Will Run For Food

Remember how I said when I was stopping this blog that I was working on something else? Well I wasn't lying. In fact, this new endeavor is bigger, better, and badder than runLBP...it has videos, pictures, blog posts, and a second writer!

Will Run For Food

My good friend Mike and I have resurrected "Will Run For Food" and are taking the series to new heights. Check out http://wrff.tumblr.com and you can see the video of our pilot episode "Episode 1-New York City" plus a whole lot more!

"Woody"

Remember when I said I wasn't going to write any more blog's for this one? Well, I lied.

And I came back just in time to report some of the lowest of lows!

The US Road Mile was about as disasterous a race as I could have hoped for. I felt good for about a 1/2 mile, and then the wheels came off all at once. It was an odd experience, it just kind of all of a sudden happened. People started passing me, I tried to respond, and I couldn't get my legs to move. I dropped out a little after the 3/4 mark. I obviously tried to forget the experience as soon as possible, but much easier said than done. And amazingly, the hits kept coming.

The Red Wings lost to the fricken Sharks. I'm not even that big of a hockey fan, but playoff hockey is intense and fun to watch, and anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love all things Detroit. So I watched the game, got even more upset, and then slept for about 4 hours before my flight back to Michigan.

And it got even worse from there. I woke up with a sore foot. The left foot. The same one that has had 2 stress fractures in a 3 year period. It didn't hurt in the fourth metatarsal, but it still hurt.

So I got home to Bath and tried to nap away my sorrows. Obviously, this wouldn't be easy either. So I begrudgingly got in my Dad's homemade truck (see above picture) to drive up to the local YMCA and get in a swim.

I usually don't mind driving "Woody", and his may or may not be true, but I'm pretty sure the radio was stuck on a station playing Creed. So even the driving was ruined.

Then, as I'm driving over I-69 on an overpass, the hood of that damn truck flies up with a POP! and obscures any point of view I could have ever imagined having. After a brief freakout moment, I pulled the car over, shut him down, got out and slammed the hood shut and latched it with a few four-letter words spewing from my mouth.

I got back in the car and just started laughing. Couldn't get much worse than that...

And it really hasn't. I do not have a stress fracture (thankfully!) and my foot is starting to feel better. I'm skipping the great meet that is taking place at Occidental this weekend (gonna be a stacked 15!) to get my training back and going and get my head on straight.

To put it bluntly, I've struggled with my first year and a half as a pro, but I'm going to figure some things out and get ready for some nice racing come June, July and August. As always, it's go time, and I need to "Let's Go!"

Something New

It's been a while. I haven't had much to post. I had a very poor race at Princeton in the 800 and then an alright race at Penn in the mile. Things are perking up training wise, and I'm pretty excited about the US Road Mile on May 12th in Minneapolis and then a fast 1500 in L.A. on the 22nd.

BUT, while I haven't been doing much blogging, I have been working on something...

I am officially announcing the end of runLBP. Don't get me wrong, writing a post each week is actually one of my more enjoyable moments. I love to write, and forcing myself to do so each week is something I enjoy doing. There were some weeks where I wouldn't want to, but because I had this blog going, I had to do it. (And yeah, I realized a long time ago that this is a BLOG, even though I hate that word and prefer web-journal (which may sound just as lame).) But, most things come to an end, and with runLBP, it is about that time.

I started up my blog with the hopes that it would make me more marketable and help me get a shoe contract. Wishful thinking, I know, but it does make some sense. What I realized since pretty early on is that you simply have to run fast to get a shoe contract. So instead of writing the blog to get noticed, I was writing a blog for family and friends to stay in touch with my running.

Thankfully, you'll still be able to do that. Because, as I said earlier, I have been working on something else.

It is not ready yet, but it is going to be more than just runLBP. As I mentioned earlier, I love writing, but the project I'm working on is going to allow me to write about more than just running. Hopefully I'll post even more than I do currently because the blog is going to be all encompassing in regards to my likes and dislikes rather than just about running.

So stay tuned on here, because I will link to the new guy as soon as it's up and running.

It has been a pleasure to write runLBP posts for all this time (116 posts!), and for the 25 of you who read every week, thank you so very much...but onto something new now, hopefully you check out what's to come...

The Law of Larry??

For all the things in life that are unpredictable, a few things will always remain constant: The sun will rise and fall each day; my family will love me even if I don't have a good race (I hope...); and if Gus Johnson is announcing a sporting event, it is going to be exciting.

Bill Simmons coined the "Law of Gus Johnson" in regards to football games this fall:

If Gus Johnson is calling an NFL game, the odds quintuple that (A) the lead will change hands in the fourth quarter; (B) someone will complete a long pass in a big moment that will make Gus' voice hit an octave only dogs can hear; and (C) the game will go into overtime or at least come damned close. It seems impossible that the mere presence of an announcer would alter the course of the game, but here's my theory: I think God sits in his Man Cave on Sundays and says, "Which game is that Gus Johnson calling? I get a kick out of that guy. I think I'll make his game exciting and see if he completely loses his mind."

But Gus got his start in college basketball (he announced Princeton's 1996 upset of the defending champs UCLA in the first round) and is famous for his excitability while announcing. Great games gravitate towards Gus Johnson.

Now if only the same were true of Larry Rawson.

Actually, great games (or in this case, great races) do present themselves to Rawson, if only he could get excited about them.

The Boston Marathon was Monday. It is one of those races that even non-track fans know about. If my cousin, an avid basketball fan living in Boston, is posting on Facebook about watching the finish line from his room, it's a marquee event.

Mondays for me means a drive to Rutgers with Coach Gags and a workout before returning home around two and heading into work. So, I wasn't able to read a ton about Boston until later on in the day. Not that I didn't get glimpses.

Ryan Hall ran 2:04:57??!? And he took 4th?!?! I was shocked and impressed.

But Desiree Davila had the lead with 400 to go and almost WON The Boston Marathon?!?!?! You have to be kidding me.

I read recap after recap. Almost everyone described themselves as standing up and yelling at their computer screen as they watched the final straightaway. Even Alberto Salazar (who coaches 5th place finisher Kara Goucher) reportedly was yelling at a screen trying to will Davila to victory. I couldn't wait to watch the footage of the finish.

Sadly, I was disappointed.

Not with Davila. Her race was inspiring. Let'sRun.com's Weldon Johnson's analysis of Davila's effort was spot on. Davila raced as tough a race as she could, and even though she didn't win, she almost achieved the impossible. Which in my book is pretty damn impressive.

It's too bad Weldon Johnson wasn't announcing the race. When Davila takes the lead at the 2:47 mark of the video below, the announcers should be going nuts. It's not that Rawson doesn't show much emotion, he does say, "Look at the move being made by Desiree right now, look at this!" But then: silence. Kilel retakes the lead and it's business as usual for the two announcers. Perhaps they were deflated that Davila was not going to win, but that final straightaway was a hell of a ride, and they announce the winner as if it was a high school dual meet.

This is what announcing of a big event should be.

I may not know exactly what we need to do to make track a more popular sport in the U.S., but I do know that some better announcing would help. If Buffalo Wild Wings can get Gus, why can't we?

The Question

It's an age old question. A lot of us ask it from time to time, few actually take the time to figure out the answer. Most of us overestimate, while some err on the under. But we all do eventually ask it: After we've stopped running (I mean really running), how fast are we???

One thing that I'm looking forward to when I'm done running competitively is the random race. I have a good amount of friends who have challenged themselves to run an all out mile or organized an out of the blue street race (from time to time I've gotten in on these as well). It will be fun to go out and race after having not done it for a while. As I'm grasping my knees and sucking for air, I'll realize that it wasn't really that fun.

The "how fast am I right now?" question comes up fairy often in a group of running friends. We're a competitive group (see Dan Nunn's bet).

Krisch had to take 4 months off for a femoral stress fracture after his college career. He just started running two or three weeks ago:
"I could run my high school PR," said Krisch referencing a 9:07 2-mile.
"WHHHATT??!!" everyone responded in hysteria.
"You couldn't break 10," somebody says to get the bartering going for a bet.
"That's ridiculous," Krisch retorts.
The bickering back and forth continues for about 20 minutes too long.
"Fine," says Will, "Saturday, go run 9:30 at Riverbank."
And then we find out how much of a man Krisch is.

Amazingly, this conversation occurs about twice a month. Sadly, the races occur only every once in a while.

I'm happy not to be in the position to ask myself the question yet (although I do ask myself how fast I can become every time I race), but I know that I eventually will. And down the road when I'm a few lbs over the reg and bored with my job and easy runs, I'll lace up the spikes, go up to the track, not let anyone know I'm going, and I'll rip off a mile...hopefully it's under five.

If I can run my HS PR when I'm washed up...I won't be very washed up.

Willamette River

So a quick crack recap of the opening race of the outdoor season: It sucked.

The last time I was in Oregon was in 2009 for the US Outdoor Championships. I didn't run badly there (closed in 54 to run 3:41.8 but missed finals by a tenth of a second), but missing the final was no fun. The day of the final I was instead doing a long run along the trails in Eugene with Bumbi. We had an early wake-up call for the run (8 am...), I was upset about not being in the final, and I had had too many mt. dews the night before (they weren't really Mt. Dews)...the run wasn't going well, so I stuck my head in the Willamette River. It saved the run.

After the race on Saturday I had to get in mileage because travel wasn't going to allow me to get in a Sunday run. I came up on the spot of the Willamette again and really thought about dunking my head in there again. But I didn't. It looked far too cold.

The fact that I even thought about it shows you how upset I was after my race. It wasn't a good one, and it was my own fault for running like I did. As you can see from the video up top, I got out wayyyyy too slow and then never got myself into good enough position to be in the race.

I have the small excuse of being tripped up with 300 to go, but it was my own fault for being in the position to get tripped up. I still closed fairly well, but I gotta get after it in some upcoming 800s and learn how to race it much better. It had been far too long since I'd been in a good one.

Luckily for me, this was the first race of the season and if I race at the level I'm planning to the rest of the way I'll forget this one ever happened. I'll be at Princeton the 22nd racing another 800 before heading to Penn for the open mile there.

New Spikes

Deja Vu?? - finally time to race for me. (pic courtesy of Kyle Merber)

My old spikes are strewn about the country. The most special ones are under my bed here in New York: the red Milers we won Penn in are there; the navy and white Victorys that I broke 4 in for the first time still have red dust from the mondo of the armory. My home back in Michigan has the important high school spikes: the red, cheetah-spotted Ventulas I ran 1:51 in; the black Kennedys that took me to a 4:10. Then there are the rest of the spikes. They could be anywhere. I gave a pair of MaxCats to my buddy Weeth. I definitely left a pair or two in my locker at Gtown. I donated some to a shoe drive -- so my spikes may be strewn across the globe. My latest pair of spikes has been relegated to workouts. They may go under the bed with the other keepsake spikes, but they didn't have a ton of great moments. But there's a new pair to give status to now.

I love a new pair of spikes. They're different from regular running shoes or training flats...they're sacred. Regular shoes you just put on and go out for a run. Spikes? No, you put them on when you first get them and they clink and clack on your wooden floor as you delicately walk around in them and careen your neck around and around to glance at them to make sure they look cool enough, but spikes are for special occasions: Racing.

I just got a new pair of spikes for the Outdoor Season. It starts up Saturday for me. I'll be catching a flight to Eugene Thursday afternoon after a pre-race workout and then Saturday will be go time. Two laps on the track is all I'll need to get the season going. And it should be a blast.

It is the Pepsi Invitational and it's mostly a college race, but Coach Lanana was nice enough to let Gags put me in the 800 field to get a good season opener going. I haven't seen the field, but it will definitely be a good one as U. of Oregon and OTC have a ton of high quality guys. It will be a very good opportunity to race some fast guys. I'm pumped.

I'll lace up the new spikes and race my butt off.

I Need A Montage

Carnage.

The day is approaching to give it your best

You've got to reach your prime!

That's when you need to put yourself to the test

And show us the passage of time.

We're gonna need a montage. (Montage)

A sports-training montage! (Montage)

I'm alive in that picture. Just barely though. Gags doesn't know what Twitter is, and he's always asking me what the heck LinkedIn is (I don't know the answer to that)...but the one thing he has ever said to me about online rules, is not to say what our workouts are. So that's why you don't get many times on my blog, because some things are sacred; Gags workouts being one of them.

And just show a lot of things happenin' at once.

Remind everyone of what's goin' on. (What's goin' on?)

And with every shot, show a little improvement

To show it won't take too long.

That's called a montage. (Montage)

Even Rocky had a montage! (Montage)

What I can tell you though, is that the feeling I have in that picture has been commonplace lately. Either I'm going to be in really good shape, or my legs are going to fall off. I did this workout with John Maloy my 5th year at Gtown the week before Penn. We did 100 at 12.5, 200 at 26, 300 at 40, 400 at 51. That was all with a lot of recovery. THEN, we did a 300, 200, 100 cutdown. Problem was: only 30 seconds rest between each interval. We ran 38.1, 24.4, and 11.7. It was one of the hardest workouts I've ever done. I think I still have a headache from it. Then John split 1:48 and then I split 1:46 on a 7:16 4x8 the next weekend.

In any sport, if you want to go

From just a beginner to a pro

You'll need a montage. (Montage)

A simple little montage! (Montage)

That's why I sometimes wish that my life was like a movie (who am I kidding, I always wish that). Like the lyrics that have been making their way into this post from a "South Park" episode, life would be easier with a montage. Just throw on some awesome music, do a few exercises, and you're good to go!

Always fade out (Montage) into a montage... (Montage)

If you fade out it seems like a long time (Montage) has passed in a montage... (Montage)

Montage... (Montage)

Asspen
Tags: SOUTH
PARKmore...

Feats of Strength. Fab Five. Five Guys. Guy Fieri. Minute To Win It. Buzzer Beater. Bryce Drew. Valpo. IUPUI. Hoosiers. Greatest Movie Ever. Greatest Documentary Ever. Fab Five.

Pull-Ups on a Subway.

Slownah and I once had a Feats of Strength competition. It was supposed to be first one to 5 wins. We counted races, games, anything of the sort. It was before we high jumped in our living room senior year. He beat me in basketball. He beat me at Pomona in the pouring rain. Then I rocked him in some 8s. We never made it to 5, but I'm still up 3-2. We're supposed to race a 100. Right now, I could definitely beat him in a pull-up war. I dominated Erison in the Subway Pull Up War 22-20. I dominated him just like a certain group of Freshman in Ann Arbor dominated college basketball in the early 90s. I loved the Fab Five. Want a delicious burger? 110 and B'Way just opened up a Five Guys. Guy Fieri is a tool. Fricken "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" is an alright show, but he always has sunglasses behind his head. And now "Minute To Win It" is everywhere. But a minute to win it can be sweet when a Buzzer Beater is involved. Bryce Drew hit one of the greatest Buzzer Beaters ever. He went to Valpo. Valpo has a sweet name, but IUPUI (pronounced eewy peewy) has a sweeter one. IUPUI is in Indiana, that's where Hoosiers takes place. Hoosiers is the Greatest Movie Ever (behind "The Naked Gun" of course). The Greatest Documentary Ever? THE FAB FIVE
--
Follow that stream of conscious? Me neither really. The tourney starts tomorrow. Look for a basketball related post to go up Thursday morning.

We're starting to get ready for outdoors, which means we have been working out outside again. This weather needs to step its game up. A 4-mile tempo on a Wednesday morning isn't usually that bad of a thing...but when it's 38 and rainy...show's over. See ya later.

Last Chance Recap

Rutgers, NJ. The Outdoor Track

The Res Loop and Bridal Path are clear, the weather is decent, and all is good in the world. Because yes folks, it's finally outdoor season. And as we all know, Outdoor is the season that matters. That's where the races matter and the big bucks are made. And I am excited that it is here. First though, a recap of the 8 last weekend and the indoor season...

There were some good things and some bad things to take out of the 8 at Columbia's Last Chance Meet last weekend.

The Bad: I lost. Now I know you can't win them all, but it's still never fun to lose. Especially to a field that you can beat. I didn't feel like I raced that smart, and even though I felt good in the race, I'm still pissed I got beat.

The Good: I felt good in the race and had a pretty darn good kick. In replaying the race in my mind, I got out really well the first 50 and found myself in 4th behind the rabbit, the guy who won, and Gtown's Ulm (who I was on a 7:16 4x8 with). I thought it was perfect. But Ulm let the pace lag a little bit behind the front two and from 250 to 300 I had to make a surge to get back into the race. I was probably through in 53 high or so and had moved up into 3rd and was close to the leaders. 4-600 was pretty relaxed and I think since we all knew it wasn't a super fast race we were getting ready for our drives to the line and the end. A Dartmouth kid moved up on my outside and positioned himself in 2nd to the guy who won. On the backstretch with 120 to go I wanted to move, but The Dartmouth Kid was there, so I had to wait it out around the turn and then when I tried to slingshot my way into the lead, the leader was ready and held me off 1:49.11 to 1:49.16. I closed the final 200 in 26.8, but it wasn't quite good enough.

It was almost an indoor PR and that was a 1:49.07 that came last year in a perfectly set up race where I closed in probably 28high, so I have to be happy with the way this one ended...other than the fact that I got beat.

As has been the case since my first year at Columbia though, now comes the fun part. Indoor Season, as Gags puts it, is more like our exhibition season. It's a time to get into shape, and you definitely want to run well, but the most important part of indoors is getting ready for outdoors. My indoor season only had 3 races - a win in a 1:51.5 800, a 2nd place 3:43.6 1500 and a 2nd place 1:49.16 800...plus a few rabbiting gigs here and there. I'm in some good shape heading into outdoors. So, Let's Go!!

Last Chance

The only picture of me running this year that I know of. If you're looking to donate an awesome black singlet my way, let me know...

Armory. Saturday Night. 800-meters. Last indoor race of the season. Should be a fun one. Hopefully we run fast.

And that's really about it.

Although I do feel somewhat responsible for Charlie Sheen's acts of craziness after I rated his CBS show as the worst in my 2010 Recap. He did send me an email to let me know I was a [expletive deleted] idiot, and that he was winning!

But other than that, not much going on in NY. HEPS was a fun meet to watch as usual. A little disappointing with how much Princeton dominated the meet, but can't really complain about the atmosphere for a track meet.

The training has been going really well lately. I haven't raced since the New Balance 1500, but have gotten in a really good block of training. Hopefully I'm not too rusty for the race, but I dont' think that I will be. Although, jumping into an 800 for the first race in a while always hurts like hell.

After this race, we'll take another break from racing for a bit and gear up for the outdoor season. It is going to be a long one this year, and hopefully I do the European season right this year (three alright races doesn't cut it for a European season). Hopefully I'll start things up in early April to get the racing juices flowing.

If you're in NY, head up to the armory around 8:05 for the 8 on Saturday night.

HEPS Preview: The Art of Celebration

They interviewed my buddy Erison on HepsTrack.com (an extremely thorough "all things Heps" website) a while back. He's an Olympian and all, so it was pretty warranted. This question and answer, however, was a little more out of left field:

Q: The headband-wearing anchor on that Championship of America team was a guy who we hear had never beaten you in a head-to-head matchup. Is it true that in practice Liam Boylan-Pett would conclude his training runs with a wild celebration?

A: I don’t know about all that, but I think he practices them in the mirror before races.

In the mirror before races, Erison? It's true, but why tell the public?

Irregardless, HEPS is one hell of a day to win a race. I was lucky enough to do it three times. Each time had a little bit different celebration, and, to be honest, each one was in all likelihood subconsciously planned.

Indoor HEPS at the Armory 2007. No one from Columbia had ever won the mile. So when I won, I decided to rep the school:

Pop!

Subconsciously this one started with the 2006 NCAA BBall tourney when the Jersey-Pop became commonplace. (Please check out that link, its a bayd-ass pic. I only didn't put it in the body of this post because it makes my jersey-pop look extremely weak.)

Indoor HEPS at Cornell 2008. I had a stress fracture that winter. Winning wasn't going to be the most easy thing in the world. I ended up bombing in the 4x8 later that day, so I still have somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth about the whole meet, but rocking that mile win was fricken awesome. Plus, there was a great Columbia Cheering section so I had to point at them to thank them as I crossed the line:

That was a fun/intense race.

The crowd in that one was the subconscious planning. It was one of the most intense races I have been a part of. I'll be the first to admit that I don't like Cornell, but they packed their gym and it was raucous in there. The first turn was one of the loudest turns I've ever run around. Plus, the mini-dog pile the us Columbia kids formed was awesome.

Outdoor HEPS 2008 at Yale. It was my first outdoor title. I don't have a picture of the win. Ben True was pretty much untouchable my junior and sophomore year outdoors (although I fought valiantly with him for 2 second places in the 1500). He wasn't his normal self senior year, but that didn't mean I couldn't be jacked with the win. I took the lead with 300 to go. By the homestretch I was clear:

Don't ever look back.

It was pretty much relief down the homestretch. I smiled, raised my arms, and was genuinely happy. If I wouldn't have won an outdoor title I would have been pretty upset.

So there you have it. College Basketball, Intensity, and Relief were the reasons I celebrated. And practicing in the mirror never yielded results as good as the actual race.

And to end this pat-myself-on-the-back-for-winning-a-few-races post, I'll say that HEPS is going to be sweet. My entire HEPS preview almost read like this: "IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!" It's back in the Armory, kids are ready to run fast, and the Columbia Women have a shot at winning the team title. HEPS is a fantastic meet where times don't matter, but you sure as hell better run fast if you want to win...

Here's my favorite post-race HEPS pic. This one wasn't planned at all. And that's why it's my favorite. It's Coach Wood and I pumped we got a win at HEPS:

Uni-Watch: The Barefoot Revolution

stupid socks. short shorts.

Remember how my buddy Jonah complained about short shorts, claiming that at the greatest athletic achievement in his life had been tarnished by a pair of "doofy ass shorts"? I did. So when I was meeting him for the end of my run on Saturday morning I changed my outfit. Instead of short shorts and long socks, I went with a much manlier fashion of tights.

Much to my surprise, as I finished my tempo run (I had a 25 minute tempo in the middle of my long run...I met Jonah for my cooldown), I saw him prancing around Central Park in black short shorts and Nike Frees. Luckily, it was cold and windy, so I didn't mind having the tights on.

I hadn't run with Slowns in a while. He has been over in London doing real world stuff like his job. But we jogged for 5 and half miles together where I thought he was hammering and he thought I was hammering. We both staggered through some 6:30 miles before talking ourselves into slowing it down. But back to the Frees Jonah was wearing. They're Nike's version of the barefoot shoe. I've had a few pairs and liked them alright (but just for walking around). And to no surprise, he started wearing them very soon after reading "Born To Run."

I'll give "Born To Run" its due, because it is pretty sweet book. At one point it had me wanting to leave civilization and go run through the mountains. But the barefoot stuff that is going on because of the book is stupid. I'm all for minimalist running, I think it is great to have strong feet and everything, but when I see someone running through Central Park with no shoes on in the freezing cold weather, I get a little upset.

Those Vibram 5-Finger shoes look creepy, but at least they're going to cover your feet. If you're running barefoot in Central, you are pretty much asking to step on a piece of broken glass, horse droppings, or a drug needle. And when there's snow everywhere, what in the ham sandwich are you thinking?

But the main reason I hate barefoot running is because, in reference to his "frees", Slownah kept claiming how awesome it was to run once he "freed" himself.

He then told me how much his calves hurt.

--
A few non-related updates:

--February has seen the highest viewership for runLBP...we are already at 899 visitors for the month...the highest month was this July when I was posting daily from Amsterdam. The Detroit piece saw the most action as the site saw over a 100 visitors for two straight days when it was posted.

--Look for a pre-HEPS post come Friday.

--Still getting ready for the Columbia Last Chance meet to close out the indoor season...Either running a 1k or an 800 on March 5th!

Energizer Bunny

Checking on Lukas. No headband since it wasn't a race for me!

I had my second rabbiting gig on Saturday night. It was a lot cooler than the Madison Square Garden one...because the talent in the race was unbelievable. It was an exciting day of running. Here's a blow by blow recap of the day. But we're going Memento on it so there can be a little surprise at the end:

11:30pm - walk into the bed room...pass out cold, sleep for 10 hours with only a few bathroom breaks.

9:30pm - after a nice cooldown and stretch, I watch some of the races with Columbia kids going on at the armory. I pop out and meet with Christine, Krisch and Delilah at Coogans for some post-race chili (terrible call, I was sweating profusely as I ate it), a beer, and a lot of complaining about how much my legs hurt. We finally finish up dinner and train home after a long day.

8:30pm - cooldown with Russell Brown (he won the Boston Indoor Mile last weekend in 3:54) and Mike Weisbuch through Washington Heights after the race. Lukas was happy with the pace job, I think he and his coach were a little too ambitious with the 4:15 first mile. Either way, the kid is going to be very, very good. He has his stuff together mentally. Zach, a coach at Columbia, asked me how mature he was mentally compared to me and I put it at a 24...I scored myself at a 2.

8:14pm - with the crowd the loudest I've ever seen it at the Armory (minus the time I won the Indoor Heps Mile in '07--at least that's what I keep telling myself), Bernard Lagat crosses the line in 8:10. He makes it look easy as he runs his last mile in 4:02. Lukas doesn't quite hold it together and runs 8:43...good enough for a 10 second PR and the third fastest indoor time for a high schooler ever.

8:03pm - in a rabbit situation, I get the coolest pre-race introduction I probably will ever receive. They get the whole thing, all my cool accomplishments, and play hard with the Columbia 4x8 at Penn to get me a nice ovation from the college kids watching the meet. Granted my intro is 4 minutes shorter than Lagat's, but still. Nerves settle down, gun goes up, crack!, it's go time. We immediately get in line: Robbie Andrews, Russell Brown, Bernard Lagat, Me, Lukas V, and then Harbert Okuti, a local runner. It's a little confusing getting the splits since we started 18 meters back of the finish line for the 2-mile. I stay what I think is the right distance behind Lagat and we start to get into a rhythm with the front pack pulling away ever so slightly. You can find Lukas's splits here and know that I'm anywhere from .2 to .7 seconds ahead of him throughout the rabbit job. Right before the race the director tells me that if I can stay longer I should, but as soon as I hit 1800-meters (my job is 2k), I know I only have 1 lap left. So I make it that lap and turn into spectator. The other two rabbits do the same and we watch from the inside of the track...up close and personal. Meanwhile I was sucking for air and my legs were HURTING.

7:05pm - Russell and I head out for a warm-up. We head north from the armory in Washington Heights. About 8 minutes in (we're planning on going out 10, 10 back for 20 minutes), I realize that this is the farthest north of the armory I've been on a warm-up...and it's dark. "Yo man," I say, "I could probably wait and tell you this, but I'm gonna throw it out there that I've never been up here before, so I'm not exactly sure how safe this is..." Russell immediately slows down, "Alright, we're good, let's turn back." So we only got in 19 minutes.

6:00pm - show up to the armory and we get to hang out in a room with just the 2-milers. It's pretty cool getting to hang out with Lagat and realize that before a race he gets a little nervous and likes to relax with his legs up just like you do. He is an extra nice guy, as is Lukas.

noon-4pm - A whole lot of nothing. I do some napping, eat some lunch, watch Wisconsin whoop up on Ohio State in the second half. It's a lazy day when you have a night workout.

11:00am - Mmmmm, mmmmm, a delicious breakfast burrito. You get yourself some corn tortilla, steam it up a bit, throw on some black beans, add in some scrambled eggs, don't forget the cheese, toss on a little salsa and top it off with some avocado...hot damn! You've got yourself a meal! Probably a little much for a day when I'm essentially rabbiting, but...

9:30am - head out for a shakeout...although it's not really a shakeout. Because you can't just rabbit and count it as a workout in my new running life. We had to make this a real day of training. I got my brother and my buddy English to meet me in the park and we rocked 4 miles at 5:30 pace through Central Park.
--
So there you have it. A Saturday of running. Overall, it was a 15 mile day with a 4 mile tempo in the morning and a 2k in 5:20. I'm getting in shape, but a long ways to go 'til Outdoors.

And, as a plus, got paid, so a little will be going to ThinkDetroit again!

And, check out http://www.njnytc.com!

New Yorker - Imported

The Motor City

"It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." - Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird

I will be the first to admit that there are a few things in life that I seem to overplay (Skyline Chili anyone?). I get into something and I talk it up to any and everyone. It may be overkill, but I go with it anyway. And with how much I love The City of Detroit, some may think I overdo it. Especially considering that my hometown of Bath is a two hour drive away, yet I quote an Eminem movie on the bottom of my LBPjams page. While I may aggrandize some things a little for show, I truly do love Detroit.

They've been around for a while now, all the "Woe is Detroit" pieces in newspapers, radio, and TV spots. Time Inc. even had "Assignment Detroit", where the company bought a house in the city limits, and reported on the city because they believed it was a true "American story." There were no jobs, people were leaving, the politics were rough, and, as Time predicted, some great stories came out of it.

Being a sports fan, I stuck to the Detroit stories related to the Pistons, Tigers, Lions and Wings.

In 2009 when General Motors couldn't afford to pay for a sign over the fountain in centerfield at the Tiger's Stadium, instead of taking the sign down Mike Ilitch (owner of the Tigers and Wings at the time) left it up and put up signs for Chrysler and Ford as well with a sign reading: "THE DETROIT TIGERS SUPPORT OUR AUTOMAKERS." (Article Here)

Then, after the Lions finished 0-16 for the worst season ever, Mitch Albom stood up for Detroit. He pointed out that things weren't great, but the city was going to fix them. In "The Courage of Detroit" he wrote: "We don't talk about whether Detroit will be fixed but when Detroit will be fixed."

My memories of the city stem from street sports in the suburb of Royal Oak. We would drive down Woodward to get downtown and then over to Corktown and my Aunt Sue's house. Then we'd walk the three blocks from there to Tiger Stadium. It was only a buck fifty to get into the game, even on Kazoo night with my Aunt and all her crazy friends. Then maybe my uncle would take us to Lafayette Coney Island for a chili dog. Or we'd visit Granny in Clinton Township when she'd get back from yet another shift at the Sears she worked at for more than 50 years. Sometimes we'd meet all my Dad's high school buddies and play basketball long into the night.

Now when I go, I see Detroit more. I see the old Train Station, dilapidated but still amazing. I see the empty houses from the freeway as we get to my aunt's house. Tiger Stadium is no more, just a field. My mom drives me by the car factories. She tells me that both my grandfathers worked there. My Dad even put in time on the line. The parking lots aren't full.

But here's the thing about Detroit: the people are not giving up. The city may be downtrodden, but they are going to do something about it. It may be an uphill battle, but Detroit plans on winning it.

Then there was the Superbowl Commercial. As soon as I saw the I-75 Detroit sign I was in a trance. I shushed everyone. "It's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel." Hell yeah, I murmured. "Add hard work and conviction and a know how that runs generations deep in every last one of us." Eminem started playing and my jaw dropped. "This isn't New York City." I gotta get outta New York, I thought. "This is the Motor City, and this is what we do." Holy sh*t.

I'm not from Detroit. When people ask me where I'm from I say Bath. They then ask where that is and I say just north of East Lansing and MSU. My Mom told me, along with my entire graduating high school class, to do that. Take pride in where you're from, she said. And I do. That's what people from Detroit do.

I like that pride, and I'm going to try to help. It's not much, but it's better than nothing: every time I win prize money in a race, I am going to make a small donation to the Think Detroit PAL. I won some prize money in my New Balance 1500, and got money to rabbit at Millrose, so two donations are heading to help Detroit's youth through athletic, academic, and leadership programs. A car commercial can do wonders for a city.

My first car was a Chrysler. A New Yorker. Funny how the names worked out like that. It was imported from Detroit. And it was the greatest car in the world.

Sugar

Mucho.

We had hoped that I was going to get into the Boston Indoor Games and the stacked mile field this weekend. Up until last night we hadn't been told no yet. Then this morning they came out with the start list without my name. It was disappointing. Gags picked us up at the armory this morning, said it sucked, and we drove on. I was in the back, pretty upset that I wasn't racing. "You depressed?" Gags asked. "Yeah, kinda, I wanted to race," I said. "Well tough sugar" (Gags' word he tries to use instead of the four letter one that begins with S). "You didn't get in, we move on."

Right he was. Instead of feeling sorry for myself, it was time to go to work. Rob (Novak) and I powered our way through an awesome extended speed workout and even popped some 66 second 500s in there.

Yeah, it would have been awesome to be in the race with Webb, Willis, Manzano, but nothing we can do about it now. So what's going to happen now is I'm going to work my ass off for the next month and then I'll get to race at Columbia's Last Chance Meet the first weekend of March. Hoping to do something special in that race to get me excited for the outdoor season.

In the meantine, and to avoid the depression of not running the race this weekend, I'll be living by the Ron Swanson (of "Parks and Recreation" one of my best tv shows of 2010) Pyramid of Greatness (see above pic) and avoiding the Yin-Yang of Failure:

Nada.

Snow

Central Park Snowstorm

Last week I complained about the snow. "I get it, Universe," I said. "New York looks awesome under a foot of snow. But can we please get a break from these winter storms??"

But the Universe didn't listen. Instead, it dumped another load of snow over my favorite city.

I reluctantly--and slowly due to the snow--walked to the gym and got my morning run in on the treadmill. I cursed as I tredged my way through the snow to the subway for work. I almost cried as I nearly slipped walking across Columbia's College Walk after work. Then I talked myself into going outside for my shakeout run that evening.

But the gods work in mysterious ways. Because once I reached Central Park the hate left.

The park was peaceful, the snow was bright white, and the air was fresh. I watched my exhales float away from me and disappear. I enjoyed the crunching sound my shoes made with each step on the thin layer of snow covering the road. I actually loved the snow in the park. Like my younger self, I had the urge to ruin a spot of perfect, untouched snow; so I jumped on it. It was only a 30-minute run, but I wanted it to last longer. Still, I turned around and headed home.

Leaving the park at 110th and Central Park West, I had a renewed perception of the snow. Even the sight of the slush at the crosswalk a block later at 110th and Manhattan Ave. couldn't dampen my spirits.

Then it deceived me.

I jumped for a longer stride to avoid a pile of snow. My left foot landed on what I thought was sturdy ground, but the slush wasn't solid and my foot kept going down, down, down, right into a puddle that went past my ankle.

My shoe waterlogged, my happier spirit gone, I finished my run up Morningside Hill and cursed the snow once again. I hate New York.

Millrose Recap

Millrose Games Track.

I was supposed to run a 4:08 mile for one of America's best distance runners (Galen Rupp) to help him out with the first half of his 2-mile run on the tight turns and sharp banks of the Millrose Games track. Instead, I took the pretty good field of runners (Stephen Haas has been running well this winter) through a mile in around 4:18 and then stuck around because I was still in prize money position for an extra 600 meters or so before stepping off the track at Madison Square Garden.

All in all it wasn't a great run for me, but it was a payday as a rabbit job. Plus, it's always fun to run at Madison Square Garden and be a part of the history of the Millrose Games. However, looking at the half filled (or half empty) stands made me wish that Millrose Games could be an even greater meet.

The main problem with Millrose Games is that the ticket prices make you think you're going to a Knicks game. And here's the thing. Other than the Wanamaker Mile, you really aren't seeing the talent level in all the events that would suggest that (although the Knicks have sucked in recent years). They get a few good people in each event, but overall, there are probably 3-4 really good events at the Millrose Games. If they are going to be charging $70 for somewhat good seats to a track meet, it needs to be one hell of a track meet. Other than the Wanamaker Mile, Millrose isn't quite there yet.

That being said, I wish Millrose Games could fill up the Garden. There is a fun energy when you're at a meet in MSG. The place is filled with history, its loud, and you can't ask for a better place to star than New York. But in order to fill up the Garden, we need to get great athletes in every single event. New York City is a great place for a track meet, hopefully some athletes can see how great a meet Millrose can be and can make next year a great year for the meet.

Training has been slacking a little bit with all the racing (meaning mileage has been down), but it looks like I may be up in Boston next weekend for a fast mile and then we'll really get back to piling on the miles and putting in the work. We look at indoor season as the NBA's pre-season and we're using it to get ready for Outdoors. Will have a post midweek letting you know the rest of the Indoor season plans.

Effin' Snow

Complaining is for wusses. But excuse me while I wuss up for a little bit...

Whoever thought of this "I Heart NY" slogan didn't live in New York right now. This place sucks. Last year I had snOMG in DC and now it's just a Sh*t Storm of Snow (that's what I'm coining it since I feel that way about the pattern of snow every four days). I luckily missed the first big storm right after Christmas, but now this snow just keeps piling up. Plus, some of it melts, then it freezes, and the resulting slush is disgusting. I have been running on cement or treadmills for a while now, and I could really use some soft surfaces. Plus, these indoor tracks have some tight turns.

And that's that. No more complaining. You either run on the cement, or you don't. Plus, now that the NJ-NY Track Club has a logo (with t-shirts to boot!), life is good:

T-shirts available for $100

I am going to rabbit the Millrose 2-Mile on Friday night. The race goes off at 8:27pm and I'll be asked to lead the first mile of the race. There aren't many racers, so I'll be there to lead Galen Rupp through and hopefully he can keep the pace up. I am getting a little payday, add that into last week's and I'm starting to feel like a professional runner for once. Should be fun!

Snow sucks.

New Balance Recap

On yesterday's long run with Jeff, we were going by a lady who had one of those water belts on. I was thirsty, so I grabbed one off her, chugged it down, then threw it back at her. True story.

Well, not really, but I thought about it. Instead I kept on going with my run and felt tired from the weekend at the armory. And with that, a recap of the race:

First off, I forgot that the 1500 meter didn't start in the normal spot. So when everyone was over on the far turn, I was a little confused. I made my way over to the actual starting line and felt alright. It was mayhem at this meet; it is a high school meet that has a few elite events added in, and there were a TON of high schoolers on hand. Even so, it made for a pretty great atmosphere for a race...warming up was a different story.

But the race got out alright and since there were only 8 guys, my somewhat slow start wasn't a problem as I found myself in 3rd for the first half of the race...one of the people in front of me was a rabbit. We were through around 1:59.5 for the first 800 and I was starting to get in the racing zone, but after Sean Tully (our rabbit and my NJ-NY TC teammate) stepped off the track, the pace lagged quite a bit. 800-1100 was pretty slow, but then with 2 laps to go, Kyle Miller took off.

I was almost boxed in, but was able to answer his move and try to hang on. He was rolling from pretty far out so I gave him a few meters figuring I'd catch them back at some point, but I was wrong. He clearly was ready to go and had a really good race. By 200 he was about 15 meters in front, and I was clear from 3rd place by about 10 meters. I tried to, but couldn't, muster up much of a kick, and even though I closed the gap some, Miller got me by a little over a second and a half. I took 2nd with a 3:43.6. Not a bad opening 1500.

Overall, it was a good race. It's clearly not fun to get beat (and beat pretty good), but looking at big picture, last year's opening outdoor 1500 at Stanford was a 3:43.9, whereas this year I closed the 3:43.6 in a 57 last 400. I'm still missing some strength after missing the time with the stress fracture this fall, but pretty excited about what we're going to be doing coming up.

I'm rabbiting the Millrose 2-Mile this Friday, should be a fun time. Enjoy the footage courtesy of Flotrack of the race...

Liquid Gold

Footage of the race at Gtown last week...(I'm the guy in the headband.)

I walked out of my room holding a jug of Pure Michigan Maple Syrup, looked each of my roommates in the eyes and said: "If either of you even think about taking any of my Pure Michigan Maple Syrup, I'll **expletives deleted** and then I'll **more expletives deleted**!" Then I walked out of the room.

It was at that point that I knew I had a problem with sugar in liquid form.

It started with my dad being an entomologist. Growing up, there were bees everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Colonies in the backs had swarms of buzzing drones. At yearly intervals there would be a huge silver spinning vat in the house that was used to extract the honey. I was lucky if I didn't step on a dead bee at some point with the stinger still in tact.

But oh that sweet nectar that my Dad got from those bees. While most kids pulled PB&J sandwiches out of their brown paper lunch bags, I ate PB&Honey. Some kids put brown sugar on their maple syrup, I doused my morning breakfast with silky smooth honey.

On top of my love of honey, my high school's mascot was a Fighting Bee. Everywhere I looked, there was a connection to honey. It was awesome.

Now, my love of liquid sugar goes beyond honey and extends to delicious maple syrup. For a while I was on a Safeway Brand butter flavored syrup craze, but I realized that may be detrimental to my health, so I've gone the good for you sugar route (if there is such a thing).

There is somewhat of a point to this nonsensical post about honey on my "running blog". I look at honey as a healing food. One coach (I won't mention names) I know used to tell his runners that whiskey was a healing power: "Constipated? Take a shot of whiskey...Diarrhea? Take a shot of whiskey." That's how I look at honey. So, if you're a runner and feeling sick, have a squirt of honey...if you're a runner and you're feeling awesome, slurp a little honey.

Bees? Beads!? Beeeees!!! Bzzzzzzz.

--
I'm running a 1500 this weekend at the Armory. Hopefully after last week's race I'll be ready to go for it. I think it's going to be a pretty good field, although I'm unsure who is in it. I go off at 1:40pm EST and I think ArmoryTrack.com usually has a video feed of the races going, so if you're not in NY you can check it out there. Haven't said it in a while, but....LET'S GO!!

Gtown Race Recap



The Georgetown Perp Indoor Track...

In all honesty, I was extremely nervous for this race. It was the first one of the year. I was officially coming off of injury. But mostly, I was back on what was once home turf (although this was a Georgetown "Home Meet" it was at Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Md.), and I couldn't bomb my first race of the season with all my friends watching! Delilah noticed, claiming, "you never stopped eating!"

But, I pulled things together and got together a really nice opening weekend of racing. We'll look at it running diary style:

8am - wake up, 10 minute shakeout run in what we felt was a "balmy" DC day that registered around 35 degrees. I hate the Northeast.

9:45am - after an $18 (sub-par) buffet breakfast from the hotel, we all cabbed over to Gtown -- we stayed at the Key Bridge Marriot -- and got on the bus with the team.

10am - upon entry of the bus, I was showered with boos from the Georgetown team. I leave places right.

10:30am - we arrive at Georgetown Prep for Georgetown's "Home Meet". This facility is unreal. I wish I would have gone to high school here, but I don't think my parents would have been willing to shell out $48,000.

12:00pm - after some sitting around in the surprisingly chilly track facility, I realize that I don't have any caffiene for my 1:35 race. I call Liz Maloy, and she saves the day with a 5-Hour-Energy.

12:15pm - I almost throw up when I chug the 5-Hour. Then I get jacked up for my warm-up. Things are starting to shape up as the nerves are settling a little.

12:45pm - Alex (teammate on the NJ-NY Track Club) and I warm up. We do our walking drills, run 20 minutes, then do some stretching and get ready for the race with some strides. All said, it takes about 40 minutes...then you leave 5-10 minutes for things like bathroom breaks.

1:35pm - FINALLY, race time. I headband up, do a few mini-stretches. "Runner's to your mark!....BAM!"
--we're going. Theon (a stud for Gtown) takes the race out fairly quickly and I find myself in 4th place with Brian Hencke and Alex in front of me as well. John Maloy is right near me as well. We come through the first lap in around 26 (i'm probably 27). Not much jostling goes on the 2nd lap and I'm still on the rail in about 4th place. I hear 53 for the leaders and I am probably 54 mid for the 400. I'm focusing on keeping the pace up and Theon is still leading at a pretty good effort. Around the backstretch I can tell some things are about to happen and then on the turn, Alex takes off for the lead. I pass Brian on the inside of the turn then as we straighten out with 250 to go I move by Theon to answer Alex's move. We are through in 1:22-3 and I am up on Alex's heels staying focused and feeling good. He's charging pretty hard but then backs off some on the backstretch. I think about moving by him, but Gags told us to race to win that morning so I hold off for one push in the final 50. Alex struggles through the turn and I slingshot off it into the lead and pull away over the straight to win 1:51.55 to 1:52.05. It was a very good opening race.

1:40pm - we jog 20 minutes, then stretch.

2:30pm - we have to jog 20 minutes again to get ready for the 4x800. I didn't get to double all last year, and even though I wasn't looking forward to the pain of another 800, I know it's good long run.

3:30pm - after redoing all the walking drills, strides, all that pre-race stuff, we take off for the 4x8. Alex led off and handed it to me in the lead. I went out very hard...definitely too hard. Splits were 26, 53, 1:22, 1:52. Yikes, that is coming back slow. I was hurting afterwards as well. I liked going out hard for it though, Coach Henner always used to like us getting out hard early in the season because it makes it easier to do so later on, and I definitely by into that philosophy.

4:00pm - 15 more minutes of jogging and some hurdle drills. Day done: 1:51.55, 1:52.4split, on a flat track, I'll take it for a first race.

--
The meet at Georgetown was awesome. The Hoyas also invited our NJ-NY Track Club to an alumni event with hours d oeuvres and good times. It was a great event, and hopefully it turns into a yearly thing. It was great to go back to Gtown, and I'm hoping all the guys and girls can put together a great season.

Now, this week, I'm running a 1500 at the Armory for the New Balance Indoor games. Hopefully I'm ready to go for it, and hopefully I don't nervously eat the whole morning.

"800s"

Ben Zeeb, Andy Tolliver, and I before a workout at the Bath High School Track...Spring 2004

THE WORKOUT: 

"I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,

Straining upon the start." - Shakespeare, "Henry V"

The wind picked up on the backstretch, as it usually did. All bunched up and taking slow, mincing steps, we barely noticed it. I found myself surrounded. It was an odd feeling for a workout, especially in high school. The skinny legs of Chris Stoddard pumped directly in front of me. Brett Domeyer's choppy stride  was in front of me to the right. To my right was Phillip Liesenhoff (a German exchange student), to my left was the rail. Behind me Ben Zeeb and Andy Tolliver (our two best sprinters) ran effortlessly. We couldn't have been going faster than seven minute per-mile pace, but there was only 250-meters to go in the interval. Thirty-meters later and nothing had changed. Then, all at once:

"Cowards!!*" Phil yelled as his stride quickened, he moved to the outside, and took off at full speed blowing by Chris and Brett and into the lead going into the turn. Almost immediately Andy and Ben were past me, pursuing the fleeing Phil. Chris and Brett tried gamely to match the surge, but their distance oriented leg speed wasn't enough to do it.

Phil, Andy and Ben were telescoping away from us as we rounded the turn.

I had known it was coming. The workout was an 800 meter interval where the first 400 was purposely slow. Then, at any point on the next 400, someone could take off, but they had to sprint to the finish. So it could be a 400 meter sprint, or it could be only 120...either way, you were sprinting your balls off once someone went. We would usually do 3 or 4 of the intervals. It was fun, but it also taught you how to race. Because I was excelling at the high school level, we would sometimes throw the sprinters into the mix to make these "800s" more interesting for everybody.

I quickly moved by Chris and Brett (sadly in lane 2 of the track) as Phil had 10 yards on me; Ben and Andy only 5. Around the bend I reeled them in some, then moved into lane 3 as the track straightened out and the finish line came into view. Phil was 5 yards ahead now as Ben and Andy were only a step in front of me. We were all well into our final sprint now and barely managed to hold our form together as we all became even with only 20 meters left.

We composed a blanket finish of 4 as we leaned across the line with Brett and Chris only a few ticks of the clock back. Phil went to the infield, found a resting spot, and splayed himself on the grass. Ben, Andy, and I grasped our knees and sucked for air around us. Coach Roberson -- the mastermind behind the workout -- came up to us: "25 seconds for the last 200, nice work guys!" We all murmured less than understandable responses. My headache wouldn't subside for hours.

*We actually wouldn't yell "Cowards." The rule was that you had to yell a disgusting word as you took off...none of these words are appropriate for this blog.
--
Those were the days of high school running. Work your butt off and then see what happened on race day. It seems that I'm back in that mode of training, and I'm pretty happy about it. At Columbia and Georgetown I would probably have a "workout headache" once every two months. Lately, they have been coming once every two weeks, sometimes even more. When you start workouts with 2:59 1200s or 54 second 400s I guess that's what happens.

Getting excited for the indoor season to start. The New Jersey/New York TC will be in DC next weekend opening the season up. I'm pretty jacked for it. Hoping to race like we would in those Bath workouts...