubly realize the impact a coach has.  I am sure I have told this story before but to illustrate this point – here it is again:  KZ’s freshman year of XC and one of the first meets (St. Vrain) … KZ had not made her entry into cross particularly easy for herself.  She had not decided to take up running until the day before formal practices had started.  As a result, she had not engaged in any of the summer training.  There was, as there are in many starting runners, no real difference between an easy pace, a hard pace, a warm up and a race.  It was just running, and it was hard as she was just getting her first regular taste of endurance training.

I had buzzed around the course throughout the day, cheering on kids, and taking pictures.  I positioned myself about 300 yards from the finish for KZ’s race, a bit in the trees so that she could not really see me (I knew she was annoyed by me taking pictures).  Up the course, maybe another 30 yards was Greg (so he was about 330 out from the finish), at the end of a slight rise.  He was there taking stock of the kids, and providing some well time words at the end to get them to kick it in.  KZ was one of the last kids to come in, but Greg was waiting.  She did not see him, and just in the middle of the hill … she began to walk.  I could see Greg’s body language and he yelled something to my daughter that she needed to get going.

Here is the part that still cracks me up:  she looked up, while walking and waved at him and smiled.  I uttered a silent “oh crap” to myself while also laughing.  Greg “reiterated” his message (a bit more dynamically).

Their talk after the race:  Greg: “Zackers.  what kind of effort did you give out there today?”  KZ:  “umm, I think … I don’t know.”  Greg:  “If you are walking that close to the finish and waving at me smiling, you can give more.  Let’s say you gave a 7 today.  Next time, make it an 8.  Okay”  KZ (grim faced but controlled):  “Ok”

In typing that I can see the paragraph does not even come close to the influence and the interaction that actually went on.  This is a conversation that if I tried to have with my daughter would have gone completely sideways, followed up with an emotional angry outburst, and hard feelings.  No – the coach is not a parent, and they thus have powers of influence that are often greater in certain contexts and more refined than the parents. 

For what is worth, I heard about the influence that Greg had in that conversation for at least half the ride home from my daughter.  My daughter is probably not going to run competitively in college, but the guy is influencing her quite a bit.  And Greg does this with 80 kids a day over the XC and track seasons.  That is a lot of influence. 

He is not a run of the mill coach.  The guy has coached many athletes of national caliber at the HS level:  Brent Vaughn (who later went on to be the US XC National champ), and the Kaltenbach sisters.  Underneath that is tons of layers of other really solid HS running kids (Gonzales as a 9 flat 3200 guy last year comes to mind).   He has had state XC titles at both Smokey Hill HS and Broomfield HS.  While such conversations are always amped with argument, his name gets kicked around as one of the best coaches in the country in the HS (go troll LR for that). 

No surprise, he ran for Joe Vigil at Adams State.  He is a solid runner in his own right – posted a 2:35 at the age of 40 in the marathon a few years back.  When not coaching, he manages the Flatirons running store (new, and was at BRC before that) – and hence is influencing the running community via that angle.  

News -
-Latest Elevation Trail is up. In my queue to listen to as Gary and Tim bring a good show each time I listen to it.
-At least one guy who is participating in the upcoming beer mile championships thinks the current WR in it is complete BS.

Full day of meetings again as we get some new folks up and going in my team.  I thought I might get up early and get out for a run, but the gravity of the AM bed was a bit too much.  Opportunity lost and the day was spoken for.   No 25 more influential today (never said it would be 25 days straight), but should get another couple up before the close of the week.

News stuff
-Mike H pointed me to a good article regarding one of Lucho’s athletes, Larisa D.
-nice short read on a guy who has done 100k miles in his life. 
-good read on foreign runners in the NCAA.
-Kennedy is doing NYC.  Interesting perspectives in there … “He found it to be a life of necessary selfishness, everything focused on his career, which brought great achievement but came with a price.”

AM – got a run in before heading in for a full day of work meetings. Had a short window of time so I did 4 x 1500ish on a local trail nearby … down on the odds, and ups on the back.  I feel a bit off.  Not bad.  Just not right.  Not sure if it is the cold I am fighting, or the catching up I am doing, or the altitude change or the time change.  But I am off a bit.  So I decided to get on it to see if I could force it a bit by getting to some harder work.  I was trying to feel it a bit like 5k pace, but the climbs back were a bit tougher.  About 6.1 miles.

I like that workout though because it is close, and works effort a bit more than pace – particularly on the ups.  I will go back to this so for reference, it was 5:03.5 (5:41 pace), 5:55 (6:40 pace), 4:46.9 (5:22 pace), and 5:46.9 (6:35 pace).  Light jogging on three minutes rest.

Evening – it was a tight squeeze but I got in 4 steady.  Parked at the restaurant we were meeting at for dinner, changed in the car, and got running.  I wanted to find that pace that was going to get me a bit of running but not kill it so that I appeared like I needed to be carted to the ER over dinner.  Back in 28 minutes.  Rolled down the window, blasted the AC and got changed back.  Combed the hair and walked into dinner at the ready.  

25 who are more influential …Chances are that if you have done a 5k or 10k race in the north metro Denver area, you have seen this guy.  And in fact, if you have run a HS XC meet in the area, you have most certainly run by this guy at the finish line.  And you probably didn’t notice.

He is usually doing something like that.  He will be staring at a computer near the finish line, getting up on a ladder to adjust a camera over the chute, instructing folks on how to manage finishers as they come in or tweaking some cables that are no longer working. 

In fact, now that I think about it, he has seen more of my finishes in races than anyone else.  And so, he has probably seen my best and my worst in road racing.

Guess what – the guy is an Olympian.  In 1980, Mr. Benji Durden won a spot on the US Olympic team by taking second in the US marathon trials with a time of 2:10:40 (which in today’s terms would seem pedestrian on the world stage, but … if you ran that at Chicago recently it would make you almost a lock for the US team in two years – and keep in mind in 1980, the marathon record was still in the 2:09 range). 

But of course, the 1980 team did not go to Moscow, as Jimmy Carter decided as such. 

Most people who cross through his finish chute probably don’t know who he is or what he as accomplished.  And they don’t care.  And that is fine.   They care that their results are posted shortly after the race on the side of the nearby shed, are accurate and then they look that up a few hours later on line.  And this guy has done that for easily hundreds of thousands of racers over the decades.  No – seriously.  He did the timing for Bolder Boulder for years (he still might, I don’t know that), and that alone was tens of thousands of people each year.  And then nearly every other weekend, he was managing the finishes for the local 5k or 10k or the such and such 5 miler.  Some weekends, he is doing multiple races.

I met Benji in 1996, shortly after I moved out here and started running and racing somewhat more seriously again.  I became so spoiled by how quick he’d get his results up, that I’d be pissed when I would go to other races and they would say they would mail results out in a few weeks. 

Running results are not some critical service, like water or electricity, but it is one of those things that we expect.  We expect the lights to go on when we flick a switch.  We expect the traffic lights to work.  When we pick up a phone (or click it on now I guess), we expect it to call.  It is only when stuff goes wrong, then we realize that there is someone behind that making that happen.  And we have come to expect that our race results get up, correctly and quickly.  When it is not done, we suddenly notice the lack of service, and realize how good the service was before.

Benji was doing pull tags at the time in the mid 90s – no chips or camera or any of that  - and still getting results up more quickly and accurately than any body else in the area.  Well, mostly accurate.  I used to give him shit that when I was trying to break some time goal, I’d actually have to run TWO seconds faster than that to get that.  If you wanted to break 17 for a 5K, you better not run 16:59 on your watch because it would actually show up as 17:01 in the results.  I became so accustomed to this I actually started to not stop my watch until two strides down into the chute.  He some very scientific explanation on rounding that I was not sure I agreed with … so I still gave him crap about it.

Like the others I have mentioned, Benji is approachable, and passionate about the sport.  He cares about his work, and the detail it requires.  You don’t see just regular pull tags as his primary way of timing anymore.  It is chips and camera.

For what it is worth, after he took second in the OT, he’d PR later in the marathon, 2:09:57 in a third place showing at Boston in 1983.  He ran sub 2:20 25 times.  He ran 3:01 as a 55 year old.  He had prostate cancer, fought it and won.  He has completed a marathon in every state in the Union. He was a coach. I think I asked him once how much money he won in professional racing and with sponsorships and it was something ridiculously low.  Like 10000 dollars all told.  There was no prize money in races like Boston back then.  If you really want to do your homework, go look at some of the stuff he was posting on LR in 2004 about his training in the heat with layers of sweats.

An Olympian that touches the results of that many people and is a real guy running his own business … well, yeah, I would call that pretty influential.

(note, given the real life schedule, I am not expecting to post one of these 25 tomorrow)

News: 
-Looks like GoLite is done.  Bummer.
-PAC12 break down

Great sunrises and sets the last couple of days.
Afternoon – I have been wanting to get in a longer run for a few days, but it is not lining up with either how I feel or how I am letting the day get away.  I thought I’d get it today, but I lost about an hour I thought I had.  14.1 which started easy but progressed up a bit to steady.  One of those runs where I felt like I was trying to snot rocket out a Saturn V but I was only getting Sputnik satellites out.

25 who are more influential … it should also be no surprise that I would put Lucho on my list.  Here is one of the more pretty shots I have of him.

Before you think I am talking about Lucho because he is a friend of mine, consider the broader impact that he has had.  Like others, you can look at his athletic results – like being former Leadman CR holder (and sub 20 in the 100 there), or being the top amateur at Kona -- or his training logs from when he was going for it, pounding out 40 hour training weeks with 100 miles of running, 500 of biking and a dozen of swimming. 

That is part of why he is influential.  The larger reason why is that he is REAL and the people can see that.  He was one of the first bloggers in the mid 2000s bringing posts about training, goals, Canova, low intensity training, and mixing it with being a Dad who like to fish, deals with insomnia, finding the right place to live and raise his family.  People can relate to him because he is not just the Fakebook guy that only brings good news, but instead nudges you (and sometimes shoves you) to consider your choices both in athletics and life.  Can’t get to a weight room?  Build a sandbag out of a bike tire.  Or lift a log in your back yard. 

I’d make a case that the term MAF would probably have been generally forgotten, but it has been reinvigorated into the ultra running culture because of Lucho (who brought it from a tri world that is often ridiculously distance from the running world) who blogged about it extensively.  The game was upped in 2011 when he and Tawnee P started the “Ask the Ultrarunner, Ask the Coaches” series on Endurance Planet.  Hundreds of episodes later, they still get questions from people wanting to know how to approach training.  He has coached hundreds of athletes over the years, both in CO and elsewhere for multisport and ultras. His “finger prints” are everywhere.   True story – I was on an other continent recently and got together with someone I had never met because they were coached by Lucho, and I happened to know him.  I think part of why he is influential is because the people he interacts with feel his passion for them to succeed – and people naturally are attracted to that.  I am lucky to have the guy as a friend, but even if I didn’t his influence would be significant on running in CO.

If (and it is a pretty big if) I do both Pikes and Leadville next year, the bulk of my training needs to be done by the time I hit June.  Basically between June and July, I have three weeks where little if any training will get done.  Why?  I will be on a boat somewhere.  And often not hitting any land.

Those trips are not ideal for training for a marathon up and down on a 14k peak, or a 100 miler out of Leadville of course.  That said, the reasons for being on these boats is simple:  life time opportunities with my family. 

If anything, knowing that I will be dealing with these circumstances only furthers my belief in that I need to get my training while I can, and maximize that.  With down periods like this (and others dealt because of life, work, etc), I need to look to push myself in the up periods, almost to the point of breaking, and then leveraging the down period as a recovery. 

Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t.  It will be fun either way.

Yesterday’s haul (which later led to today’s canning operation):
She has been rehabbing in the mountains while we have been away.  She is back.  Two and half weeks left with the cast spoon thing.  Yes, it reads, “do not chew.”  She is Australian so I am not sure she can read anyway.  And yes, I am going to make that squirrel pay.

She somehow thinks this is still a good idea.

I thought I’d get out in the afternoon, but the day got away with me.  Still catching up with stuff after being away for a few weeks, including circling the kids to make sure they catch up (with teenagers this is a bit of pushing rope up hill).  Between that, math homework, and fighting off a cold, I was not motivated to roll out into the dark of 9PMish …

News stuff:
- Monarch girls have had the grip on the XC 5A state title for three years and were heavily favored on Saturday to continue that streak.  But Fort Collins, the bridesmaid for the last three years took it by FIVE points. 
-The Lyons kid Roberts posted the fastest time across all the races on Saturday – and the only kid that was going to probably challenge that was Alhamra.  I was surprised to not see him at the top of the result – but he apparently had a pretty bad day.
-Also in XC was action over in MA, that included Abby D’s return to racing.
-NSFW – but holy crap funny from BroScience.  Thanks Jeff.  Glad I had the headset going for that one.  Of course, this is more of Jeff’s life.
-thinking of JV, this is the sort of race that I think he’d love.
-The guy I have run more miles with up and down Mosquito Pass wrote a book.  It is a good read, even if I get trounced in the end to take second.  ;)  No, seriously, I had read a copy a bit ago and I found it sometimes funny, sometimes painful as Hal spoke of some of the stuff he has gone through. 

- The Basic is this Saturday.  ‘Nuff said.

25 who are more influential … it should probably be no surprise that the first guy I would list is Matt Carpenter. 

Carpenter’s resume in terms of wins and course records is mind blowing.  18 wins at Pikes and the CR holder up and down in a time that no one has come near in decades.  3 wins at Mount Washington in sub 1 hour times.   Winner at Leadville and course record holder at 15:42.  And that is just a little bit of it.

But for what it is worth, that is only part of why I put the guy down as influential. 

Arguably, most of Matt’s most epic efforts came AFTER he failed.  Read through his race reports on the link above and you see a thread that is common and inspirational:  high expectations going to a race, coming up short and then retuning his focus to leave no stone unturned:  Pikes, Leadville, NF 50 in SF.  It is a story that many of us can relate to, or at least one we can relate to more than the guy or gal who comes out and wins from day 1 all the time. 

But that still is only a part of why I see him as influential.  The guy started the Incline Club which helped hundreds of runners train for Pikes and Leadville races over the years, helped get the Barr Trail race going, pushed back on the USATF with how they treated MUT runners, took a principled stand on what he expected of races and how they treated elites (probably to the point where he has pissed enough folks off that he has been held from the CO Running HOF), became the registrar of the PP races, created one of the coolest result databases out there for Pikes over the years, and …

… he reached out.  It seemed to me that any guy that asked this guy what they should do for training – he was willing and caring to help out.  You probably would not get the nice “you are crushing it dude” answer that you get on Fakebook, but instead a pretty critical and straight forward analysis of what you were doing wrong and what you need to do to fix it. 

Matt stepped out of the limelight a few years ago, which probably why he did not make the list Justin posted.  He was one of those guys who was so good that even as he neared 50 he was considered sometimes unrealistically the favorite against guys half his age.  In the eyes of some, he probably had to step away for a bit to get away from that sort of expectation.   You could argue that he is less influential now that he has changed the focus in his life to other pursuits.  Or you could argue that the seeds he planted are still growing.   Every summer the guy’s name still comes up in terms of records, wins, and accomplishments. 

There are some stupid rules in running.  Actually, the rules at their basic form are well understood and easily adhered to.  We seem to then create rules on top of that which only create unnecessary strife.  Two examples:  the delay of the start of the 3A XC girls race because of a uniform discrepancy and long hair over the line for a sprinter is “over the line.” 

More on HS XC, including the local HS performance.

Chrissie W has a great read on next challenges.

AM – felt like crud but still managed to move along fairly well.  Just sort of weak, probably a left over from last night’s stomach catastrophe.  I bagged the idea of a long run and kept it at 12 and change.

Finish the week on a bit of a skid, 70 miles.  Not bad given the day of international travel but I had hope to jump on it a bit more.

Week ends with just a While I was away, Justin named me as one of the top 25 most influential people in CO running.  These lists, and other awards, like UROY, are always create some degree of debate because, unlike the very objective contests we engage in (run some distance in some time), these contests are subjective, and open to interpretation of some definition.  Now that I am back, and have had some time to contemplate the matter, I think I will engage in a little project of my own:  25 people who are more influential than me and ought to be on that list.  My list will also be subjective – meaning I am the sole judge of who gets on it and for whatever reasons I deem important.  There will be no particular order to the people I provide.  The point here for me is to recognize those that contribute to the sport in a way I deem as particularly positive in character and accomplishment, either today or historically, and in turn use that as a point of reflection of what I respect and thus strive to be like.  To be fair, there are clearly differences between my approach and the criteria Justin used, but … it is my list.  I will try to do one a day for 25 days, but I might miss a day or two due to other obligations. I welcome input, commentary, and recognition of any particular oversights on my part.  But if I think you are being a butt head, I will drop you from the conversation.  More to come on this space.

Spent most of the day catching up. 

Evening, dusk -  7 miles.  Pace was fine, particularly in the cool of the evening but my stomach was pretty unhappy.  Several pit stops were required …

Ah, so good to be home.  I got out of the car back from the airport and was treated to this. 

AM – in the dark on the home trails, 7.9 miles.  I feel like a swollen slug.  Just a combination of the travel, drinking water to keep ahead of that and then some retention … running helps for sure.  And so does coffee.

News: 
-Excellent interview with Reavis on HOR.  “We need more champions and less record holders.”  Great stuff.
-Really? … a non compete to work at Jimmy Johns? 
-The State XC course … (there is a bit of historical contraversy on it).  For what it is worth, when I did the XC race in Ireland … not a sign of a clock anywhere.  Not a word of bitching that the course was not the length advertised.  It was a start, a finish, now go.
-Regarding the ebola case in NY, it was hard to miss all the folks on the flights wiping down their plane seats with sterilizing wipes.  I figure if someone started sneezing or coughing or exhibiting some sort of illness symptoms, they would have been probably been thrown from the back of the bird in flight. 
-Anyway, Delta airlines has looked to make their safety videos a bit more interesting by throwing in weird stuff (like a guy putting a pizza in the overhead bin) in an attempt to get folks to pay attention.  New Zealand Air jumps on this concept and goes all Shire with it.
- Q or Q?  It is up to you.
-Nice Wetmore interview before the ramp up to NCAAs.
-And then there is this horrible-I-absolutely-did-not-laugh-at-this thing …

Yeah, I am FF lover.  I am digging the release of a song each week.

Afternoon – 80 plus degrees.  Wow.  Slight change from Ireland and England.  6.2 miles, some fartleky stuff in.

I was giving some thought this AM to what I would do with Strava if I were its product manager.  I have generally heard that the upgrade to premium is really not worth it.  Maybe some of these features exist in premium … I dunno, and I am probably cheap enough that I wouldn’t subscribe even if they did.  Some ideas …
1.)  how about just being smart enough to know that when someone posts a mile time on a run that is sub 3:40, that ain’t a run?
2.)  right now Strava notifies you if you lose a CR on a course.  How about expanding that notification?  For example on such and such course, maybe I am number 9.  Toss me the heads up when I get bumped to 10.
3.)  rivals … give me the heads up on when my “rivals” (friends that I subscribe to) are getting an FKT, bumping me on a course (this sort of happens with daily mail, but not nearly to the degree it could).
4.)  subscribe to a course activity … maybe you want to see what happens on your favorite route everytime that happens (a bit neurotic but it is a simple feed).
5.) I’d love to see Strava just take the times from races outright and load those (sort of like Athlinks) but that is not their niche (as there is no GPS data with that really).  The reason for this is it seems a bit odd ball to get the FKT on a course when you were 30th and the only nut job to upload it to Strava.

Yeah, it really doesn’t matter.  So forget all that.

Not eventful flight from Heathrow to Detroit.

Being a somewhat regular traveler, I recognize the differences in airport security, border control, etc.

For example, the US is the only place I know that makes you do this “take your shoes” off thing.  I figure if they don’t make you do that in Tel Aviv, then it is probably not that big of a deal.  I do have some work shoes that I know to take off in those places, like London, because there are lugs in them that will set off the scanner.

Interesting thing about flights to Israel is that you go through security again, right before you get on the flight – even though you went through it to get to the secure area.  They don’t do this on the way out of the country though.  Then again, there are dudes walking around with automatic rifles in the airport.

Heathrow takes your picture everywhere.  As you get into the secure area, and then as you scan your pass to get on the plane, they have you face a mini cam on a pole and have you take a picture.   Some sort of cross check on your face that makes sure that the person who first came in is the same person getting on the bird.  If you are wearing a hat in one, you better wear it throughout or you are going to get stopped.

Some countries are pretty easy to get into when flying in.  France and Ireland have been really easy for me.  I have sometimes gone up and shown my passport and I am not even asked any questions and the agent just stamps it.  The UK usually wants to know how long I will be there, why I am there, what the name of my company is, etc.  Israel has actually asked for a copy of my itinerary for my hotel and some proof of someone at my work requesting that I be there. 

Getting out of Israel has been made a bit easier for me as we get “security letters” from our work.  These are letters that our company HR manages for us that states why we were there, what for, where stayed, etc.  It is not a get free through the airport option, but it moves things along.

When I fly into the US, I usually have to hit an intermediate spot before connecting to Denver (this is as I mostly fly Delta, and Denver is a United hub, not a Delta one).  This means that I come into the CBP area (customs and border control) and go through the first screening without my baggage (other than carry on).  For what it is worth, while I have had Global Entry in the past, it only seems to work about half the time.  And a recent change is that for all US resident citizens is that you use a kiosk to answer the “do you have fruit, did you hang out with cows” questions rather than fill out a paper form.

After you get through that, you then claim your bag.  Up until today, I then walk up to the next CBP, and then get waved on through to put my bag back on a carousel to be sent to Denver.  Since you had access to a checked bag, you have to go through security again, and you better remember to take off your shoes since you are back in the US.

Today however, I was told to follow the blue line.  I came to an agent here that had an additional series of questions for me.  Same sort of stuff, but more detailed.  What company, doing what?  How much money do you have?  You traveled there with your family?  Where are they now?  Any alcohol, tobacco, cigars? (I was asked this last one no less than four times).

And then a full bag search.  He went through both my carry on and checked bags, looking for whatever they look for.  He found nothing but dirty laundry – which I can tell you ain’t pretty smelling after three weeks with running clothes.  That said, I am sure he has seen worse.  After about 10 minutes of this I was free to go (with the then re-check of the bag and the security again).

It also seemed to me that there were a greater number of agents at this entry point today – and I wondered if it was about the ebola freak out.  Two sniffing dogs in the area as well.

Of course, after this blog post I will probably get stopped more often.  Maybe even after flights.

Today’s listening

AM – 3 miles before heading to LHR for travel back to the USA.

Hard to wake up (8:40, 7:44, 6:52).

I am always surprised as how many great opportunities there are for places to run near Heathrow.  I usually hit here when I come back from Dublin, spend the night in one of the hotels directly adjacent to the airport – and expect it to be just some concrete jungle.  But each time I find new fields, grass and trails to check out.  It is wonderful.

5.2 miles.

News:  He ain’t Karl M, but he is racking them up and with a 60% win rate on real courses, the dude is something else.  And Andrew S spells out the basics of ultra training pretty damn well.  This is one worth watching:  I have wondered about race groups that “employ” “volunteers” …

AM – slow top start, sluggish.  5.5 miles.

Freebird gave me a heads up on the new “Unbroken” trailer that is out.

My friend Marty K got a bit of press in the Denver Post about tossing your watch.  Well, and other stuff.  ;)  Looks like Carlos G, Rock, Christoph, Ted K and Mike R in that pic.  Funny they are wearing watches though.  Having run with MK, I know his a classic time piece and not any sort of stop watch. 

Good wrap up on the collegiate XC weekend.  And a bit more analysis.

Evening – 7.1 miles along the canal, up around the back side of the Guinness factory.  Starting to get a bit chilly for the equipment I have with me.

AM – 6.3 miles.  Headed out along part of the Dublin canal system.  Cooler and windy

Morning commute …

Jonesy reflects on his record where he went through the half 30 years ago faster than what they did for the recent WR marathon.  I am sure I have told this story before but I remember when I met Steve Jones.  I told him how when I was in HS, there was a poster of him winning Chicago up in the boys locker room, on the XC bulletin board.  His response was quick.  “Damn.  I wish it had been up in the girls locker room.”

One of Jonesy’s athletes is Vaughn (who was also coached in HS by Greg Weich, who now coaches my daughter and we have all seen movies with Kevin Bacon in it).  I am guessing that Brent was not stoked with the 68 this past weekend.

Slow to rise this AM, but if I was to get a run it, I needed to get up.  The sun does not break the horizon here at this time of year until 8, so the easy five and change miles were in the dark, wind and rain.  Out to Phoenix Park and back.  Tired a bit but not too bad.

Out to our facility here this AM, and so back to work.  Apparently the truckers here (or as I heard it referred to, “haulage company workers” decided to strike in protest to truck fees (5000 Euros a truck a year, compared to 500 pounds in England) by parking a bunch of trucks in bound to the city in the primary tunnel. 

Some folks think I am nuts with my stats I keep.  Compared to some, I keep nothing.

Max King picks up $30k at the Warrior Dash 5k championships.  Hat tip to Wes for picking that up for me.  Helluva lot better pay day than Burro Racing.  Then again, I better stick to burro racing given the craptastic result I put up yesterday.  At least I was 11th among the 45 year old age group.  Yup, 11 dudes in that class.

The track is growing on me, particularly the second half (2:45 on), even if it is a Dio riff before that) culminating with that great scream. 

Magil talks about a lifetime of breaking 5.

A look at the CU track shack.  Nice reminder that it is good not to be in college anymore.

Another 5.2 in the evening before dinner.  Windy.  Apparently a hurricane is hitting the west coast of the island.

I tried to research what this XC race in Phoenix Park was about and if I’d be better off NOT doing it.  It seemed that I could be way over my head, particularly as it supposedly would draw elites, sub elites, real contenders and folks who had an axe to grind.  And of course,  I was not fresh.

There were no results from last year to lean on, and the website seemed to be generally inviting – encouraging road racers to try their hand at something different.  Ultimately I figured if I watched a friggin XC race in Ireland from the side line that I could jump in, I’d be pretty pissed at myself. 

I jogged over to Phoenix Park, bringing a backpack of a small amount of gear as there was a pretty good wind blowing.  I got there a bit early and was able to catch some of the kid races that were going on earlier in the afternoon.  From what I can gather, kids here don’t run with their school, but instead affiliate with a club that they then train and race with.

The wind was whipping pretty good but the skies were still sunny, but not really clear.
I did an easy jog around the course – a “2k” loop (which meant it was 2.1).  No big climbs, but rollers throughout, some mud – and a lot of soft soft grass.

I learned from an older racer that the registration was over in the local harrier club house, about a mile a way.  I jogged over to that.  Okay, it was part training rooms, some couches, meeting rooms, and museum.  They had a singlet that Eamon Coghlan had worn for them for crying out loud.  And a bunch of pix from World XC was in Ireland that had shots of O’Sullivan, Drossin (now Castor), and Radcliffe. 
I made my way back over the race course and saw the 5k race go off.  I had thought this was the women’s race but it actually was a 5k for master’s men over 60, a 4k for women juniors women, and a 5k for open women and whoever else wanted it to be.  Interestingly, it worked. 
The skies had been turning increasingly gray over the afternoon and just before the men’s 8k (which was also a 6k for junior men, and the qualification race for UK and Irish Masters XC teams for 40 to 60) it started to rain. 

I took a position at the complete back of the field for the start.  I figured that a.)  I was going to suck at it anyway and b.) I didn’t need to get in the way of anyone wanting to fight for some spot on their national team. 

Here is a picture from the start from the Athletics Ireland FB account.  I am the short guy in the back not fighting anyone that you cannot see …

And we were off.  I had my excuses lined up to not go out too fast:  I was running in Hokas, I was tired from a big week of training, I had raced yesterday.  So I went out a bit too fast … but probably only so I did not get left 200 yards behind the rest of the field.  I looked around and I was nearly dead ass last after 400 yards.  Wake up!

After about a kilometer, a few guys began to come back, but generally I was with the group of guys I was going to go back and forth with.  Interestingly on the flatter sections, they’d get away from me a bit.  On the “hills” or the softer sections, I’d roll them back.  This would go back and forth for as much as 40 yards.  I thought a couple of times some of those guys were gone, but then, they’d come back. 

The rain got picked up in laps 2 and 3, and I had to grin at this.  I mean, what else should I expect at an Irish XC race.  I actually heard the announcer say, “well now this is good XC weather.  It should get you all in the spirit.”  Here is another Athletics Ireland shot.  Recognize the lady?  That is Fionnuala Britton.

As I started at the complete back of the field, I can say I only got passed by one dude – and that was in the last 250.  Otherwise, I was moving up all day.  Mind you, it was not quick in the slightest.  GPS had me at 6:20 pace and change for the 5.3 miles.   I probably finished in 600th place or something.  Safe to say I would not have made the Irish XC team for 45 year olds on this go around.  Wondered if Sweeney would.  I will need to look at results when posted to see about that.

So fun, good workout, and glad I did it.  Certainly felt the load of the week, but I know that even if it were half of what it was, I’d not have been looking at 40 seconds faster a mile.  Oh – I was happy to not be lapped (or even close to it) by guys finishing their fourth loop as I was finishing my third (believe me, I thought about it and it could happen).

What else?  Oh, everyone around me in the race was either named Martin, Patrick or Eamon.  Go figure.  But nearly everyone called us lads as we went by anyway.  There is a write up on the race as of this evening.

I jogged back to the hotel to finish the day with 14 and change miles.

95 on the week – clearly the largest mileage week on the year.  But it would be inappropriate not to mention that I had about 20 last week.  And that is how it is going to go.  I need to take the training where I can get it – and when I can’t – like when vacationing with my family, I won’t look to force it.    So I am happy with this week, as I took advantage of getting in some long stuff, a good two day pair for me (40 plus, so growing that to continue the concept of the double, running on tired legs), getting in some harder efforts and enjoying leveraging the gift of being able to scope places out with my own two feet.

Some pix I took yesterday afternoon

Definitely feeling today the odd contrast of enjoying a job that gets me to travel to wonderful locations like this and wanting to be back home.  I appreciate that I am here.  It would be a helluva lot more fun if I was with my family.

Big bond issue at home regarding school infrastructure improvements in BVSD.  I’d be fore it but with 20 million as a part of it for “education innovation” it seems like an over reach on the ask, particularly as it is the largest in CO history.

CU’s performance at PreNats seems to solidify their lock on the NCAA big prize.  I have to look but Syracuse up ending Stanford … I thought Stanford was supposed to be number 2?  It looks like they didn’t run their A squad … And Theroux almost catching Cheserek has to be exciting.  This is a kid that only had 1:55, 4:16 speed coming to him from HS.  Wetmore is amazing.

Cranny was 7th at Wisco.  And so was her team.  She might do great as an individual at Stanford, but when her next team mate is 53rd in a race, they ain’t going to make any team podiums.

Locally (as in back in CO) – I got this note … so yes Elizabeth, you can do your own 100 miler if you are nuts enough to do so.  This is an impressive route.

Start at Starbucks Coffee at Broadway & Baseline in Boulder at 8:00 AM.  Head up on foot to Chautauqua, and continue up Gregory Canyon to cross Flagstaff Road at Realization Point (about mile 3).  Head down Chapman Road to cross Boulder Canyon (mile 6).  Go up Boulder Canyon to the link trail into Betasso, and go all the way through Betasso and Benjamin, out the link trail to Fourmile Canyon (mile 12).  Head up Fourmile into Salina, and take the Church Road up to cross Sunshine Canyon, and continue through the town of Sunshine and to Sunshine Saddle (mile 16).  Cruise down the trail into Lefthand Canyon, across that, up onto Gold Ridge, down through Spring Gulch, and up into Ward (mile 30).  Pause briefly in Ward to resupply food.

Head north out of Ward and take CR100 and CR103 out to cross Peak-to-Peak into the South St. Vrain trail (mile 33).  Take that to catch the North Sourdough, and go south on Sourdough to the South Sourdough Trailhead (mile 43).  Head up Rainbow Lakes Road to FR505 to the Caribou Townsite (mile 49).  Head down Caribou Road into Nederland (mile 54).  Maybe get a bite here if anything's open, but that's unlikely.

From Ned, go out towards the high school to take the Sugar Magnolia trail into the West Magnolia trails.  Head through them into Rollinsville (mile 60).  Go south on Peak-to-Peak to CR12 to CR13 to Peak-to-Peak again to Gap Road into Golden Gate Canyon State Park (mile 66).  Go all the way through the park on trails to Red Barn (mile 76).  Head down Drew Hill Road to Belcher Road into White Ranch (mile 82).  Go through the trails of White Ranch, and out 56th Avenue to cross 93 (mile 88).

Head east on 58th Avenue and south into Table Mountain.  Go all the way over Table Mountain, and down into central Golden (mile 94).  Go to the Jefferson County Government Center (mile 97), and get on the light rail into Denver, to catch the B bus back to our starting point.

Good lord.