River Trails

Time: 75:13
Distance: 10 miles

Scotty D. and I started out from the shop and headed down to some trails just south of town. I feel a little embarrassed that I didn't know about them until today. I had heard rumors from Sean McCabe about running on trails down by the river when OSU would stay in Norman for meets but never knew what he was talking about. Scotty tells me trails were created by rednecks and their A.T.V.s. We saw one hillbilly out there this evening with his truck driving through a creek.

The soft surface was great, but the wind was not. The return trip to OK Runner was miserable with the mangy wind in our face. It was hard to talk and at one point I may have drooled on myself, always a good way to cap off a run.

Lancaster Avenue Mile

Time: ~35 minutes
Distance: 5 miles

Sean McCabe and I stayed in Duncan, OK last night. We woke up early and drove down to Fort Worth for the race. We arrived about 9 am and raced around 10:10 am. The course was downhill the first 400m, flat the next 800m and slightly downhill the last 400m. I wasn't in my normal routine of waking up early, shaking out, drinking coffee and having some time before starting the w/u. Once we got to the race, Sean and I ran the course, picked up our numbers and continued on with our w/u of 21:21.

The race went off with the men and women all lined up at the same time. I was hoping to be in contention with 200m to go and win some money. The race purse broke down as follows: $500, $300, $150, $100, $50. The gun went off and within 200m I was off the back hoping to reel people in the next 800m. I never could get my legs turned over and the race just ran away from me. I kept looking up and was hoping to see that the pack was breaking up and some runners were coming back but that never really happened and by 800m I was so far out of it that I basically packed it in. I ran the rest of the race considering pulling out and finding a place to do a tempo run. I was so discouraged after the race I didn't really cool down, just a run back up to the car.

This was by far my worst race of the summer and it is at the distance I like to think I specialize in. Such irony and disappointment there. On another note the Brown Field Hockey team won their first game of the season. It was only fitting for me to run like shit and them to win. Congrats to them.

Brookhaven Run

Time: 82:38
Distance: 11-12 miles

W/u with Jeff in 23:33 on the course. Ran a few light strides before making my way over to the start line for introductions. The race featured Mathew Chesang (Kansas State), Mindaguas Pukstas (SMU and OSU), Joe Gray (OSU), Jeff Gaudette (Brown), Sean McCabe (OSU), and a few others. Tom planned on me running an even paced race with potential splits of 2:55-2:57 for the K's.

The shotgun was blasted and we were off. My left ear was ringing for the first 800m b/c I was only a few meters away from the starter and that shotty was deafening. I ran in the chase group of Joe, Jeff and Mike Brashears (OSU). I was roughly 2:58, 5:55, 8:56, 12:56, 14:54. Jeff, Joe and I were trading leads from about 2k on. Whoever felt good at the moment moved to the front of the group and kept the pace honest. Joe made a solid move with 600 to go and finished hard down the stretch. Results here.

C/d with Scotty D., John Mulholland, Jerry Faulkner and Jack Tracy for 26:31 on the course. Later ran 17:40 more with Jeff after he finished his workout.

Ended up with a pay day of $150 or about 70 quid.