It was April of 2007, and the Columbia Middle-Distance Crew was getting ready for their trip out to California for the warm weather and the prestigious Mt. Sac Relays. Senior Kent Collins was the captain of that team.
If you know Kent, then you will know that this conversation actually did take place. (My family had the pleasure of meeting Kent this year when the Final Four was in Detroit and he and my brother went. I will not be surprised if he is a topic of conversation at family dinners for years to come.)
It was the night before we left on an early morning flight, here is how the conversation went:
KENT: Hey man, make sure to bring two extra pairs of underwear.
ME: Haha, why?
KENT: dude, you always bring two extra pairs of underwear…one in case you poop your pants, and one in case your roommate poops his. (He said it as if I was stupid for even asking.)
ME: Well, what if we both, um, you know? And then one of us does it a second time?
KENT: Well you pray to God that both you and your roommate followed the rule…otherwise, two total pants poopings is all you get.
I have brought two extra pairs of underwear on every track trip since.
And sorry if bathroom humor is not your thing…I think Annie will at least laugh at this, and if not then I have some maturing to do for sure.
Even though I am fine in one department as far as dressing myself, I did not bring enough running t-shirts. I simply have started doubling and tripling up uses of shirts, and these are those dry-fit ones, so they don’t smell too great. Definitely going to do some laundry on Sunday after the race. I don’t own enough running shorts to get me through two and a half weeks. As far as normal clothes, I am set, but mainly because I have reverted to my childhood travel method of wearing the same thing for an entire trip. When I was younger, it was this godawful University of Michigan T-shirt that had the spray-painted graffiti style made popular in the early to mid 90s. The thing was real comfortable though. Now, I am constantly in my cargo sweatpant shorts…they are the most comfortable thing ever. I got them from Will via Delilah, and they are working wonders for me.
Finally get to race tomorrow! Really can’t wait. Felt normal during my strides today. I don’t like to feel too good on strides because then I start thinking that I timed it wrong, but I’ve learned that how you feel the day before has no influence on how you’ll race…hell it doesn’t even really matter how you feel 5 minutes before the race because once the gun goes off anything can happen.
Erison will be there as well after he had thought he was taking a break. We’ll probably go grab a beer after the meet. It should be a blast. Check Flotrack and they’ll have a video of the race up pretty soon after it happens. I’ll be the guy in the headband.
July 18, 2009
Well, the first one didn’t go quite to plan, but it wasn’t any reason to come running home either. I think I was just a little rusty. Having not raced since the first round of USAs back at the end of July, I think it was a lot to ask for a really great race today. And even though it wasn’t great, there were some positive notes. I got out pretty well, but then never really relaxed. I run best when running fast yet composed, and I was always a little tense out there, maybe nerves, maybe rustiness, who knows? If I can relax and run hard then I can probably get after the next one.
It was good to see Erison again, it was windy as hell out on that track today, and for him there is no one to hide behind. He took 4th in a slow time (not exactly sure what his was, but 46.3 should not be winning a meet the quality of Heusden).
I told him that I couldn’t imagine being over here for the 12 week stint he’s in the middle of. “It’s like prison,” he told me: “You can’t look at the end, kind of just have to deal with it.”
And I don’t think he really feels like its like prison, but the guy just likes to see his friends every once in a while…I know this because if he is happy to see me, then something has to be up.
Other than that, the track was really cool, a ton of people there. It had more of a minor league baseball game feel to it: a bunch of people sitting on lawn seats drinking beer and relaxing while enjoying sport.
The only problem with being around a bunch of runners is that you hear “what could have gone better” about 8000 times per day. I love running and all, but lets just accept that it’s a hard sport and there are A LOT of “what ifs.” Race and then move on, try to learn from it, but in the end, that’s all you can do.
And in other news, I don’t see why no one told me to read East of Eden before (and yes, I know there are probably more than a few people who did tell me to do so)…if it weren’t 600 pages long, I would be done with it by now. I am scared to death of Cathy, and I like how the scar on the forehead plays a role in the unique ones. It reminds me of Harry Potter, of which the 6th movie I have not seen yet. I was going to try to go here, but everything is too expensive, so I’m going to wait until I’m back stateside and dress up like Dumbledore and head to the theater.
“Of course it’s happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth does that mean it’s not real?”
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