USATF Club Nationals

Last weekend was one hell of an experience at Club Nationals.  There were only three of us out there from the Dukes Track Club, but that's all we needed to have a good time.  I know that if we sent a full squad, we could have scored really well and placed high... Next year.  Anyways, it was a nice 30 degrees out there on the 10k grassy course in Lexington, Kentucky.  The race went off at 1:30pm with the sun slowly setting beneath some clouds, which made for a much colder race than the warm up.  The start goes up a 600m hill and after the crest it dips down to a lower field for a loop and back across another rolling hill.  Those rollers lead to the back side of the course and past the start to do it all over again.  I wanted to get out hard, so I just went with the leaders and stayed on whoever was in the top ten for as long as possible.  Lots of gut grinding and teeth chopping occurred throughout this course, as well as loss of blood flow in my fingers.  After the race I realized I could have used some gloves, but it didn't really matter in the race.  Our first mile was hit in 4:40 with about 10 guys packed together.  Next mile was 9:20 something with about 8 guys.  This is where the leaders (two of them) took off and the packed dispersed.  I was in 7th place trying to race with the 6th place guy for the third mile, which was hit in around 14:07 and 14:47 for 5k.  After half way I was still in 7th racing with Ryan Bak.  We came past the starting line again and a few more guys caught us on the up hill.  I knew I had to stay in the top 10, so after the hill I crested it and opened up my stride so that only Bak came with me.  It pasted me on the turns and we pushed up the next uphill.  At this point we had about a mile or so to go.  I started maintaining stride till we came into the finishing area with 800m to go.  Another guy caught us and our finishing pack was now to 3 guys.  The mud at this area wasn't too bad, more compacted soft dirt than anything else, and the windy was howling in our face with 400m to go.  The six mile mark was final visible and counting down from 28:55 to about 29 flat by the time we past it.  So with about 400 to go and two turns I was still trailing and decided to go a little wide to start kicking.  The straightaway and the finish were in sight and I slightly edged out the other guys for 6th place and a new over all 10k PR of 30:03.  

I was very pleased with the place and time, and still think that I can improve my 10k PR from a cross country time to a faster time on the track.  But, since this is cross country I was more pleased with the place.  The next step is to place in the top 10 at the USA Cross Country Championships come February and make that US team!         

Pictures:

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USATFClubXCChampionships/photos/racePhotos/openMen/index.asp

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USATFClubXCChampionships/

Base Building

It has been about 4 weeks since Twin Cities Marathon, and I am back on the Trials of Miles...  I think I was around 110 for last week and will continue to build up towards 140 miles/week.  We haven't been doing any workouts, so it is a bit easier to hit higher mileage.  This past sunday, there was a big group of us.  There were about four Americans and four Africans with us on our 18 mile long run.  We went 6 miles easy, 6 miles a little faster, and the last 6 was very, very fast...  But, it felt great!  

Things are shaping up, and I am very excited to focus on one thing this winter, which will be the USA Cross Country Championships.  I will do a few indoor races, but the main goal is to make a National Team.  Workouts will come in a few weeks, and I'll jump into a few races for fun.  And the quote of the month between all of us has been: "More is Better!"  

Twin Cities Marathon

As I keep reading about the Elite Fields for the Twin Cities Marathon, and the American hopefuls to win this event, it becomes very inspiring.  The race is only 11 days away and I can't wait for it to start.  The two American hopefuls are Luke Watson and Jason Hartman, both very talented runners.  This will be Watson's debut marathon, so it will be interesting to see how he does, and Hartman was 10th at the 2007 Olympic Trials.  That combination makes for a pretty decent American Field.  I just hope to be in the mix with those guys.  At this point, I feel very confident in racing my own race, and not worrying about things I can't control.  

So, as far as training goes, last week (9/14/09) went really well.  We had one fartlek workout on tuesday, which consisted of 5 sets of 3-2-1.  The rest of the week leading up to sunday's long run/tempo was just easy mileage.  Now, sunday's long run/tempo was interesting.  As usual, we start late because Kris and I are off marking a 10k loop that we will run marathon goal pace at, at the end of our long run.  Once that "course" it set up, we leave some water bottles and fuel, and head over to meet up with the rest of the gang.  The long run starts off fine, with everyone: Me, Kris, Robby, Dustin, and Josh goofing off and trotting along the river for 12 miles.  Oh, and every so often Kris gets a bright idea to throw in a surge for a minute to spice things up... Well, once we finish 12 miles (or so), we head over to "the course" and start the last 10k of our long run.  Unfortunately, I started us off a little too quick and forgot to start my watch (so we had no idea how fast we were going), but I think it went well.  The course had a few turns through some neighborhoods, past some pit-bulls that wanted us dead, a few disgruntled sunday morning drivers and finished by a lovely fire station... All and all, it could have been worst.  I actually liked the course and I think we will use it for more of these marathon simulation workouts.  But, as I was saying, we didn't get a full time on the 10k loop, but I'm pretty sure we got the last 2 miles, which were in 11:11.

On tuesday, our other semi-last workout of the season, we just did 5x1000m at Albuquerque Academy.  This was another makeshift workout, since lanes 1-3 were blocked.  We had to calculate the correct stager in lane 4 and stay in lane 4.  That workout went well and Kris, Allen and I worked together on it.  

As we have 11 days till the marathon, I just hope to stay healthy and hungry to race.  "Tapering" is an interesting experience, and I don't even know if we are doing it right, but either way I know we'll be ready at the start of that marathon.              

3 Weeks and Counting/Hood to Coast

So, there are only three weeks left till my marathon debut.  I am both excited and nervous about this ordeal.  At times I feel like I could use another month of training, or just pick another marathon, but I'm sure the Twin Cities Marathon is a fine choice.  Kris and I have been preparing very well for this, and a few weeks ago we just completed the Hood to Coast relay.  Although, Kris and I were on different teams and different lengths the effort was still there, as well as the confidence.

The Hood to Coast relay was a logistical nightmare; fun, but insane...  This "experience" transpired back in March when I got an email from Steve Dekoker, a Brooks Sports Marketing guy, and talented runner.  His emailed explained how Brooks has been putting together a team every year at this NIKE Hood To Coast relay in Oregon.  This relay is "The mother of all relays", as it says on the back of the corny T-Shirts.  Well, Steve had invited a few Brooks athletes to be on this team, as well as local Brooks guys.  And with the lure of gear incentives, travel and free food, why wouldn't I take this opportunity.  Not to mention that the entire relay covers 198 miles from Mt. Hood to Seaside, mostly done at night. It was a nightmare, but fun!  Our team, the "Brooks Beast" won in a time of 16 hours and 55 minutes, an average of 5:09 miles.  Two years ago the Brooks team took 3rd to 2 Nike teams, Last year they were 2nd to the Nike team and finally, this year we won.  So, needless to say, it was a great experience!

Now, its roughly 2 1/2 weeks till the marathon.  Last week I tapped out at 124 miles for the week, which was the most I've ever done.  Hopefully I can post as much as possible leading up to the marathon.

Coming into Form

Things have been going pretty well the last couple of weeks.  I think I've been hitting 90 plus miles for the last 2 weeks and over 100 for this past week.  A teammate and I are slowly creeping up towards 120 miles for this week.  The reason for this is due to the amount of success other runners had when increasing their mileage.  Just as long as we do it smart and under a fine microscope.  The workouts have been good, but only a few of them a week.  

This past sunday we did a 20 miler with the last 8 at around tempo pace.  It didn't go as great as I planned, since I started off too fast and died toward the end, but only to recover the last mile in the fastest mile of the day.  So not a complete failure.  It was also good for us to practice fuel intake.  We grabbed some water bottles and a GU to take during the tempo portion, and I was able to take it without any problems.

So, this week should be the most mileage I've ever done, then a slight drop in mileage next week for the half marathon in San Diego.  This half marathon should be a stepping stone towards the marathon.  It's going to be fun, being back at home to see my family and friends.  I'm looking forward to it!  Kris, Dustin and I should have a good time out there and preform fairly well, if the weather isn't as hot as some say its going to be.  Nonetheless, everyone has to run in it, and I think I'm going to compete in this race as suppose to going after a time.  

Should be fun!

Flu and another Epic Run

A few weeks ago I got the flu which totally put a damper on my training.  But now in my second week back I am feeling 100 percent and ready to be more consistent with my training.  After a moderate 95 mile week after having about a week off from the flu, I was ready to run with our team.  That week included an unexpected Epic run... well, it was expected just not from me coming back from a sickness.  Regardless, we decided to get back on our marathon schedule which entailed a lovely Epic run up La Luz and back.  When I got word of this on saturday night, I contacted a few other team members: Kris (who planned this epic run), Juan (who has joined us before in a 35 mile run to Belen),  and two newer members Josh (who ran one Epic run before and can't get enough of them) and Dustin (who moved here from North Carolina to train for the marathon).  Yes, our crew has grown from 3 to 5 insane individuals...

This run was more of a mental challenge than anything else.  Even though it took us 3:25 to cover the 9000ft of accent and decent over 24 miles, it still was a culminating factor of mental toughness and physical toughness.  I was happy to see everyone get through this run without any injuries.  There were doubts and frustration at times, but in the end it was a great experience.  It was also surprising that we finished 20 minutes faster than the last time we did this God forsaken run.  And I didn't feel completely dead at the top, compared to last time.  Everyone was in good posture...

Now, with that run under our belts a few of us have 12 or 13 weeks till our marathon.  These should be the crucial weeks leading up to the race, so I'm hoping things will continue to progress as they have and the Dukes Track Club get better throughout the months.  Things are taking form and it's real exciting to see new addictions to the team.          

Crazyness

As training has been going well, sleep and socializing have been crazy.  From a bachelor party, to running parties, to a wedding... this past week has been very interesting.  I must say it has been fun, but to certain degree it can be a little too much fun.  Its a bit out of the ordinary for our house/friends to be embracing life this much, and I shall take it for what its worth.  The marathon is months away, but I'm sure every hour of debauchery can add up over the course of time to hinder on any performance.  We shall see how things turn out...   

Focused

So the past couple of weeks have been pretty good as far as training goes.  Not too many distractions, and surprisingly I've hit some high mileage weeks without even noticing it.  A few of us did our traditional Epic run over the Sandia's, which we completed in a much faster time than the previous times, and I felt a lot better this time.  Maybe it was due to the fluids I was taking... Either way, it was Epic and exciting.  We will be doing two more "Epic" runs leading up to Twin Cities Marathon in October.  Besides that run and tempo runs, we will be adding some fartleks into the training regimen starting tomorrow!  This I am excited for!  Some speed should help us out just as it did last fall.  

Our team also has another member; Dustin Hicks, who drove out here from North Carolina with his girlfriend to train with us for the marathon trials standard.  The group/team looks promising and all the guys are getting along.  As I titled this blog "Focused", it does seem as if many of the runners are very focused and determined to reach our goals.  There are so many personal and team goals that I have for us, which I know we can accomplish.  Some are broad, like wanting Albuquerque to be an American Distance mecca.  This will take time, support and collaboration, but its worth it.  And some are more personal, of course like hitting the US olympic trials standard.  Whereas others would be to have our team (Dukes Track Club) become a known training group where aspiring runners can train and develop.  Its all in good fun, and I'm excited to see everyone enjoying themselves.  

Once our damn website comes up, I'll have to post it on here.  Also, a congratulations to our temporary roommate, UNM athlete Matt Ashton, who finished 16th at NCAA 10k this past week.  This Brit is a great guy and brings a different aspect of life to us.  His teammate Chris Barnicle also placed well in the 10k, with a 13th place finish.  And of course Lee Emanuel was 3rd in the 1500m final, which was won wire to wire by German Fernandez.  Either way, these UNM guys are putting New Mexico on the map, and I only hope a tiny post-colligate group can add to the allure that Albuquerque offers.      

Again

Another great week of training has passed, and hopefully man more will come.  It was so amazing to be out there training with the guys and gals....  But more importantly the guys.  It can be tempting to push it and start full force, but I shall hold back for the time being.  Besides, my fitness doesn't even allow me to come back at full force, so that's a good thing.  

For the next few weeks I will just be building my mileage back up again for a late summer half marathon and a fall marathon with my team.  It should be fun and exciting.  Our team has grown and a few guys from different parts of the country have contacted us, so that is exciting as well.  If we can have a decent team for Club Cross Country, it should be a blast. 

Back to Running

I got to run for the entire week last week.  And so for things are feeling great!  I should be off to a few more weeks of just building up mileage, and then add in some tempo/threshold runs.  It should be interesting and exciting, but I am still upset that I did not have a track season.  I guess there is always next year...

6 week injury

Injuries are always fun, and I seem to always get one at the end of winter.  I had something pretty bad on my right leg along the perineal tendon.  I guess I rolled my ankle on a fartlek session and kept running through it.  I was not proactive about it, and didn't roll myself out, take rest, ice or anything that could help it out.  Just kept doing track sessions on it and after a few days it was unbearable.  Now, after 3 weeks of attempted cross-training/jogging, I'm now back to just jogging around.  Hopefully this will get better, and hopefully I've learned something about this.

What I do know is, watching the other guys running track sessions is killer!  I just want to be out there pounding away intervals with these guys and racing!  I seem to never have a decent track season, and my track pr's NEED to come down!  Oh well, there's always the roads...... which I am getting sick of, because I always want what I can't have.  In a few months when I'm racing on the roads, I'll be loving it and not thinking about track. 

USA Cross Country Championships

Another long awaited post from a race nearly 2 months ago...

On the weekend of February 7th, a group of Dukes Track Club runners (Myself, Kris, Juan, Robby & Dana) flew to Baltimore, Maryland to compete at the 2009 USA Cross Country Championships/USA World Cross Country Trials.  I was very excited for this race once I got to the airport.  The four of us, minus Kris were on-time checking in and getting to the gate, whereas Kris was nowhere to be found.  As we meandered to our gate, we met up with a small crew of UNM athletes that were racing, including: Jeremy Johnson, Alan Pitman & Lacy Oeding.  We were on the same flight so it was going to be a fun little trip.  Once we we landed, the two groups raced off to get our rental cars and headed over to the course and get a quick peek at what we were about to suffer through!

The course was amazing.  We found ourselves in the middle of a forest with rolling hills carved into a 10 meter wide cross country course.  The frozen mud gave room for horrible footing along the undulating terrain for each 2k loop.  I don't recall any flat surfaces on the entire course, because if there wasn't an uphill or downhill, there was a slope to run along that threw your stride.  Our entire group of New Mexican runners were very pleased with the course, since it reflected the foothills back at home that we loved to run!  Once the sun rested over the farmland hills and red barn at the starting line, we decided to finish up our run and head to dinner and get some rest.

The next day we all slowly woke up, got ready for a shake out run (which included some light hill repeats) and get some breakfast.  Our race was scheduled to go off at 2pm, so we arrived at the race around 12 and watched some of the junior races.  German Fernandez won the junior race with an impressive breakaway in the last lap.  Our UNM runner Al Pitman finished an impressive 17th, which was very motivating for us.  And Lacy placed 10th, earning her a spot on the US NACAC  team.  

Once we got our warm up in, which was 40 minutes of running around lost in the hills behind the course, we did some strides and stretched back at our little spot by the course.  At this time we laced up, did some drills and headed over to the start.  Jeremy was no where to be found at this point, but the five of us headed over there as a small pack of lost Albuquerque runners.  After some more strides on the course, the runners were gathered to start on a long hilly 12k cross country race.  Kris and I had a strategy from our coach Henry Rono to run conservative for the first 4 loops and then start racing after that.  So we agreed that Kris would take the first lap and we would switch leads for the 4 loops.  After the gun went off a huge group of nearly 60 runners converged in front of me towards our uphill start.  I stayed as comfortable as possible for the first loop with Kris.  Once the second loop came I started to lead Kris and pick off a few guys every quarter mile or so.  The hills were relentless, especially the down hills, since they were very steep and slightly muddy from the previous races.  

As the third loop came, I was expecting Kris to take over, but he was not there.  I was not going to look back, so I kept my composure and attempted to pick off guys that went out too hard in the first half of the race.  I was very surprised to be passing such high caliber runners.  At this point fans were calling out places, so I had an idea that I was in the top 30 at this point.  Another discouraging moment, was when guys where dropping out of the race.  This issue gets to me, but nevertheless I still pressed forward through the hills and mud.  For the next 2 loops I was amongst the top 20 and still pressing.  I could see Jeremy up in front and I wanted to reach him, but this late in the race with these amazing runners would be a tremendous effort to reach anyone.  I could feel the guys behind me struggling through the course as much as I was, so our positions seemed frozen for the time being.  On the largest downhill of the course many runners fell, and I witnessed many runners sliding well off the course to avoid a horrible fall.  At one point I nearly fell, but thankful not.  

At the beginning of our last lap I saw Anthony Famiglietti in a red singlet in front of me.  At the moment I did not know who it was, but once a fan called out his name to cheer him on I got excited.  The excitement was that I was closing in on a great American distance runner, who just competed at the 2008 Olympics.  I put in a surge to catch him on the downhill, and we were running together up the hill leading to the back side of the course.  I think we were running together for a bit, then he let me go with 1k to go.  At this point I was pressing as hard as I could without sprinting.  I had an idea where the quarter mile mark would be, but i still wanted to hold my position; which was 17th I believe.  Once I hit the turn for the finish I started my kick...which was too soon.  I could feel the lactic acid build in my legs like battery acid and was just praying I could catch the guys in front of me.  That was not going to happen.  Instead, the opposite happen, a group of guys ate me apart in the last few hundred meters.  It was tough!  They flew by me as if I was standing still, then they started to come back to me.  If they kept their momentum I think they would have gaped me by almost 30 seconds in those few meters, but fortunately I was not standing still and finished a few seconds behind them in 20th.

As I crossed the line in compete pain and exertion I waited there for the rest of our team.  A brief chat with the fellow runners and friends that beat me and Kris soon crossed the finish line in 37th place.  Juan came in a few moments later in 81st place followed by Robby and Dana in 119th & 141st respectively.  This was Robby's first real race since moving back to Albuquerque, at it was a great performance at the National level.  Dana was real pleased with his performance as well, since he has never been on a team before.  As for Juan, this race just fueled the fire for him.  He has always been a competitor, so he used this as a testament to further his training.  Kris was joking stating that he was the fastest Lawyer in the race and was very pleased with it.  This was a huge improvement from last year and he is going to have a huge track season!

I was very pleased and excited with my placing!  This may have been one of my best performances to date.  But, another thing was lingering in my mind.  The team competition!  Now, USA Cross Country Championships is not really regarded as a team event, but they do score teams.  I noticed a table with the Championship Trophy and Runner-up Trophies.  Once I saw that, I knew we won!  There was no way any of those teams beat us, but even if they did I still figured we'd get second and take home some hardware!  But of course, they screwed up the scoring and didn't even score us as a team.  Oh well, maybe next year!

2009 USA Cross Country Championship Results

So on the cool down we were applauding each others performances and joking around from such a great experience.  Many Olympians and Professional runners had bad days and I was very fortunate to have a great day!  Our good friend Jeremy Johnson finished an amazing 12th place, earning him a spot on the US NACAC team as well!  It is such an honor to represent your country in any kind of international competition and I am very proud of Jeremy for making that team.  I only hope that I can have the fitness and integrity to make that team next year.  It would surly be a dream to wear the US Jersey in competition, doing something I love.

That night we headed out to the post-race party and had an amazing, crazy, lost night throughout Baltimore with random people!  One of my buddies/old roommate (Mike Crouch) who runs for Queens University and just ran 7:57 (indoor 3ooom) that same day drove down from New York with his coach, Scott Simmons and stayed in Baltimore for the night came out with us.  All I can say was that we had a night we would never forget, or for a time being we would forget...

And the adventure didn't end there..... The next day, in a slump of sickness we geared up very slowly, packed and drove to Washington D.C. to tour our nations capitol.  Dana lost his wallet so he had to drive back to the hotel to recover it as the rest of us toured the capitol while getting in a run.  This was the last thing I ever wanted to do, but as soon as we got out there running the spinning seemed to slow down.  That night I seemed to have consumed the most beverages and was paying the price that day.  Although the Mall in D.C. was quite amazing.  We meandered through each monument and gazed in awe.  After a few hours of running/sightseeing I started to feel "tapped out".  We got a call from Dana that he'd returned and was looking for us.  We told him we'd run towards his direction, but I was feeling too tired to continue and sat down trying to recover.  Kris was getting irritated and wanted to meet up with Dana first, but before Kris could freak out I heard a women's voice from a car in traffic yell my name.  I looked over in shock and saw an old college teammate, Jenny Hauser.  I ran over to see her and told her to meet up with us after she parked.  Once everyone converged to exchange stories and why we were in D.C. Jenny directed us to a wonderful restaurant where we could complete our Maryland experience with some Crap Cakes!  We arrived at the restaurant, had a great crap cake experience wearing our running clothes and sweat then left straight to the airport for our journey home.

Once again, for lack of a better word, this was an Epic Adventure.  One we shall not forget...

Houston 1/2 Marathon

Well, this is going to be short and quick.  The only reason for the shortness of this entry is because the race was quite awhile ago, and I wasn't too proud of it.  I ran 1:05:38 for the half marathon and came in 24th place.  This was considered the USA Half Marathon Championships and there were 59 elite men and 50 elite women invited to this race.  It was nice, and a great experience to roam around the hotel with other athletes.  At times it was a little overwhelming having everything taken care of for people who just run.  

I had a really good roommate, and I met a lot of awesome runners.  It felt like a networking experience, as well as a race.  Some of these athletes have been at the hotel and venue since wednesday, and everything was free.  Since the entire atmosphere was all about running/racing I started to get a little nervous.  I got countless text messages from family and friends wishing me luck, and also not to go out too fast in the race!  Which I didn't do...

The night of the race we headed down to one of the many ballrooms to have dinner and mingle with other athletes.  Once that was over, and everyone was full, my roommate (Joel Hamilton) and I headed up to our room.  I thought I was going to get some sleep, but it was very hard to rest.  It felt like a very long night, disturbed by both nervous thoughts in my mind and in my stomach.  I remember one dream where I was wondering around after the race and asking people what I ran.  I saw a blurry result sheet with a time of 1:05 something.  I couldn't remember what it was, but then in the dream someone said it was actually faster.  In reality, all I wanted to run was under 1:05, and I didn't get that time in my dream or in reality.

Once I finally woke up, I suited up and headed down stairs for a mile shake out run at 5am.  After that nice little run, I stretched out and took a shower.  Joel and I headed down to the convention center, and unfortunately I decided to warm up on my own by myself.  This lead me to think about the race more than I needed to and mentally freak out during my warm up.  As I looked at my watch to see how long I've been running, I also noticed that it was 6:30.  I remember something about being back at the elite area at 6:30 to be escorted to the starting line... Oh well.  I headed back to the elite area, only to find no one there.  Apparently, all the athletes heard that memo and were already escorted to the start.  Well, I guess this would have been a great opportunity to skip the race, but I decided to grab my gear as quick as possible and head in the direction where I thought the start would be.

I started to notice other elite athletes wondering around lost and following a group of people heading in the "correct" vicinity of the start.  I had a feeling that this group of people where the marathoners and we needed to be directed to the half marathon start, which was the case.  I figured that if eight or so elite guys where not at the start they would hold it up.  But, fortunately we made it to the correct start.  Once I was there, I did some strides and drills and toed the line for the start.

I kept telling myself not to go out too fast, but once the gun went off I completely blanked.  I let the first group of guys go out hard and stayed with the chase pack for as long as possible.  Many guys where in this pack, and for some idiotic reason I kept pressing harder to stay in the front of this pack.  Many guys from the first pack where falling off, but I too could feel myself fatigue.  I had mixed feelings coming through the 10k in a personal best of 30:16.  One thought was: "this is a good pace, I should pr and hit the standard", the other thought was: "holy shit, that was too fast, and when am I going to hit the wall?".  These two thoughts were whispering in my head from both sides as I started to lose focus on the chase pack.  Guys where slowly creeping away as I could feel the burning sensation in my feet get hotter and hotter.

As the mile splits started clocking away slower and slower I started thinking about just finishing the race.  The competitiveness inside had burned out, and I was holding on.  That expression is something I hate to think about.  Holding on after pushing so hard seems to be the hardest way to run a race.  There were plenty of guys to focus on in front and chase down, but there was no response from my legs.  I had pressed too hard in the beginning half of the race to have anything left but to float behind the other runners.

As the straight away came, I knew I was not going to pr, let alone run under 1:05.  I ran home hard only to finish 1:05:38.  At this point; a month and a half later, I feel very pleased with that time and that effort.  Yet, at that very moment I was disappointed.  I almost knew before hand that I was not going to hit the time, that this race was going to be a trial to see how I would approach failure.  Dreams tend to pop in our minds so quickly, and we hold on to them for so long.  But once they are accomplished, we need to look for other dreams.  I feel that it would be dream to make the trials, and that accomplishing it so soon would take away the enjoyment of chasing that dream.  I could have been very discouraged from this performance, but on the flight home I came to realize that traveling to these races, meeting all these great people are what really made this experience worth wild.  Right away, I wanted to race another half marathon and prove that I could run faster.  But as the the steam settled, I knew that it was time for cross country and track!  

Splits [4:54, 4:47, 4:42, 4:53, 4:55, 4:55, 5:00, 5:05, 5:13, 5:10, 5:09, 5:14, ?:??]