$50 Haircut

That's some long ass hair.

Every Monday and Friday morning I catch the 8:25 up-town 1-train at 116th and ride it to 168th St. before walking to the Armory to get picked up by my coach and taken to practice at Rutgers. Public transportation, while sometimes packed with people like sardines in a can, can be a nice treat. There is always a person on each bus/train that is “that guy.” The person you look at because they’re either yelling or singing, or just in need of a shower. One of my trips I was looking around the subway car and didn’t really notice anyone of the sort, but then I saw my reflection in the window across from me. I was “that guy.”

I was dressed in running pants, a big winter coat, and my hair was out of control. I had showered the night before, but with my hair looking like a rolling tumbleweed of the old west, if visible stink lines would have emanated from me, I wouldn’t have objected.

The hair being out of control thing isn’t for any reason, I just decided not to cut my hair other than a trim until New Years. I used to never cut my hair during the season. This all started because when I was a seventh grader, my brother and a group of his buddy’s told me they’d give me $50 if I didn’t cut my hair until the cross country season was over. Meanwhile, I was already a month removed from cutting my hair. By the end of the season I was Tom Brady as Bieber before Brady or Bieber even existed.

Now, I’ve gone with the no haircut until 2011 to go along with my current life mantra of trying to be a blue collar runner while being a white collar worker. Don Draper meets Rocky in Rocky IV.

Running wise, things are going very well and all the cross training (oh that god-forsaken cross training!) seems to have payed off some as my workouts have been going great and my mileage is up in the 70s again. We are starting to piece together somewhat of an indoor season and I am starting to get that racing itch, even if the real racing of the year is a long ways away.

It’s cold again, but Michigan boys love the snowy running. Plus, I have a lot of hair to keep my head warm.

Leslie Nielsen: A Tribute

Frank Drebin, Police Squad

Every other Sunday, my Dad would take my brother and I on his Sunday morning errands. This meant a trip to the Lake Lansing Rd. Meijers. With milk, lunch meat, and other essentials in the shopping cart along with twine, a screw driver or any other home fixing gadget he needed, we would pull up to the in-store video rental section.

Like any good father, he wanted to impart his wisdom of amazing movies on his two sons. So, one week it was The Pink Panther or The Naked Gun, the next it was Police Academy or Monty Python. Like other 5- and 8-year-olds, we laughed at the classics, albeit with some complaining here and there about not being able to watch Terminator.

We finally reached the end of the list of movies my Dad wanted us to watch, but a funny thing happened the next time we were in the rental aisle: “Let’s get The Naked Gun again!” My brother and I agreed.

We laughed at the cheesy: “It's fourth and fifteen and you're looking at a full-court press.” The oddball: “Doctors say that Nordberg has a 50/50 chance of living, though there's only a 10 percent chance of that.” Even the way-over-our-heads:
“[Jane climbs a ladder]
Frank: Nice beaver!
Jane: [producing a stuffed beaver] Thank you. I just had it stuffed.”
But we loved that movie.

It didn’t stop then. As two sequels to the movie came out, we couldn’t have been more excited. The Naked Gun 2 1/2 had us peeing our pants, The Naked Gun 33 1/3 left us in side stitches (although it wasn’t as good as the first two). Frank Drebin of Police Squad was one of the funniest people I knew.

Even in high school, 16 years after the first film had been made, I loved the movie. I was one of our schools valedictorians, and while some left my classmates with words of wisdom from the likes of famous Americans, I left them with the great advice of Frank Drebin: “Like a midget at a urinal, you have to be on your toes.” (There is rumor that some in the community didn’t appreciate my speech).

Still today I go back to those movies. I have somehow convinced myself that the girls I like need to like my favorite trilogy of movies. I force them to watch it with me, and then repeat the quotes right after they play in the movie as if to reinforce how hilarious they are (looking at this now, clearly not a way to pick up the ladies…).

The Naked Gun acts as a comfort for me. If I need a laugh, I pop the DVD in, if I just got dumped by one of the girls who I made watch the movie with me, I watch it again with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s by my side. Yeah, The Naked Gun is awesome.

Leslie Nielsen was the one who played Lieutenant Frank Drebin of Police Squad. He did it so perfectly that I still chuckle as I read these quotes as the scene plays out in my mind. He passed away last night. This isn’t sad for me in the way it is sad for me when someone I know passes, but instead it reminded me that a hilarious movie can brighten a day. So, thank you Leslie Nielsen. Your acting will be missed, but your movies will not.

The Bet

The 10K-Dub-L: Dan Nunn

I made a bet with Dan Nunn six months ago. There is some serious money going to the winner ($250, or 1000 chicken nuggs) and a long time period to decide who said winner is (4 years). But before I get to what the bet is, a brief history of Dan Nunn and I is necessary…

(And by brief, I mean long, but enjoy.)

Dan Nunn did not want me to go to Georgetown. I visited Gtown in December of 2007, and I did not make a great impression on the PAJC (Dan Nunn is a man of many nicknames: His freshman year, he was the Pan-Am Junior Champ in the 10k – “PAJC”. His 5th-year, he ran a 28:24 to win the Stanford 10k and was the World Leader for a week – “10-K-Dub-L”. When I was there, he ate a lot of Bacon – “Bacon”. And then he was weird and twitter-named himself “La-La” (perhaps he likes the old mtv v-j)). But I digress, because D-Nunn (there’s another) did not like that I was joining the team.

According to him: “Liam came in when I was watching a movie, it was Anne Hathaway’s great film The Princess Diaries 2, I believe, and he just would not stop talking! I told him to quiet down so I could enjoy the wonderful acting of Julie Andrews, but he just wouldn’t shut up. So I figured he was just a talker.

“So then, a bunch of people are over on his last night here and they’re watching The Shining, and I ask a question. Liam shushes me. The guy has the nerve to do that. He tells me to quiet down so he can watch a movie. Can you believe it? So yeah, that’s why I didn’t like Liam and didn’t want him on my team. He was an asshole.”

Whoah, whoah, whoah, Dan…an asshole? Isn’t that a little strong on choice of a word?

“Nope, I meant it.”

The problem for Dan was that I was going to be his roommate. So we were going to spend way more time together than he would have liked.

You always view yourself as a littler cooler than you actually are, but I think I did a fairly good job of being cool at Georgetown my first semester there. Overall, I was pretty liked by most guys on the team. As right or wrong as it is, I was doing well in workouts, so respect was there, and I tried not to step on any toes, so most of the guys were at least alright with me.

Dan took a little more work. We would start to bond over him cooking bacon when I would get home from class around 10pm. We would talk about girls and how Dan wanted to weigh 300 pounds at least once in his life but I could tell something about me still irked him. Then, a movie brought us together for good.

There was a party during the offseason that the whole team was at. It was right next door to our house, which was great for us. We both took the 10 foot walk home at separate times but found ourselves in our living room as Zoolander blared on TBS at 2am. But we didn’t even really watch the movie. Instead, we talked.

And a mutual respect was born. Talking during movies could make Dan hate me, but in a twist of fate, it also made him my friend.

From there, we were cool. We did workouts together…if he ran a 400 in 55, I would run it in 54.9 (granted he beat me by 8 seconds on the 1200 leg of the ladder). We hung out…we were roommates at NCAAs in Fayetteville. And we even met up when I was in the Bay Area last year, where Dan is now that he’s done with Georgetown.

So there you have it: Dan Nunn and I from the start.

And now, to the bet. Dan stopped running competitively last fall. He is in school in the Bay Area to become a 2nd Grade Teacher, but I was able to see him last May for the Payton-Jordan Invite at Stanford.

At dinner, the conversation turned to one we used to often have:

“Dude, I am going to get up to 300 pounds at some point in my life,” Dan said to a group of us at dinner.

“No way in hell,” I called him out. “How much do you weigh right now?”

“I was 160 at the doctor’s office, but I had a bunch of stuff in my pockets.” He laughed. “But, dude, I’ll get up to 300.”

“Guaranteed you wont. I’ll bet you anything that you don’t.”

“Fine, 250 bucks.”

“Deal.” And we shook hands.

Dan and I have a $250 bet as to whether or not he will ever top 300 pounds. I couldn’t give him his entire life, because at that point $250 wont be anything. But I gave him four years, and he accepted. So by May 5th, 2014, if Dan Nunn hasn’t weighed in at 300 lbs or more, he will owe me the money. If any time before then he does, I will owe him 1000 chicken nuggs because he will need them to sustain his diet.

D-Nunn and I at some banquet...Classy.

**UPDATE** Dan Nunn is reportedly training for a marathon. Things are looking good on my end.

State of the Union Address

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Coach, Members of the Training group, and the Family of the Runner:

I gather you all here tonight to speak not only to the great readers of this web-journal, but to speak frankly and directly to the running public.

And with that, begins my first State of the Union address from New York. Essentially every one of these blog posts is a state of the union type affair, but I am going to go over a few of the standards in my life with a report on each of them. An address like this can be expected every once in a while. Especially when I can’t think of anything else to write and can use this gimmick to get by.

Things are finally settling down in New York…as much as they can settle down in this city. I am getting into my routine and it’s nice to be on a schedule where I’m doing basically the same thing every day with a few new things mixed in here and there. What follows are the four topics that will be covered in every state of the union address:

- DIET: As you can tell from my tweets, I have a love of disgusting/awesome foods and I prefer to post pictures and mention putting it down my pants. Lately, the move to NY has halted my diet of fun-ness. A lack of funding has left me eating fairly healthily minus the odd Koronets run every once in a while. Currently, I am saving up for this in a call back to my REEESE’S nickname.

- MORALE: Currently morale is a mixed bag. I am waiting in the wings for my orthotics to come in. Sometimes people are afraid of getting orthotics, but two stress-fractures (the latest injury wasn’t quite a stress-fracture) in the same spot did enough convincing for me. Once they get in I’ll start up my running.

- IN SHAPE-NESS: aside from adding “ness” to a ton of words in this entry, my “in shape-ness” isn’t bad for not being able to actually run. Every day I spend an hour and a half on an elliptical machine. It is painstakingly boring, but I think it is pretty darn good for re-teaching yourself how to focus…I have imagined about a million possible race scenarios and what I would do in them the past 3 weeks. I also have listened to a lot of music.

- JAM OF THE MOMENT: indoor exercising can get boring. So there has been a lot of music listened to. In the search for the best exercise song ever I went through a lot of different options. From pop music to obvious ones, it took me listening to my top 50 songs of all time to really get jacked up on the elliptical machine: PEARL JAM – ALIVE

There you have it. The first runLBP State of the Union Address. Expect many more…or none at all if no one likes it. As always, Let’s Go!

Mad Man

HamDel...it's good to be back.

“You’re only as good as your last 800.” That’s what we used to say as part of the Columbia Mid-D Crew. I liked the sentiment. It didn’t matter if you were a 1:48 guy, if you were dropping 1:51s, then it wasn’t quite cutting it. Sure it was nice that you had the faster one under your belt, but you couldn’t rest on your laurels. Sadly for me, my last 800 the summer before my 5th year was a 1:57 rig-fest that was one of the worst things I had ever been a part of.

According to our maxim, for almost a full year I was a 1:57 guy. It was discouraging to say the least. Surprisingly it ended up being my best year. I split 1:46.00 and didn’t lose an 8 all year (in retrospect I should have run the 8 at NCAAs and tried to do some damage there). But those parentheses are the problem right there and the problem with Columbia’s Mid-D Rule in general. I’m not looking back at the past anymore (unless I’m looking at the 2007 Penn 4x8 to get myself jacked up).

This year, I am changing that motto. Instead: “You’re only as good as your next 800.” Play with it if you please and insert your event here, but that’s what it’s gonna be for the upcoming track career of yours truly…time to get going and run your ass off.

My last year at Georgetown was a little stale, and now that I’m up in NY, the intensity is back and it’s going to be a fun year. There are real goals now, and I’m ready to make some noise again. You can also look out for me in quite a few more 800s…time to turn myself back into a sprinter type. Boo. Yah.

The move to New York went smoothly. I am packed into a tiny room in an apartment with two assistant coaches at Columbia on 118th and Amsterdam. It’s nice to be close to Columbia and as a volunteer assistant coach I get to use the gym for cross training and stuff like that.

I started up working a part time job on Madison Avenue. It is exactly like the show “Mad Men.” Well, except for the whiskey drinking and the infidelity. Plus, I probably smoke more cigarettes than Don Draper, so that’s a plus (maybe not actually).

I am getting some orthotics, and as soon as they come in I’ll be up and running. It’s still a lot of time on the elliptical machine and in the pool, but I’m feeling pretty in shape so I won’t be too far behind once I get out on the roads, trails and tracks.

And in terms of housekeeping, sorry for taking a week off from the posting...because of it, there will be a Wednesday post with a recap and state of the season report.

Let’s Go!

The Final Leg

Mmmm. Chocolates.

Made it to Dublin for the last leg of my European tour yesterday and now getting ready for the mile this evening. It is a pretty stacked field with 9 guys under four, so I’m pretty excited about what could go down. Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the spacing of my races, although I wish one more could have been in between Brasschaat and this, but gotta role with the punches.

Staying at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport which is about a 5 minute walk from the track. It is a pretty Americanized hotel, so it’ll be a nice transition from here to home.

Last year leading up to the last race (which was in Brasschaat) I was ready to get the hell out of there and get back on American soil. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about going home, but this year has gone by a lot quicker and I could definitely stick around for a few more races if there were any great ones. However, The Ryan Shay Mile is going to be way too much fun, so I want to get home for that anyways.

And I am running in Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 3rd to finish out the season. I’m entered in both the 8 and 15, and will probably find out a few days before what I’m actually running. It will be a nice way to end the season.

Lately, I have been reading books that I only really half read in middle/high school. Been getting through “To Kill A Mockingbird” lately, and Holy Sam Hill, that Scout is a pretty awesome little girl. I loved what Atticus had for his kids after Mrs. Dubose passed away: “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.”

Right now, don’t have a link to the race...will post online tonight either here or on twitter how the race went. It’s 20.00 Ireland time...so 3pm for the East Coasters.

Go time this evening in Dublin! Let’s Go!

Adios Amsterdam!

Bumbi and I over a scenic canal (stolen straight from his blog...boo yah)

So first off, my apologies to those expecting an awesome new bball dunk. This wasn’t like a normal LBPjam in that the real things are actually athletic feats. I was a little disappointed with the fact that I’m not that good at soccer. However, even though LBPjams are fantastically amazing in an athletic sense, they are also meant to be fun, which is what I had when I was making the soccer jam.

But now I have to peace out on Amsterdam and head to Dublin for the Morton Mile tomorrow evening. It is looking like a pretty good field with 8 sub-4 guys, so should be pretty fun. Hopefully I’ll have internet in Dublin so I can give a few more posts from this side of the Atlantic.

Then I’ll be heading home to meet Kara Goucher in Michigan and head up north with the fam for the Ryan Shay Mile. Really looking forward to that one and hopefully can have a good race there even with some possible jet-lag setting in.

Then I’ll have only one more race to go with a trip to Nova Scotia for an 800 or a 1500 there to close out the season on August 3rd. Should be a nice little way to close things out.

Finally race tomorrow night, just got excited again! Let’s Go!

ps - leaving the LBPjam here because I haven’t been taking as many pictures lately seeing as I see the same things ever day.

LBP Cribs

Short post today...but you get a movie to go along with it!

I didn’t get to edit the cribs of LBP Eurotrip, but check it out and you can see what the apartment looks like. Bumbi is coming up to visit today, and I’m supposed to meet him in like 15 minutes, so that’s why there’s not much going on for this post.

I did a little 4x800 workout tomorrow. There isn’t much of a point to do that much more working out...all the hay’s in the barn already. Now you just have to out there and give a good effort and hop something good comes out of it.

The only thing bumbi and I aren’t going to do today is hit up the red light district....NOT.

Alright, that’s all for now, maybe on some downtime later today there will be another post.

Race day getting closer, can’t wait!

Let’s Go!

SWULY

Cooling down at Olympic Stadium...

There are some things you hope live on when you leave a place. This being a running related web-journal, I always hope to leave a team better off than when I got there. However, this being an other-side-of-running-related-web-journal, I also hope to leave a team better off with awesome non-running characteristics as well.

I think at Columbia I did a pretty good job. When my brother left Columbia in ’05, he claimed that he wouldn’t have been able to make the team with the times he ran in high school. I had some stud times in high school, but I felt pretty similar when I left the campus. Now all my school records are gone, so my legacy has been left to remain in other ways (all I have running wise on the current team is my Penn Relays Title – hopefully they can get that on me too). Things like eating contests – Koronets anyone, bird rating scales, those are the thigns that remain. And now, the Columbia team is even cooler than when I left. They have names for each month with a way to live each one. While I often take part in a self-proclaimed Man Month, these kids do it every month. Currently we are in Swuly.

Swuly is all about getting jacked muscle wise. A lot of core is supposed to take place and a lot of picking up heavy things just to prove you can. While it isn’t ideal for me to be doing a ton of lifting at the tail end of the season, I salute the month, and have been doing some push-up wars by myself after my runs just to keep tone. Plus, I’m going to be heading to the beach in Michigan only a week from now so need to get my beach muscles ready.

Had a nice workout on the track yesterday…2x(4x300) at 45-43-41-39 with 90” rest and 9min rest between sets. It wasn’t easy, especially in some wind, but felt good to run 39 even though it was hard. Will be doing mini-workouts every other day leading up to the race in Dublin on the 21st.

Going to learn about Vincent Van Gough now. Let’s Go!

A-Train: my little sister's nickname.

Hobbits in the Red Light District - Innocence Lost

One would think that a true Dutch Football Fan would want to watch the game with a bunch of other Dutch Fans, not a bunch of orange clad tourists who think they’re at the hub of it all and don’t really know what they’re cheering for. So that’s why I think the guy who called Maggie and I Hobbits while sipping on a glass of merlot wasn’t really a great representation of the Holland Faithful. But I digress, because that was one cool Soccer game!

It was extremely fun heading to a pub to watch the game. A lot of energy in the streets, orange streamers everywhere; it’s like a when a professional sports team wins a championship and the town celebrates, only cooler, because EVERYONE cares so much.

So now they’re in the final, and we will probably not be here because we’ll be racing…wa wa waaa. Either way, hopefully they can pull off another one, because I think everyone will be a lot happier in this city if they do.

After the game, we decided to walk around and somehow we found ourselves in the Red Light District! (It was completely by coincidence and not planned at all.) As one of the sprinters at the track told us, “whether you agree with it or not, you have to go check it out.” She was completely right. The bottom picture is of us there, and if you look closely, you can see how uncomfortable we all are. And as Elizabeth said as we were walking out, “My innocence is gone.”

Let’s Go!
*One last side note...that PIZZA DOGG looks awesome...while there’s no skyline in Amsterdam, I think I found my savior...

Us after the game...

It's a PIZZA DOGG

Red Lights make us nervous...

Irish Highs

It’s noon Ireland time. I’m on a bus from Dublin to Cork. I’m running on 2 hours of restless sleep and fumes from the cup of coffee I just gulped down. And like my Dad says: “I have to pee like a racehorse.” (Without fail on every drive home from Fraser to Bath after a trip to my Granny’s he’d be in the driver seat squirming around like a fish out of water situating himself to subdue the urge of the bathroom break he so desperately needed.) I writhe some, but then decide to sit still, thinking that if I move, my bladder will act in the wrong way.

Finally, the bus comes to a stop in a town center to pick up some more passengers. One of my travel partners and I rush through the aisle and ask the bus driver where we can go to the bathroom. He looks around hopelessly, then tells us to try the black door of the pub to our left. I racewalk to the door. I rush through and a man at the jukebox can tell exactly what I need and points me in the direction of the bathroom. The urinal is the wall, one of those ones with water rushing down at all times like a trough. I start going to the bathroom and then hear the music playing over the speakers.

I figured my first experience in an Irish Pub would include sipping on a Guinness and listening to Dropkick Murphy’s. Instead…it’s peeing against a wall while listening to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

And with that, welcome to “runLBP’s EuroTrip 2k10”! Posts will start appearing daily (given Internet cooperation) and you can follow me all around Ireland and Amsterdam and Belgium. I’m pretty excited about it, and definitely pumped to get some more races in.

I’m traveling with two Georgetown girls: Elizabeth Maloy and Maggie Infeld, and we’re going to hopefully have some fun while running fast. I’ll be around until the 22nd and they’re staying over until the 28th or so.

We start out our European season with a 1500 tonight in Cork, Ireland. They have been plenty kind to us so far by putting us up in dorms and feeding us our every meal. They like my name, and hopefully will cheer for me tonight. You can check out results here: http://www.corkcitysports.ie/viewpage.php?memid=133&parent=133

I go off at 3:05pm Irish Time (10:05 EST). Let’s Go!

Party In The U.S.A.

USAs 2010 did not go to plan. I was in a perfect situation to make the final and failed to capitalize. I knew going in that being in the 3rd heat and having Pifer leading the way, I would have a very good chance to run fast. Exactly that happened, but I made some stupid moves and did a little too much forcing/thinking and found myself without anything in the tank as the track straightened out for the final 80 meters.

I was able to handle the 59lows that Pifer was leading us through, but I was forcing the situation a little too much. I didn’t flow out there like I have been doing so much in practice. This made it so that when I needed to move, I had used a little too much energy maintaining the pace and just didn’t have much left in my legs. I was too tense before the race and was really trying to make something happen. A lot of times that leaves you in trouble. I run best when I’m relaxed and having fun, this was a run where I was trying to make too many things go right.

It wasn’t all bad though. I still ran my 2nd fastest time ever, and given a few different moves, probably wouldn’t have tied up. Now, its time to try to go over to Europe and have some fun over on that side of the pond.

And I hope we all know what that means…Another EuroJournal from LBP! I’ll be doing the daily updates while I’m overseas so that you can all check in to see how I’m doing. I’ll be starting up over in Ireland with a race at the Cork City Sports Invitational this Saturday, the third. From there I’ll be traveling with running buddies Elizabeth Maloy and Maggie Infeld and we’re heading to Amsterdam to set up base. From there we’ll be running in some races in Belgium, the Netherlands, and who knows where else. It should be a blast, and even though I’m heading out in a few days, I’m pretty excited about the trip.

Look for a bunch of updates throughout the month of July. I’ll be heading back home to Michigan on the 22nd for the Ryan Shay Mile on July 24th in Charlevoix, so if you’re around, make sure to check that one out!

As Always, Let’s Go!

That's Where That Came From!

I have told Headband Origin Stories before (something about the Charlotte Hornets), but it turns out I was wrong all along.

Like a lot of good things in this life, the LBP Headband came from, as it turns out, my Dad. Yup, that’s him rocking the headband back in the day during a Kalamzoo Klassic 5k Run circa 1978. There was only a 23 year drought, but I kept the fad going my sophomore year of high school. Thankfully, my Dad had the right idea back in his running heyday.

A Happy Father’s Day to all!
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Training this week was pretty fun. I did some easy aerobic stuff on Tuesday and then came back on Friday for some 1500 pace stuff doing two sets of 1,2,3,4,4 all at 58 pace but with the second 400 on each set getting faster each 100, so going 16,15,14,13 (although on the last set Bumbi led me through in 14.4, 14.4, 13.4, 12.8 for a little under the suggested 58 pace). It was a fun workout and hopefully let me know that I’ll be ready to trounce out some 58 second laps come USAs and the summer season.

As of now, it looks like I’ll be heading to Vancouver for the Harry Jerome Track Classic on July 5th to kick off my summer season…I’m pretty excited about it, and am really excited to check out the city. From there, who knows what will happen, but I am definitely going to be ready to run some good races this summer, so I’m pretty syked to get going.

Prelims of the 1500 are Friday night in Des Moines…wish me luck, its go time now; the race I’ve been looking forward to all year. Can’t wait.

LET’S GO!!!!!!!

In All Honesty

First of all, some housekeeping information. Due to the lack of ability for me to get a comment box using iWeb as my program for creating runLBP.com, I will also be using a blogging service to post my articles. This way it will be easier to navigate the entries and check out my posts. Plus, you’ll be able to post comments, and if you’re a google user, it will be easy to subscribe or “follow” my blog. So now you can head to http://runLBP.blogspot.com, or click on the link at the top of each page that says, “Head to Blog!” (The articles will all still be on runLBP.com, so just head to the archive link at the bottom of the homepage to find it.) But back to some regular programming…

Apparently, I say the words, “in all honesty,” all the time. I hadn’t ever thought about it, but a freshman that I was spending too much time with called me out on it. And in all honesty, he was right (see, I did it right there! I can’t control myself). The saying really isn’t a problem, but it does imply that I lie enough to make a point of letting people know when I’m telling the truth. And once I started looking into the way I speak, and stopping myself every time I started saying it, I thought about the etiquette in telling someone something like that. A freshman told me after about a year of hanging out with me and just then had the nerve to say something. Oh I’m upset with him because now I stress about the way I talk, but he felt comfortable telling me, so you gotta give him credit for that.

Running etiquette is a funny thing. There are a few unspoken rules when you’re running with someone. You don’t one step when you’re running with someone (one-stepping being the act of running the same pace as someone, but one step in front of them), you go silent when the other person clearly doesn’t feel like talking, and overall, you try to go with the flow when running with someone. Sure, there are exceptions to these rules, you may be the one who doesn’t feel like talking so your running buddy better get the drift.

This week, I faced a running etiquette snafu while out in Rock Creek Park. I was running along minding my own business and on the way back of an out and back 55 minute run. I was charging up the last little stretch of a long hill and noticed a gentlemen to my right who was walking. I waved and nodded at him and continued on. But he started running and latched right onto me. Not a word crept out of his mouth, just footsteps crunching on the dirt trail behind me. I was upset. Had he asked if he could jog with me for a few minutes, I would have been upset, but I would have obliged. But without a word he was sitting on me like I do to someone I am trying to beat in a mile.

For a brief moment I thought about dropping the hammer, but I was tired from my workout the day before. Finally after descending the hill I had just run up and heading towards home I turned around mid-stride:
“Are you kidding me right now?” I said to him.
“I was bored running by myself,” he responded.
“You don’t just do this,” I shot back.
“No one’s ever had a problem with it be—” I cut him off.
“Well you’re pissing me off,” I snapped back and jogged to the right as he stopped.

Yeah, I’m not usually a mean guy while out running, but when you mess with the running etiquette, you might hear some words from me. So if you want to run with me, just ask…
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Raced in Indianapolis this weekend. Hearing the timer call out 23, 24 as I passed the 200 mark, I thought I might be in trouble. Coming through in 51low, I really knew. Yet for some reason I tried to make a pass during 4-600, and it ended up biting me in the ass. I still ran 1:48.97 while rigging home. And while I think that I can run in the 1:46’s in the right situation, this will be a big help come USAs. Coach Henner always likes it when we rig, because, he says, the next time we go out that fast we wont.

Also, the meet in Indianapolis sucked. Due to some serious thunderstorms, I didn’t get to race until midnight. Meanwhile, I traveled out there with some Gtown girls (the picture for this article) and stayed with my brother and the Columbia folk. They were all running the 1500 and didn’t get to race until 1:30 am. It was awful. But they all ran pretty well, and I was able to see Jeff Moriarty break my school record in the 1500 at Columbia. He ran a tough race, leading from 1k out and dropped a 3:42.51 for 3rd place, eclipsing my mark of 3:42.91. So congrats to him, even though he didn’t even know my website existed and the wind in Indy wasn’t strong enough at all.

Only two weeks until USAs. I can’t tell you how excited I am getting. Des Moines here we come! Let’s Go!

Freshmen

Most of my training partners were gone this week. They were off in Greensboro, NC trying to qualify for the NCAA Championships (a lot of them did, congrats to all the Columbia and Gtown kids who are flying out to Eugene in a week for NCs!), so I was left with but a few kids to run with.

They happened to be freshmen. The whole week I was running along with Andrew Springer and Bobby Peavey. I am five years older than these kids, so one would think that my maturity level may not necessarily mesh with theirs…but it was an AWESOME week.

It reminded me of my freshman year. My classmates and I were idiots. We were always scheming and planning something. Once, we planned a dinner date for the entire freshman class. It was going to be held at the famous (or more infamous) Columbia Cottage, a Chinese food place where free wine was served with dinner. We told everyone that they must dress nicely. Here is a quote from the invitation we sent out to the class of ’08: “A night of class, sophistication, and revelry. This is a formal affair in which you will dress appropriately and act in a proper and fair manner.” We went on to tell the girls that they would be paying for dinner since we took care of the wine tab beforehand. Somehow, people showed up even though as freshmen boys, we were clowns.

But Peavey and Springer aren’t really as big of idiots as I was, at least I don’t think so. Our runs were spent discussing video games (namely tetris, which apparently Springer is very good at). And in the process, Springer and Peavey tried beating me in some workouts.

Tuesday of this week was not an easy day for me. It was hot and humid, and I was doing a 5k workout; my least favorite type of workout. We were running 500, 1k, 500, 2k, 500, 1k, 500 all at 67.5 pace. Two minutes were allotted for resting between the intervals, which seems like a lot until you have just run a 2k in 5:37.

So we get through the 2k in 5:37, and Springer is looking good. Peavey’s foot is kind of bothering him, so he stops the workout. It’s just Springer and I (he’s legit, ran 4:02 for a full mile as a high schooler last year), and I do not run the 500 too well. I hit the pace, but struggle doing it.

Coach to me: “Can you finish this up, Liam?” Me to coach: “I don’t know.” And then I walk away from him to the start line for the 1k. I was straight hurting. Arms locking up, back arching, lactic acid filling my legs. Springer took us through the first 400: 67.1. I was hurting like hell, and definitely questioned dropping away from him. Then all of a sudden, I wasn’t anymore. I was just going to stay on him and finish this workout. We came through in 2:14 and finished up in 2:47. Then I led the last 500 and we ran 1:18 (62 through the quarter). I was done. But I had finished.

Two weeks ago I would have dropped out of the workout, but sometimes good things happen even when you feel terrible. The rest of the week went well, and now I’m getting stronger and stronger waiting for USAs.

My schedule is shaping up: I am going to be running an 800 at Indianapolis on the 12th of June and then gearing up for USAs after that (sorry to Ryan Pett, I definitely thought about the Tennessee Distance Classic, but its just not going to work out, thanks for the suggestion!). As always: Let’s Go!!

Ps – if you’re looking to read even more Liam Boylan-Pett, check out my latest PowerBar blog-post.

FOUND

Blink! An eye opens wide; the pupil expands then coils back in, the dark, monarch brown iris twinkling. Gasp! A deep breath beckons as the eye blinks and focuses. Where the hell am I?

To go along with the rest of the blogging/twittering/facebooking/anythingonlineing world, this week’s post is a LOST extravaganza. Writing this, I am on a plane across the country back to DC. I am supposed to land at 7:10…then I am getting picked up from Dulles, and hopefully making it back to my place in time for the finale of one of the greatest television dramas of all time.

(Side note: I enjoy comedies so much more than dramas, while I love Lost, it probably doesn’t even crack my five favorite tv shows of all time…in order:
5. It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (crude and hilarious)
4. The Wire (the best overall television show I’ve ever watched, just not funny)
3. Southpark (Cartman may be the best character ever)
2. Seinfeld (Not original in terms of favorite show choice, but classic)
1. Arrested Development (Short lived, but if you haven’t watched the first two seasons, I pity you))

But don’t worry, since this is a running blog, it will only be Lost themed. And how will I do that? By comparing my season of running to Jack’s arc on the Island. (There will be some serious reaching in what follows, but like I have done with the last two seasons of Lost, just go with it.)

When Jack first got to the Island, he wanted what anyone who was on a stranded Island would: off. So, he did whatever he could to try to get him and his people off the Island. Then, he finally gets off the god-forsaken place, and he wants to go back? Meanwhile, some smokemonsters and dead people did some weird things, and now Desmond and Penny might not end up together and I’m pretty upset about that. However, back to Jack.

In Seasons 5 and 6, and the dude was pretty lost (pun intended), in terms of what to do with his life. He was more the man of science that that of fate. He always forced things, and sometimes it worked out well, others, not so much. This was me the first part of the season. I was forcing it, trying to make it work out way too well. I was lost. I didn’t know what exactly I was running for. It is a transition no longer being a part of a team and running on your own. I struggled to find meaning in my races.

Now, Jack finds himself with a mission. He is focused, and he is ready to protect this Island. I’m back on track too. I may not officially be on a team anymore, but in actuality, I am still on a ton of them. The opening eye that Lost so often uses is focusing (which reminds me of another awesome tv show, Friday Night Lights, and its awesome motto: Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose!).

I’m still a Bath runner, still a Columbia Runner, still a Georgetown runner.

Now I can only hope that I find out what the hell Jack is, and what this damn Island means in tonight’s LOST finale…that is if I even catch it due to this stupid flight.
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First PR of the year! Gotta like that. The race was at Occidental College, just north of L.A. I figured if it was good enough for the President to hang out there a few weekends, it would be good enough for me to race there. Sure enough, it was pretty awesome. Getting ready for the race I was listening to my music and gazing out at the mountain range in the distance. I couldn’t complain.

In terms of the race, I am a little upset that I wasn’t a little more aggressive for the start, but overall it was good. I let the main pack get a little too far ahead of me, and then found myself in too much traffic the last 300 meters of the race. I was still really happy with my last 100 and I definitely think there is a lot more left in the tank. Plus, I was starting to become the Sam Bair III of 3:41s, so it was nice to run 3:40.15 (why couldn’t I dip under!?!).

Now is time to find out the rest of the season, for now I know as much as everyone else…I’ll be sure to update once I know what’s up with my season.

Let’s Go!

Race footage: http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&event_id=3423&video_id=26724&folder_id=-2

UPDATE: I did make it back in time for the finale...it was totally AWESOME.

That's The Midwest For Ya...

If you followed my journal during my European travels this summer (you can find that starting here), then you’ll remember that I always pack two extra things for each track trip:

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.

So yeah, I always pack a few extra pairs of undergarments. However, I was a little nervous heading into the USA Road Mile Championship in Minneapolis this past week. That’s because I wasn’t sure who my roommate was going to be, and I definitely wasn’t sure if he new about the Underpants Rule.

Upon arriving in the Twin Cities, I had no worries at all. But that’s because the race directors took such good care of us, that I figured they’d have extra tighty-whities up the whazoo. I roomed with Jordan Fife, and he was a great guy.

It’s pretty fun when you’re on the elite level because everyone is so professional and does their own thing so that they can run fast. Jordan was coming from Flagstaff for some altitude training, so we were on different schedules, but we made it work. And I’m pretty sure we had no problems in regards to briefs.

As far as the race, I am happy with it, but definitely not pleased. I was waayyyyy too close to some guys not to nip one or two of them at the line. I felt like a group of 7 of us separated from the pack in the last 400-meters, and I happened to take last out of that group. It was good to be a part of that group, but I need to beat a few of those guys next time I am there. But 7th place in a race stacked with middle-distance talent, and I cannot complain too much.

Now, I just have to get ready for Occidental and what promises to be a fast 1500 next weekend in LA. Other than Bernard Lagat and Lopez Lomong, it is pretty much a USA final in the event, it is going to be really fun. I’m treating it like my Big East Meet and HEPS combined…

LET’S GO!!

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Check out race footage here: http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=26167

Also, for an article I wrote for Columbia College Today, check it out:
http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct/may_jun10/alumni_corner

Family Records

The spiked shoes on the runner in front of him gripped the cinders and then tossed them out behind. His Chuck Taylors failed to have the same effect as they slid across the black surface. With “FRASER T&F” stitched onto his singlet in blue and gold, and a budding pony-tail flowing in the wind behind him, the runner in the Chucky T’s labored past the spiked runner and crossed the finish line in first place.

His time for the ½-mile: 2:00.0

And with that a family record was born. It was the late 60s, and 2-flat for a freshman was promising to say the least. That runner was my Dad, and as a freshman in high school, the guy could run.

Walter Pett decided to stop running after that year (he claims he hated the coach), but his two-minute half would live on for years to come.

My brother and I have encyclopedic minds when it comes to our track times. (My mile PR’s from 7th grade on: 5:20, 4:54, 4:38, 4:21, 4:17, 4:10, 4:09, 4:08, 4:06, 4:04, 3:59, 4:00.) And because of this, we have a set of family records. Call it the Boylan-Pett Record Book. We have categories for each age group. There’s seventh grade 800, which Will has at 2:19, and 12th grade 3200, which Will has at 9:31. Then there’s every other age group and record ranging from 800-3200, which I have. Juust kidding, Will has freshman year 1600 and most 3200s as well.

Will and I dominate the record books. Only one record didn’t have the name Will or Liam next to it. It was the 800 (or half-mile, since that’s what they ran back in the 60s) for 9th grade: and the 2:00 remained the record after I was only able to run a 2:01 as a relay split.

But this week, there were some changes made to the record book, which is now titled the Boylan-Pett/Pett/Fanta Records. That’s because Annie, my little sister, decided to drop a 63.7 one-lapper as a seventh grader! Yiikes that is moving! Congrats to Annie for moving her skinny little self around the track so quick. I’m looking forward to see what her and her teammates can do the rest of the track season as they have some fast girls rocking the Mid-Michigan track circuit.
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Training went well this week. I’m looking forward to heading out to Minneapolis to run a road mile on Thursday night. Back to some good old fashioned street racing, and I really can’t complain about that. It is shaping up to be a really good field, and I’m starting to get pretty jacked up for it.

Got to actually run some fast stuff in practice on Friday as I did 3x600 with the first two at 1:26.6 and then 1:26.4. Then ran the last one in 1:21 after coming through the first 200 in 28high. Nice to get back to some 800 paced stuff and starting to get sharp for some racing...

That’s all for this week: the picture is in honor of Mother’s Day and my favorite Mom quote of all: “She just shown on me like the sun.” Happy Mother’s Day!

Let’s GO!!

Degrees

So this is going to be a short post. My final project in my Master’s program is due May 3, so I have to make sure it is perfect. My project is a lot about running, though, so you all will get a little treat to it…mainly because I had no idea what to write about this week, so I’m just going to cut and paste something in.

I wasn’t extremely pleased with my race at Stanford this week, but there was a lot to learn from it. Namely, that I need to be able to handle being tired and head into a race still with my head on straight. I am racing May 13th in Minneapolis for the USA Road Mile Championship and then May 22nd at Occidental College for a hopefully fast 1500… That’s all the updating for now. Enjoy the opening to my Capstone Project (thesis type project for journalism students at Gtown)…

Traveling Stoll Road in Bath, Michigan, the distance between Upton and Center Roads is one mile. Starting at Upton and going east to west, the first three hundred yards is flat before a steep hill leads to a mailbox marked 7804 that signals the first quarter mile. A field opens up to the south while tall pine and walnut trees hug the north side of the street as the dirt road flattens out for another two hundred meters. Long blades of crabgrass droop over the shoulder of the road as the fuzzy ends of the yellow foxtail weed find themselves caked in brown dust. A slight downhill begins as three ranch style houses appear behind the giant Oak Trees lining their front yards. Power lines carry long black ropes down the hill and continue onward towards Center. At the halfway point, one smaller electricity post stands alone, away from the larger ones lining the entire street. One measly, black cord extends from the post. It makes its way to another lonely pole, drooping in the middle to form a sad smile. Below the lowpoint of the smile is a creek that cuts under Stoll perpendicularly. Extending from Potter Lake to the southwest, largemouth bass sometimes follow the creek outward. A young fisherman sits atop the steel cylinder tunnel that runs below the road with his legs dangling back and forth above the clear water. If he hears anything other than the buzz of horseflies and gnats, it is the faint crunches of gravel. Quick, rhythmic steps tread over the dirt road and the crunch becomes more and more audible. The fisherman turns around to see a runner approaching him. A sun worn mop of frizzled, curly hair bounces on top of his head with each step. Sweat beads flow from his hairline down his hollow cheeks and fall from his chin down to his chest. Sweat soaked shorts swish with each step as droplets splatter in dark brown splotches on the road behind him.

“One fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine,” The voice inside my head counts off as I pass the electrical post to my right that marks a half-mile to go. “They’re on pace now, just over halfway there.”

I wave my arm at the fisherman and only slightly disrupt my running motion before switching my concentration to the approaching hill. Up I run past the farmland to my left. To my right is the Jerome’s, an old farmhouse with black shutters outlining each of the windows. Robson Road branches off to my right and I only have a quarter mile to go.

“Two fifty-eight, two fifty-nine,” The announcer in my head reads off. “400 to go and these guys are getting going now.”
I steady myself and pick up the pace, bouncing a little higher with each step as I arrive at the crest of the hill and begin a slight decline for the last 200-meters.

“Less than half a lap to go and Boylan-Pett looks like he’s going to get under!”

I hunker down and veer to the right side of the road, picking up the tempo even more. Down the last hundred I float, covering ground as smoothly as possible.

“Three fifty-seven, fifty eight, fifty nine…”

I pass the stop sign to my right and click my watch.

“He just did it ladies and gentlemen! Liam Boylan-Pett has broken four for the mile!...”

I snap out of the track world in my head and glance at my watch. No three on it. Not a five or a nine either. Forty-five minutes and six seconds, it shows.

The imagination of an aspiring high school miler lets you break four even on easy runs.

Rudyard Kipling was a 4:30 Miler

It is tough being at home when Penn Relays is going on. As you can see from my Penn Relays post earlier this week (and be sure to check that out), it is one of my favorite weekends of the year. However, sometimes you have to pay attention to the bigger plan and hope that you’ll be able to see Usain Bolt in person some other time.

Also turns out that I had some work to do this weekend. I am closing in on the end of the semester, which for me means the end of the line and hopefully a Master’s Degree at the finish. But I am working on my capstone project, and yes (surprise!) it is running based. I am doing a little piece on the mile and what it means to me and what it should mean to others. Part of it looks like it is going to be published so things are looking good on that front.

I bring this up because I have been reading any book I can find on distance running, and especially the mile. I would bore you with quotes that I found interesting, but then I was glancing back through Once A Runner, the book that many claim is the best running book ever written. In all honesty, it captures the essence of the sport and I think does a fantastic job. One section at the beginning of the book is introducing the protagonist, Quenton Cassidy.

On the third floor of Doobey Hall a battered oak door held two three-by-five index cards neatly thumbtacked one atop the other.

The top one said in Smith Corona pica:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling, 1892

The other card read:
Rudyard kipling was a 4:30 miler.
-Quenton Cassidy, 1969

Now I laugh at this quote because here I search long and hard for quotes that will help my piece out and then this Cassidy character tells me that they all mean nothing unless the guy who wrote it is fast.

But Cassidy is full of it, because Kipling can write. Sometimes that’s better than running fast.
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Had another good week of training and getting pumped to head out to Stanford to race this coming weekend. Should be a nice 1500 heat and hopefully I can get another good race in. It’s all still leading up to hopefully being ready to go come USAs…so just gotta keep on the grindstone and get in some races in the meantime.

Workouts this last week were strength based with some 800s on Tuesday and then some split 800s (5-3) on Friday at more 1500 pace effort. Probably wont back off too much this week and then pop a nice time out in some Cali weather…definitely looking forward to it.

Let’s Go!