100% Optimism

Well, it's one week until the US Olympic Trials, and I am obviously very excited. As many interviews and youtube videos float around on the internet, I've decided to add to the flood of guys/gals talking about their experience towards reaching the trials.

I think I've commented plenty of my experience and what it's been like making the standard, so all I have left to do is wait and rest until the gun goes off in Houston. There wasn't much I could have done to improve my performance when 8:00am on January 14th comes around. I am expecting an emotional race, and the possibility to PR, while soaking in all the excitement that the Trials has been built up to be. The talk of amazing things has been in the minds of countless runners (actually just 122 men, and 197 women), so the odds are that not everyone is going to PR and run the race of their lives, which is why we all get to race to see what happens. And, that is what I am excited for! Everyone should be giving it everything they have and hopefully we can hobble away from it with high heads and pride. Pride that we got to compete in the most competitive Marathon of our lives.

29 days...

It's only 29 days until the most anticipated American road race takes place in Houston, Texas. The marathon trials have been my goal since graduating from Cal State San Marcos, yet I didn't even give it a shot until moving to New Mexico. I could say that the 60-80 mile weeks in Southern California were preparing me to become a better runner, but after many miles later, I now know that was a lie. I should have been running 100 plus mile weeks for about 2 years to see any real benefit in the marathon, which may be why I didn't attempt one until 2009. And that was a year after moving to New Mexico to pursue a running lifestyle, hidden behind a pursuit of a master's degree. But, I kept running low mileage and ran local races, never exposing myself to what other top runners where doing at the time. So, when Sean Brosnan convinced me that there were better places to train in the United States, and that a change of scenery would not only get me out of my comfort zone, but force me to focus on why I would be training there, I decided that I would need to move. Luckily for me, Kris Houghton wanted me to move to New Mexico and train with him and be coached by Henry Rono. This worked out, and the rest is history.

So, After 3 years of training and the casual injuries, I've finally hit a few PR's that are respectable, in my mind. I can finally say that I'm an Olympic Trials Qualifier, and will be toeing the line on January 14th, 2012, with the best Marathoners of our day. It's going to be a 26.2 mile victory race, and I have no idea how its going to play out. All I know is that I am excited and proud to be there, and can't wait to see what happens. I hope to be posting more frequently, now that school is over, graduation is upon me, and the trials are staring at me in the face!