The Gouchers and Amsterdam Musings

Amsterdam...

It came to my attention recently that the Columbia Track Team adoringly called my brother, Will, Adam Goucher. For the non-runner out there, this is in reference to a running couple, the Gouchers (Adam and Kara), who are fairly prominent faces on the USA running circuit. The thing is, Kara is WAAYYYYY better than Adam. She’s a World Championship Bronze Medalist, an amazing marathoner, and, as it turns out, extremely good looking. Nothing against Adam, but Kara is definitely the bread winner in terms of being the better runner. As you can guess, Will was referred to as Adam Goucher due to Delilah being a legit runner. It’s not really fair because Will isn’t trying to be a professional runner, but I thought it a fairly funny nickname nonetheless. Then something terrible happened. I became an Adam Goucher as well.

My girlfriend was a pretty damn good runner, but then she had to go and place higher at NCAAs than I did the year before. I was watching the race in Indianapolis with my brother and Jeff Moriarty (Columbia’s runner who has taken all my school records). We watched nervously – me especially – as Christine rounded the turn and passed two runners to place 5th in the 800 at the National Championships. Pretty cool. I was pumped. Sent her the usual text. Then Moriarty called me Adam Goucher. It was like a knife in the heart.

Christine called and I forgot about it for a sec. Then she said this: “Wait a second…what place did you take at NCs last year?” as she realized that she had placed higher than me and laughed…Classic Kara, always rubbing it in.
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Now just a few musings about Amsterdam…

1. There must be no problem with stage fright here. They have a lot of co-ed bathrooms and also have public urinals that are just out in the middle of the street. I am terrified of them.

2. The street names here are insane and when someone tells me to go towards one, I have no idea where to go. These are some of the street names: We are on Karthuizersstraat, next to us is Lijnbaansgracht, the Ann Frank Huis is on Prinsengracht, and I almost had an accident on Poopinmypantsinstraat. (ahahahaha. Elizabeth has told me I’m funny on more than one occasion on this trip. I always remind her that I’m trying really hard.)

That’s all for today. Had a nice workout with Bumbi and now relaxing on this nice Sunday evening. Last full day in Amsterdam tomorrow, I’ll have a treat on runLBP because of it…Let’s Go!

And for those of you holding your breath in anticipation...I did eat a Pizza Dog. It was awesome/awful all at once.