2016 Olympic Trials: A Relevance

With the Olympic Trials marathon approaching fast; heck the race is less than 24 hours away, it's very clear that I will not be there racing.  I miss that train last month.  In fact I missed that train what I was training and dealt with injuries for the last 2 year.  I feel a slight sense of a void for not being in Los Angeles with all my friends ready to compete.  No hype surrounded my life this go around, and with that, no expectations were ensued upon me either.  It's like I don't even exist, or have any relevance.  Now, I'm not trying to have a pity party over here, I'm just accepting the fact that I had a goal in early 2013 and watched that goal disappear over time.  Like many people always say, "It's about the journey, not the destination."  And I felt like I had a solid journey over the last 4 years.

To reflect back on my time and my attempt at chasing the standard, I learned a few things.  At the beginning, I thought it was a sure thing that I was going to qualify.  I felt that if I had one bad race, I could make that up in a few months and try again.  Injuries, age, and diet never crossed my mind.  So, when I look forward, I have to take a slower approach and think things through with more ease and preparation.

When looking back on my attempts, here are a few races that stood out in the last 4 years - since a runner's life can be measured in quadrants:

August 1st, 2013 - The USATF opens the Marathon Trials qualifying window. 2:18:00 for the full marathon and 1:05:00 for the half marathon are the "B" standards, and 2:15:00 for the full marathon is the "A" standard.

August 11th, 2013 - I finished the Rio Grande Half Marathon in 1:05:19.....at altitude..... although I believe the course was short, and that would've been a remarkable performance at altitude.

September 8th, 2013 - I won the Skagit Flats Half Marathon in Burlington, Washington in a time of 1:06:47.  I ran solo for the entire race, so I had some good confidence going into the USA Marathon Championships, but still missed the 1:05:00 mark by a lot.

September 15th, 2013 - I won the Chips and Salsa half marathon in Albuquerque in 1:08:42.  And I was very pleased with that solo effort again.

October 6th, 2013 - Finished 20th at the USA Marathon Championships in 2:20:57.  Deep down I was really disappointed as I was attempting to not only qualify, but PR as well.  I felt strong and ran what I thought was one of my strongest marathon finishes ever.

January 19th, 2014 - Another fast, but not quite time at the USA Half Marathon Championships in 1:05:38.  That was actually the exact same time I ran 5 years earlier.  After that race, and disappointment, I finally looked at the positive and set my sights on the Boston Marathon, where I thought I was going to smash my pr since I was in incredible shape that early on...

March 1st, 2014 - The Phoenix Half Marathon, and where everything went south.  I probably ran this race with a stress fracture and ended up taking 8 weeks off once I realized I broke myself from this race.  I ran a respectable 1:07:52, but couldn't walk correctly afterwards.  THIS is where the downward spiral for 2 years started.

After Phoenix, I had to drop out of the Boston Marathon - a race that I have been yearning to compete in since my first marathon back in 2009.  From the 3 stress fracture that I had from that spring, to another bout of a stress fracture this past summer, I was only left to watch the Olympic Trials window slowly close shut.

So, at 10:06am PST tomorrow morning, the best men in the US will be competing against one another, the weather, and more importantly, themselves.  Each athlete tomorrow has an incredible story, but only a few will ever be showcased.  Each athlete tomorrow will be racing for a different reason, and only they truly know.  Each athlete tomorrow will also walk away from the race with a different perspective.  But I believe the true Olympic spirit will reside with them the rest of their lives, even though only 3 per gender will compete at the actual Olympics.  Just being able to say you were an Olympic Trials contender carries so much pride and accomplishment. I'm jealous (in a positive and satisfactory kind of way) that this year those athletes can participate and race with such passion that only comes once every 4 years.  It's going to be great!

Looking back, I can honestly say I had a good chase at the standard.  It's actually really fun chasing something like that.  Knowing that you shouldn't take anything for granted and having the opportunity to train your brains out.  Those are just a few of the benefits and commitment issues that an athlete must decide on.  On the down side; balancing social events, and staying out late and a few of the things on the other side of the spectrum that need to be prioritized and readjusted.  But, sooner or later, that opportunity won't be there anymore, as you can only run fast for so long.  I might as well take advantage of it while time may still be on my side.  Because later in life I will just have to be a supporter of the sport and cheer on those that will be doing the same thing - chasing the dream.

The Dukes Track Club - My teammates, friends, and biggest supporters.

The Roads Will Always Be Open, But The Track Never Lies

US Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field June 22 - July 1, 2012

After a much needed break from 2 marathons in 41 days, I am back running again. I decided to take about 8 days off, and it was an abysmal attempt of laying low and doing nothing with myself, as I felt the need to get back into reality ASAP. Without running, and by choosing not to run, created a void that could only be filled by planning my next training cycle and reevaluating my goals in life. I'm now armed with a Master's degree and soon will have to chose to teach full time or become a running bum... what choice shall I make?

Well, after some metal debating, I feel that many runners surround themselves with other runners and work at running stores to fulfill they running potential. Not many runners at the Olympic Trials had full time jobs, or teaching full time either. For the most part, they work part-time, and train full time. Yet, I felt the strongest and the most determined when I had a class of students to educate and my mind focus on other things besides running. So, at my current point in life I've determined two things: (1) I may not have the opportunity or ability to race in the track trials ever again, which I will attempt to do this spring, and (2) I am going to substitute teach so that I may still train, and hopefully find a full time teaching position.

I still feel the desire and passion to compete on the track this spring as I prepare for another marathon or if I qualify for the 10000m on the track for the Eugene Trials. To me, the marathon is such a great race, as it parallels life. The amount of work and time put into it, just for one race, creates countless memories and truly expresses how the journey is just as fulfilling as the destination. Each marathon I've done, I've learned something new, and have embraced the pain and joy that came with crossing the finish line, as to put the final punctuation of a chapter.

The many races that lead up to a marathon create different emotions, but at the end of the marathon cycle awaits 26.2 miles of a seer testament to your physical ability. However, with track races, there are many to choose from, and hopefully you can achieve your goal of hitting a qualifying time. In this years 10000m Olympic Trials at Hayward Field the "A" standard is 28:15 and a "B" standard of 29:00. In my opinion, no one slower than 28:25 will be allowed to compete. To run that fast, I need to pr by over 35 seconds... So in life, nothing is certain, which is why I want to seek the opportunity to toe the line at Hayward Field and actually be in shape to compete amongst the best Americans in the 10000m distance.

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!

On the Bubble

At this point in the season, I've started to produce some decent workouts and feel like a different runner. I've also managed to get one rest day completely off of running during the week, but this is usually not planned, as I feel too tired to start my day off at 5am, get a run in, head to school to teach all day, then attend class all night. So the past few Tuesday's have been a "rest" day, as I only juggle two things around throughout my day, instead of three things. Although, I am still able to get in around 115 plus miles a week in 6 days, so I feel pretty strong.

The workouts are also going very well. On my easy days I feel like a slug, especially in the early morning darkness that starts each day. Just as the sun rises over the Sandia's, my pace increases and I start to feel energized by the coming of a new day. The soreness also dissipates from the body as I finish an easy 10 miler nearly every morning. I guess you could say I am a boring runner, but I feel completely happy getting in the miles needed to produce a fast marathon. I start to think about the most random things while running in the darkness. Most of the time it's about getting to the Trials, and getting to toe the line ready to run the race of my life. I know I only have 2 more chances to get there this year, but I would much rather prefer to make it 1 chance. And that 1 chance will be in Indianapolis.

At this point in my running career, I feel that I should be in Houston, running the US Olympic Marathon Trials, and be 100% ready to race. And just as most of my qualifying attempts in life; from qualifying for CIF prelims in high school, to getting the "B" standard in college to compete at the NAIA Nationals, to being one of the last runners to qualify for the USA Track and Field Championships, my sole goal was just to make it to Nationals. So, if I am forced to run a full marathon one month before the Trials to qualify, I will be the same runner I've been since high school... Just trying to make it into the big meet, and not in contention of doing well there. Although, things could change in the next 2 weeks...

I have an opportunity to control my own destiny by hitting the US Olympic Trials "A" standard on November 5th in Indianapolis for the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon. If I can hit the time there, then I will not have to worry about running a full marathon to qualify, which I feel completely positive I can do, but don't wish to do one month before the trials. I would like to save a good marathon effort for the trials, and actually do very well there.

(Week 14) A new Path

So, outside of running, I've been leading my kids on some field trips and have been allowed to take over the classroom with more liberty. It's been a great experience, and allows me to venture away from running, which is very hard to do. When I'm in the classroom I think about running, when I'm running I think about lessons, so its a good trade off for now. I still feel pretty strong running hard and being at school and class all day, so this is a good sign in my opinion.

This week, I was very sore from the race. I decided to change the training up a little, so that it was geared towards running a fast half marathon in a months time. These next few weeks were suppose to be focused on peaking for the marathon and getting in some marathon specific workouts, but I need to shave 46 seconds off a 13 mile race... So I've kept things relatively simple. Some track workouts, and maintain the tempo runs and long run workouts with enough time in between workout days. This week of course is just a recovery week, and a time to watch the Chicago Marathon without having to worry about being there to gruel it out!

I ran easy all week and threw in a staple long run workout in on Saturday morning. A 22 miler with 4x1 mile at tempo effort with 1 minute rest, then 10 miles easy, and another 4x1 mile at tempo effort with 400m rest. I only got the first set of splits as my watch died, and they were (5:21, 5:14, 5:20, 5:20). It was a great workout and really put some crap back into my legs, which is just wanted I needed, but not what I wanted. I've also been obsessed with running 1:05 or fast, so that's all I've been thinking about, and all I've been trying not to think about (yeah, try to wrap that around your head...).

Week 14

Mon - am. 10 miles easy

Tue - am. 10 miles easy

Wed - am. 12 miles easy

Thur - am. 8 miles easy / pm. 12 miles easy

Fri - am. 10 miles easy w/3x strides / pm. 10 miles easy

Sat - am. 22 mile Long Run w/4x1 mile at tempo, 10 miles easy, 4x1 mile at tempo

Sun - am. 12.5 miles easy

Total: 106.5 miles

(Week 13) Re-Thinking the Trials... and San Jose 1/2 Marathon

Well, one of the fastest half marathon's of the year was at the end of this week. I should have been a little more serious about the last few weeks, but I was just excited to get out to California to race on a flat and fast course at sea level. I decided to take Monday off, as I usually do, and complete a pretty good workout on Wednesday, leaving the rest of the week for recovery leading up to the race.

Wednesday's workout was 2 sets of 3 miles easy - 3 miles at tempo. This was done at the river and some math was needed to figure out how we were going to get a warm up in from the house and complete this thing with enough time to get back home without overdoing the mileage. Well, the splits were (5:35, 5:17, 5:12) then the easy 3 miles and the other tempo was in (5:18, 5:18, 5:10). The first one was done in total darkness and it felt very weird trying to tempo without any idea of what was going on around us. Chris, Kris, Pat and I did this together, so we at least had each other (no homo!). Then the rest of the week was easy miles leading up the race that Kris and I went to.

I flew out to San Jose a few hours before Kris, and got a ride to our shady hotel, which was about 2 miles north of the starting line. Kris got a rental car and arrived a few hours later to pick me up so we could head over to the Expo and get our bibs. Once we arrived at the Expo and received out bibs, we had a chance to check out our comp! I thought, that since these Rock and Roll races bailed out on brining "elite" guys out to race and putting them up in hotels, and only paying 3 deep, that not many guys were competing. Boy was I wrong. Meb was here along with a whole slew of guys were racing! This was a good thing for me, since I figured these guys were going for the Olympic Trials Standard of 1:05:00. I could just hang on to the pack and go for a PR and a ticket to the Trials! So that got me pumped up.

We went out to dinner after my old roommate Robby Nelson came down to hangout with us from San Francisco. My parents also made the trip out to San Jose, so it was a great evening. I had to hit up the Old Spaghetti Factory, as well as the rest of the people racing in the half marathon. We also got a glimpse of Meb at one of the booths eating with his agent, whose also his brother. He was also sporting his new sponsored kicks - Skecters!

Once race morning came, the three of us (Robby, Kris and I) did a little shake out run and got ready to head down to the race. We got lost getting there, of course, but once we did we searched around for the elite VIP area, and posted our gear there. One funny thing happened when I was in line about to use one of the VIP porta-potties... Meb's brother/agent was in front of me, then decided to leave the line, at that moment I saw someone leave a porta-potty, so I approached it, but was called back by the brother/agent of Meb saying he was in line holding a spot for Meb... I just laughed on the inside and watched as Meb walked on by. I guess Olympians have special privileges. I wasn't bothered by it at all, as I thought it was funny, but I decided to turn the awkward situation around and introduce myself to Meb's bother, whose name was Howie. He was a nice dude, and after I told him who I was, he thought he heard of me before and also recognized me from last night at the restaurant. Either way, it was a neat little story I had.

So, one the race started I went out too fast and ended up leading my little pack of guys looking to qualify for the trials. Meb and a few other idiots went out hard, as Meb would be the overall winner. Most of the guys that went out with him died. I on the other hand ran like a fool! Out first mile was hit in 4:48, and the guy next to me, also named Jesse, asked if that was the first mile. I said, "yup", and he stated that he only wanted to run 4:55's and that, that last mile was okay for some "time in the bank". I agreed and decided to run with this guy and hit my goal. I could sense a gaggle of guys behind me, but didn't want to look back. Out next mile was hit in 4:59... much better. The pace was good now and I took water whenever I could. Once we crossed the 3 mile line I clocked off a 4:59 and heard about 20 other guys click off their watch splits. At that moment, I felt a strong clip on my foot as I got tripped up almost making contact with the San Jose pavement! I took a few awful stomps to the ground to regain balance so I didn't have to eat pavement and composed myself. Once that happened I took a fucking 180 look at who the hell did that and found out it was a guy I knew from college training with Meb in Mammoth. I don't think he got the message as he continued to draft off of me. I felt like hanging back and tucking into the pack after the 3 mile mark, but after the trip up, I had a stupid urge to "run away" from the traffic of guys all bunch up together. The 4 mile spilt was hit in 4:56, as well as mile 5. I got a small clip on the bottom of my shoes 2 more times by the same guy, and decided I had enough of this shit. I moved away from the pack to let some other dingleberry lead. And right at that moment, I had a feeling that I was leading for 6 miles and thought that these guys were going to hit their mark because of how stupid I was to lead them through on pace. Well, no one really took over, so I stayed right next to the other Jesse as we hit mile 6 in 4:54, then 4:57 and a 4:54. I started to fade after that, which forced someone else to lead and I attempted to hang on... It didn't work. I kept fading, and fading as I saw the group leave me to qualify for the Olympic Trials. I ended up in 11th place with a time of 1:05:46. 46 seconds from the standard, and it was all in the last 4 miles.

That group ended up hitting 1:04:42 - 1:04:52 with 6 new guys qualifying for the Trials, including the guy who tripped me, and the other Jesse. And, to cap the story off with a heart-warming-dream-come-true, the guy who tripped me proposed to his girlfriend at the finish line... How perfect!

Well, from that race I was expected to gear up for the New York City Marathon. I would have about 5 weeks to peak, but after coming soo close, I've decided to chase another qualifying time in the half marathon, and if need be, run a marathon in December. I've picked the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon in November, and the California International Marathon in December. I think it's a better decision than running New York City, so here goes another 8 weeks of marathon training. Marathon season is here, and has been extended!!!

Week 13

Mon - Off Day

Tue - am. 10 miles easy

Wed - am. (3 miles easy 3 mile tempo)x2 total: 14 miles / pm. 6 miles easy

Thur - am. 10 miles easy

Fri - am 10 miles easy / pm. 5 miles easy w/3x strides

Sat - am. 4 miles easy, travel to San Jose / pm. 4 miles easy w/4x strides

Sun - San Jose Half Marathon, splits (4:48, 4:58, 4:59, 4:56, 4:56, 4:54, 4:57, 4:54, 5:03, 5:11, 5:05, 5:21, ?:??) 1:05:46. 4 mile cool down. total: 20 miles

Total: 83 miles

Chips and Salsa Half Marathon to Chicago Marathon

Another thing to add from last week was the Chips and Salsa Half marathon we have here in Albuquerque. This was last sunday, and the point of it was to run about marathon pace or faster up here at altitude. The course is flat with a bunch of turns, but it actually is a nice course. There were two Moroccans being paced on a bike, me, Kris and John. My lovely girlfriend; Laura, was going to pace us on a bike as well. So after blitzing the first mile in 5:02, I make a wrong turn and have to turn around. Once back on track, everyone in the top five makes another wrong turn which ends up being a 210 meter diversion. After that little mishap, everyone is back on course and back on pace. I clicked off a few solid miles, while staying as comfortable as possible and taking in water and gatorade along the way. At this point I am in 3rd place and am not able to gain much ground on the two Moroccans. I ended up finishing in 3rd place with a time of 1:09:34 with the 210 meter diversion.

After that effort, I feel pretty good about going into Chicago. That effort, with some rest before the marathon should prove to be a great day in a few weeks. I'm also excited to be in a huge group of guys going for that Olympic Trials time, as well as being in a big city marathon with a ton of spectators. Basically, this marathon is going to be like the Olympic Trials, since there are going to be a bunch of Americans in that field. And finally, this will be my first Major Marathon.

On the Horizon, the USA Cross Country Championships

So the USA Cross Country Championships is just about a week away and the entry list is looking pretty good!  There are only 6 spots to make the USA World Cross team and 5 spots to make the NACAC team.  Both of them are US teams, and I would be honored to make either of them.  So the goal is to be top 10 and secure a spot on either team.  I know its going to take a lot of grit and grind to make anyone of those teams, but I've been thinking about this race for a year.  Since last year, this has been all I've been thinking about and all I want, among a few other achievements in running.  The obvious would be to: make a US team, make the Olympic Trials, run sub 14 in the 5k, or make a US National Championships race.  Anyone of those things and I may feel content with all the years of running I've done.