Ireland and Ryan Shay Mile Recaps

Finishing up the Ryan Shay Mile.

A lot has happened since I left Dublin. Almost all of it has gone unreported on runLBP. What follows will be a lengthy (extremely lengthy…save it for work on Monday) recap of the end of my European racing season, a recap of the Ryan Shay Mile race, and what to expect coming up. Please excuse the lack of cohesiveness to the post…it will be in a bulleted format.

• The Dublin race left a lot to be desired. It was nice to know that breaking 4 wasn’t a fluke as I was able to get under the barrier for the second time. However, I once again didn’t race the way I would have liked. I found myself mid-pack the entire way in a slower race. Thus my 57point last lap didn’t help as I was too far away from the real race to really take care of business. Bumbi was half a second ahead of me and felt similar to me as we both realized we couldn’t be that upset with our races but couldn’t be that happy either. We resolved the issue by listening to Rage Against The Machine…
• Speaking of music. My newest jam is straight Euro. Bumbi and I were loving it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJSt4wP2ME
• Got the hell out of Ireland the morning after the race. It’s funny how I get to travel the world, but a lot of times I stay at an airport hotel and run at a track near said hotel. Needless to say, I didn’t get to see much of Dublin. I did, however, make it back to the good ol’ USA. Not without a hitch though. The Chicago airport failed to get my bag to the Detroit airport with me. Thankfully, due to forgetting this on the way to USAs and getting a stern talking to from Coach Henner, I had my flats in my carry on luggage. Thus, the lack of clothing/actual running shoes wasn’t as big of a deal leading up to Ryan Shay as one would think. And thankfully Will is the same size and had some running shorts I could wear. Oddly, I don’t think he followed my “bring two extra pairs of underwear rule” as I was relegated to one pair for most of the weekend up north. It was nice to be back on Michigan soil and racing for only the second time in my home state since high school. Also, my uncles cabin that he let us stay in is an amazing house on Lake Michigan. So we had a star treatment for the race.
• Ryan Shay Mile: the race itself was awesome. I was singlet-less and was almost forced to wear a way too tight women’s jersey that Christine brought along, but thankfully Rob Novak came through with an extra NYAC singlet. (Rob ended up taking 3rd in the race for a big what would be PR, but road miles don’t count officially.) It was a pretty cool experience. They announced us in front of the finish line crowd and then drove all of the competitors up to the start line in the back of a truck. Crammed next to the rest of the runners the drive seemed to be taking a really long time. I made eye contact with a Kenyan runner and nervously said: “damn, this seems like more than a mile.” He nervously laughed.
• There was an arbitrary start line and they sent us off with the blow of a horn. There was a $250 bounty for being the leader at the half-mile. Some people were serious about getting that cash money. I didn’t see the quarter mile mark, but we were supposedly through in 55 seconds. Approaching the ½, I looked up at the clock and saw 1:47…I was sitting on Jeff See’s shoulder at this point and somehow calmly said, “if that time is true we’re f!*#ed.” Rumor has it we were through in 1:53 and I was in around 6th place (it is also worth mentioning that one of the runners was clearly trying to get the $250 bounty because he dropped out before the half realizing he wasn’t going to get it).
• The next quarter things slowed down. I started to relax and realized that I had a shot at this thing. The runners ahead of me had gone out a little too hard and were starting to come back to me. I remained on See’s shoulder. With 400 to go there was a hill. I straight sprinted down it. Flattening out, I found myself right next to the leader and decided I might as well make a run for it. I probably went too soon. But when you go you gotta go…so I started rolling.
• The finish line seemed like a ways away, so I was charging and trying to avoid locking up. It didn’t quite work. With probably 100 to go, See went by me. I tried to find an extra gear, but probably wasted it on the downhill. I still fought hard and See only barely pulled away from me. I crossed the finish line in 2nd, with a 3:56 to my name and 500 bones in my bank account. And I was happy with how I raced. One of my mantras that Coach Wood passed on to me (and bear with the language, Coach Wood even said he doesn’t like to swear while telling us) is sometimes you just have to say, “F-word it.” Nothing is ever going to go perfectly, so you have to go out there and run. And that’s what I did that weekend. No luggage, no problem. Don’t feel good on the warm up? Who cares. Leading up to Penn last year, John Maloy told me that he didn’t feel that good. I looked at him, told him, “you don’t have to feel good to run fast,” then smacked his but and did a strider. He split 1:48 twice that weekend and was on a 7:16 4x8 team.
• Also…it was great to run in the Ryan Shay Mile. For those of you who don’t know, Ryan was a legend in Michigan running. He is the only person who has ever won 4 individual state cross country championships (he even won as a freshman!). I ran against his younger brother Stephan in high school (Stephan is also trying to pursue a running career right now…we don’t race much any more as he is more of a distance guy) and always had to bring my A-game if he was going to be around. Tragically, Ryan Shay died while running the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon in Central Park. I was watching in the park that day and was shocked to hear of the terrible news. This was the 3rd year of the Ryan Shay Mile and they really put on a great race. The Shay parents were in attendance and it was great to be part of a race that remembers a great competitor like Ryan.
• Since the mile, life has been a little hectic. My flight back to DC was less than ideal as I ended up staying the night in the Atlanta airport. I then moved out of my DC house and don’t really know where I’m going to live. That will all figure itself out soon enough. I head to Nova Scotia on Monday for a Tuesday night 1500…I am extremely excited. The end of the season is approaching and last week wasn’t perfect. But you don’t have to feel good to run fast.

Let’s Go!

Dublin Track for the Morton Mile.

Climbing up the Sleeping Bear Dune.

Shay Mile Awards Stand

Beautiful Lake Michigan...

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

Hills

I hate hills. Running up them is awful. Running down them hurts. Frank Shorter may have said that hills were “speedwork in disguise,” but they aren’t nearly as fun as speedwork.

And I should preface this with the fact that my road mile this weekend was not nearly as fast a course as it should have been. And this is because from 100 to 900 meters, the course was an uphill through Lafayette, Calif.

Overall, I had a very solid race, and was able to take home 4th place and 250 dollars. Especially in comparison to 5th Avenue, I am very pleased with how it went. After doing a 6xMile workout on Tuesday I was able to chill a little bit before the race, but I definitely was not race sharp for something like this.

The weekend itself was a blast. With friends and other runners to hang out with all weekend, we had an amazing time. The race director, Priscilla Bailey, who is married to Tim Bailey (2nd place finisher in the race), proved to be a great host and I definitely plan on going back next year.

After the race sunday we made our way into San Francisco for the afternoon. I hate to say it, but San Fran is a pretty cool city. It is also hilly as hell, but it made for some good times.

And there is so much more news to put on here for this week, but most of the news will have to wait until next week.
1. A few of us have started wearing Phiten necklaces, these things are loaded with titanium and I feel recovered at all times.
2. I have barely passed my brother in terms of who has made more money as a professional runner, this is embarrassing to say the least.

So until next week, this is all I’ve got.