The tragic folly of the Richmond athletic department

I started out the day reeling from the pain of sleeping off the painkillers prescribed after my wisdom tooth extraction yesterday. I was staying at Nadir's in Falls Church to watch his cat while he was out of town. I did an easy 13 miles on the New Virginia Manor loop, one of my favorites, and headed off to work, feeling pretty good. Shortly after noon, that changed, when I heard that the Richmond athletic department was planning to cut men's indoor and outdoor track. Soccer, too. I waited a few hours to hear that it was confirmed, and lost my afternoon in a combination of anger, grief and frustration.

It would be less painful if they cut a pound of my flesh. 

Times-Dispatch story
Collegian story

I loved my experience at the University of Richmond, I thought the faculty and the overall quality of life at the school were great on their own merits. The journalism department helped me figure out my calling in a  fundamental way. But what made my Richmond experience -- what motivates me to tell anyone about the school who will listen -- was my involvement with the track team. I'm written before about how important it was to me to make the team, but I'll put it even more bluntly: were it not for the Richmond track team, I would likely not care enough about the school to come back every few months, to speak of it as highly as I do, or to go to the lengths I do to communicate the regard I hold the school.  I wouldn't try to recruit every promising young person I meet, regardless of their interest in running.

On a macro level, without its track team, Richmond will have likely never enjoyed the presence of some wonderful contributors to the student body who are excelling outside of athletics- Garret Graham, Seann Mulcahy, Tim Caramore, Jon Lauder, Dan Petty, Dave Blanchard, many others. Men who made their mark on the track but made the school a better place. They would have chosen another school to continue their education.

This is to say nothing of runners like Andrew Benford and Matt Llano, both recent All Americans, who are pursuing professional running careers. Sos Bitok and Hillary Tuwei, who ran in the Olympics (No emphasis is necessary). Jon Molz and Pete Jennings, who are active and involved track coaches...



So many of these guys had the best grades among not just athletes, but the entire school. Track and field attracts introspective, cerebral students who not only act rationally, but their very discipline lends itself to thought and reflection. They are personable and engaging. Track men represent the university well in every sphere in which they are involved, and they are a credit to the entire student body. It's a short-sighted decision, and I don't think the board of trustees thought through its impact on general student recruitment.
I can't not touch on the notoriety of other schools' lacrosse teams in the region, but I will leave it with that allusion.

Now, the University of Richmond will no longer have this attractive option to offer to high school students. They'll go elsewhere, and who can blame them? An athletic department that doesn't offer basic athletics, and track and field is as basic as you can get, is laughable. It's shameful. How can I cheer for the 3-8 football team? Are those roster spots going to make the difference and stop the football team from being so terrible? Will we become a lacrosse powerhouse now?

At risk of sound like a conspiracy theorist, it also smacks of a disregard for women.. Cutting two men's sports for the sake of another might be what the state teachers college does, but Richmond is incredibly secure, financially. Why not create another women's sport? Rowing? Softball? Volleyball? Water polo? We already have a successful crew club.I also see a bit of class division. Running and soccer are about the cheapest sports to fund and play. Lacrosse isn't exactly hockey or crew, but there are more barriers to entry for youth participation.

We've been through this before, in 2000. The programs survived and improved drastically with the hiring of Steve and Lori Taylor, coaches who mean everything to me athletically and personally -- they're like an aunt and uncle -- and I know I'm not the only Spider to feel this way. I want to look at this crisis as an opportunity, if the alumni can express themselves in a constructive way that illustrates the collective character of the men who have run those laps with the name Richmond on their chests.

It may accomplish nothing, for all of track's qualities, it remains undervalued for all but two weeks every four years by the general public. Then again, people said the cross country team (which was thankfully left untouched this time) would never win anything without scholarships. We know how that turned out.

Back to self-absorption:

Sept. 11 - After days of 18, 15 and 20 miles, I took it easy on Tuesday before my meeting and ran with Dolla Billzzz from Clarendon. I was dragging for a while, but woke up about halfway through. I bid Billzzz adieu after six miles then did a few more on some flat neighborhood streets.

Sept 12 - BCC's track was in use, so practice was at American, so I jogged over with Dix, Diddy and a slew of others to use that track, which now featured a pothole and cone in lane one, 75 meters in. I got a 2:36 warmup 800, then joined Dix and Fridge for the half marathon workout- 2:34 and 2:32. Most of everyone else joined in for 2:30, 2:28, 2;24, 2:24, 2:22 and 2:18. I felt great throughout, despite some uneven pacing resulting from the wind on the stretches. We headed back to the house and Stefan and I got a few more miles in on our cooldown for 13 total.

Sept 13- I ran to work, coming down the CCT from Kenwood and then along the mall. I was a little tired after sleeping poorly, and was not really into running 13 miles that early. My five-mile afternoon run around AU Park was a drag. My nips hurt, thanks to running my whole workout in the GRC t-shirts from 2010. I think they're made of sandpaper.

Sept 14- I pretty much never feel like waking up early to run on Fridays, certainly not after running 18 the day before, so I slept in and delayed my workout to the evening. I ran a long warmup to the 11 mile mark for the Marine Corps Marathon and planned to do 5-6 miles starting at 5:50 and getting 10 seconds faster each mile. I was using the Nike+ thing I bought during my short stint at the Chevy Chase Running Company, with hopes of getting a somewhat accurate evaluation of my pace. It was a bit off, though, I came throuhg a mile in 5:45, the second in 5:40, third in 5:35 and fourth in 5:30. After that, I was wiped out, and my gastrointestinal ills were too much to ignore. I struggled back to my office, took a shower, went upstairs to get my stuff, but ended up just sitting at my desk for at least a half hour before dragging myself home.

Sept 15- After an early morning trip down to Hains Point to watch the GRC debut new uniforms and hit some great times at the Run, Geek, Run 8k and a trip to Elyse's pool to sit in the sun, I drove down to Lake Accotink to check the route I had planned for the Running Report's Nov/Dec edition, and to get away from the city. I dropped off some gatorade at the 4/16 mile mark and headed back to route 50 to start my run. I was cruising a little too fast, come through 6 miles in 38 minutes. The temperature dropped when I got to the lake and I looked around for a good photo for the article, but noticed my favorite view was obstructed by the lush vegetation. Lots of talkative people were taking walks that afternoon and plenty of friendly, passive dogs. Two laps were over in a hurry and I was headed back to the car. As usual, I felt pretty wrecked on the way back, which happens at the same place, whether I'm running 16 or 20 miles. I made it back in 2:11 for 20 miles, and was rather pleased with that. On the way back, I got to listen to the CSPAN broadcast of Arnold Palmer's Congressional Gold Medal ceremony.

Sunday morning I watched the Navy-Air Force Half Marathon and took a nap before some football. The Steelers played the late game, so I waited until that was done for my 13 mile run. I did a Nellie Custis that went quite well. Almost all of it was at dusk or darker, but it felt great. The weather was perfect and I was relaxed. I saw Texas Paul driving in Georgetown and chased him for a block. Using the wedding weekend mileage accrual system, I switched Saturday and Sunday's runs, so even though I had run 107 miles the week before, I counted it as 100 and gave Sunday credit for my long run.

Since I finished running at 9 pm Sunday, I took Monday morning off and set out that evening for American's track to do some 400s. While running along Nebraska with Witty, who was out for his own run, I heard some mocking from a young fellow in a car. Unfortunately for him, he was about to hit a long red light, giving me plenty of time to catch up, ask him to repeat what he said, then decry his lack of courage to be able to say to my face what he yelled so easily a minute before. I had been feeling a little flat before that, but the adrenaline pumped me up for my quarters. I changed into my flats and hit some 400s- four in 68. After that, though, the adrenaline wore off and I was tired again. I jogged home and called it a day at five miles.

Tuesday morning I woke up and sleepwalked through 8.25 miles on the CT-MA route, apparently waving to Drea without noticing who she was. I fell asleep on the metro on my ride home and woke up not looking forward to the 10 miles I had waiting for me. Witty joined me for six miles or so. I was not eager to climb Albemarle. I was delighted, however, to learn I will be able to return to Albemarle County in October for the Charlottesville Fall Classic Half. I had a really good feeling about the timing and location of this race, and I'm excited to take my shot at the half marathon there this fall.

Wednesday morning saw little interest in a morning run, but I made up for it with a solid workout. a 2:30 800 to warm up, then a 6:15 2k, 3:02, 3:01, 2:58 and 2:54 1ks.

Thursday (Sept. 20) morning I did an eight mile loop down Nebraska and back up Western to 47th and Van Ness. Then I had my wisdom teeth pulled. Yeesh.

It doesn't get better than this

I worked a little late Tuesday night and didn't have much sunlight left to hit the Pimmit Run trail for an hour, so I took it as far as I could- out to Bryan Branch, then back via Old Dominion and New Virginia Manor for 10 miles at about 7:00 pace.

Wednesday I had my ritual steak and eggs breakfast in advance of the evening's workout, which I had high hopes for- 5xmile starting at 5:15 and speeding up five seconds from there. When we got back from our warmup, the high school meet on the track was still raging, so we had to look at our options. We decided on the Capital Crescent Trail, which had half mile markers and a one-mile stretch between Connecticut Ave and the tunnel. The drawback is that heading north means going downhill and south is back uphill.
We started out downhill and finished in 5:08- I started a little late and caught up. It seemed too easy. The second was 5:11, but it was tough. The third was 4:58 and easy again, but the fourth was a struggle. I went out in 2:32, but fell back over the second half when my turnover wasn't quite there and finished in 5:17. By then it was pretty dark, and I spent enough time worrying about whether I would trip in the myriad of ditches and holes in the trail, so I retired to the track, which was just about to clear. That fourth mile busted me, though. I started to do some miles on the track, but had no sense of pace and went 70 seconds for a first lap, then jogged around a bit. I decided to try again, but felt wasted after a 75 quarter. I met up with the guys who finished the workout on the trail and we cooled down on the track while watching Diddy put some miles away, getting as fast as 4:23.

Thursday morning I woke early to head to the office so I could run among the cherry trees on Hains Point. It was miserably humid and I wasn't thrilled to do a second loop, so I headed back and just did 10. The cherry blossoms looked okay, but the real feature was the fog- I couldn't see Virginia from the west side of Hains Point. Not before I saw a guy who looked like Neal Hannan running. It turned out, however, to be his twin brother, Veal.

Looking at the forecast, Saturday morning looked rough, so I decided to do my weekend workout Friday morning. That meant an early wakeup -- 5:30 -- so I could get some water and ease into it. I headed out to McLean High School in the dark. I passed a few other runners, and wasn't feeling too spry, myself. The track was shrouded in fog and I didn't waste any time getting started with 20 minutes aiming for 5:30s. I was a little slow, though, running 5:31s, and was feeling awful. Part of me wanted to go home, but then I set myself straight. I woke up early, and I certainly wasn't going to be falling asleep again if I went home, so I might as well finish what I started. Also, this was my last chance to get an ambitious workout in that would contribute to my race at Cherry Blossom, so run I must!

I made it 14.5 laps in 20 minutes, and took an easy mile for recovery, but then the fog had lifted and the sun was all over the place. I figured I had nothing to lose from giving it a shot and running 80 second laps as long as I could. I was a little fast- 78 for the first one, and slowed only slightly as I came through my splits exactly on time- 5:20, 10:40 (with a 79.99 eight lap) and 16:00. I was a little slow on 13, but picked it up for 14 and 15 and finished in exactly 20, giving me an even 1:20.00 average. Beautiful. I thought back to the last time I did this workout successfully and remembered that I wasn't terribly sharp in the first segment, then was fine for the second. I felt like I was definitely running much harder to hit 5:31s than to hit 5:20s. When running 80s, every time I came through the 200, I threw in threw our four quick steps to keep turnover from slipping, and I think that helped. I did a longer cooldown on Westmoreland and felt magnificent. I took photos of the average split time to relish them, but I can't seem to get them off of my camera, so, no art for this post.

Saturday morning I ran all of the Pimmit Run Trail in a light rain. I finally saw the rest of the downstream section. Once I got to the end, I went up Glebe, Old Glebe, Glebe again,Williamsburg and through part of NVM to Orland, then I walked in from Longfellow for 14, no need for 15. I totaled 91 for the week and felt strong. Unfortunately, at some point on the trail, my right leg rubbed some poison ivy, to which I had just lost my immunity last year.

Sunday morning I went out for a new variation on my Brook loop. It was slightly misty in the mid 50s and felt very comfortable. I started out with a  6:15 for the first mile, but then ran 6:00 for the next. That was going to be the way things shook out. I wrote the names of the new streets I would be running on my warm, but the ink was already running seven miles in when I was supposed to turn on Daleview. I saw a "no outlet" sign, so I figured that much be the wrong road. Then I looked closely at my arm and realized it was right, and I would take my chances that the sign was full of it. I came across some fancy new houses and caught the right roads and figured out what the sign meant- there was an outlet, but drivers were discouraged from taking it because it looked like a driveway- one car wide. I then came across what might have been the nexus on the universe- the intersection of Old Tolson Mill Road and Old Tolson Mill Road. It looked like running ahead would take me into a yard, so I took a left and down a hill to a creek then back up the hill...into someone's yard. I turned around and went back, sure now that the mile markers I had committed to memory were not at least a quarter mile off. I came out on Bellview and was right in the middle of some rough Great Falls hills. It only got steeper when I crossed Old Dominion, and I was smelling lobster just about nine miles in. I didn't let that bother me, though, and took it as a challenge to push through it.

Drivers on Georgetown Pike were mostly (all but two) generous with a little space on the lack of a shoulder, and I gave so many thank you waves that I worried they seemed insincere after a while. After crossing the beltway, I ventured into the neighborhood north of GTP and liked what I saw-- rolling hills and not much traffic. Some middle-aged woman running along seemed annoyed to have to share to road with me, though I had given her a wide berth. As I wound through the neighborhood, I realized that I was doing exactly what I loved, and it couldn't get any better than this. I got back down to the rental car neighborhood (Mayflower and Enterprise) and nearly fell on my face after slipping in mud, but kept cranking. I hit 1:45 and decided to keep it up and crank it on Rupert and Lemon. I passed two hours at Crutchfield and finished up in 2:04 flat. I mapped it out to be a little more than 20.4, for a 6:03 average. A lot faster than I had planned, but it's hard to measure just how much pleasure a run like that gave me. More than anything, it gave me the confidence to head into the last month or two of my spring season with assertiveness. I can't wait until after Cherry Blossom, when I can let loose and work the miles for a few weeks. If I don't earn a Pittsburgh half entry, I'm seriously considering Cleveland, which will certainly give me a few more weeks to train.

Monday I ran an easy 8 at 6:30 pace on the Westmoreland loop. Tuesday I came home with every intention of running 10, but instead I lied around and didn't run. Wednesday's trip to the track was somewhat unnecessary, because I had my own plans and would not really get anything at BCC I couldn't do at home. I did three moderate miles- 5:12, 5:16, 5:14 and called it a day with a long cooldown. Thursday morning I did an easy reverse Westmoreland at 6:31 pace. I'll run nice and easily this afternoon, an Oak tomorrow morning with a fast 9th mile, then an easy Park++ Saturday. Sunday, I'd like to start no faster than 5:20, speed up a little over the next few miles, but really attack miles 4-9, then smell the finish line. I'm thrilled to be able to run this race, a month ago I wasn't sure it would be feasible. Even after I started running again, my quads felt like they were tearing apart. Luckily everything has tied itself up nicely.

I'll miss the Spider Relays and Monument Ave 10k, a bummer indeed, but I want to be sure I'm rested for Sunday.

Meanwhile a new Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Pittsburgh will kick off in August 2013. Though its scheduling was done with regard to the Great Race in October, holding it in early August is dubious, at best. I have confidence that it won't have the same fly-by-night, generic marketing act that 2009's Spirit  of Pittbsurgh Half Marathon carried, but at least those buffoons had the wisdom to run it in the fall. 

Also, the Richmond Marathon has a new sponsor-Anthem health insurance. As the Times-Dispatch article describes, the finish line will move for all three races. 

Hey there, race...

I set out Friday afternoon to meet Witty at Galaudet when I saw this guy running toward me wearing a familiar navy blue long-sleeved shirt. It was nondescript, until I looked back and saw a big spider design on the back. It was one of the Richmond track shirts we got in 2002. I rushed back down 2nd Street NE to figure out who it was. I caught up and said "Scott? Colin?" Nope. I introduced myself, thinking I had met this fellow before and forgotten him. Maybe he was a freshman who didn't make it. As it turned out, it was a friend of a runner, whose name I won't mention in case it would somehow get him in trouble with Steve, so I'm just going to say it was Rhue.

I got to the track and wasn't feeling particularly great. Witty rolled up on a fancy bike and we got going with our 400s. We did a few in the mid 70s, then went down to 72 for a set, then low 70s and high 60s for four laps. I bowed out after 12, wanting to go out on top, and he kept going, so I paced him through a few 200s, going as fast as 30.

The weekend was incredibly stressful, in significant part due to the metro people replaced by a shuttle bus between Courthouse and Foggy Bottom, a huge delay. Ciccone was visiting from Pittsburgh, and he expressed an interest in running with me, so I put off my run on Saturday until the afternoon as to join him. The problem with arranging a schedule around visitors who don't prioritize running is that, for lack of a better explanation, they don't prioritize running. Eventually he said we should scrap the run, so I went out to get 12 on my own. It was dry but cool when I left, so I wore shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. I headed up Great Falls to Dolley Madison, and about three miles in, the cold rain started. It picked up as I rattled of 6:20 miles down Old Dominion until I hit Marymount and turned onto Yorktown. By the time I got back to my place, I was worried that the chill I suffered might damage my reproductive health. I warmed up by eating french toast sticks and cowering in a pile of towels. Aside from the chilly run, I was trying to figure out how to time a long run the next day to maximize the number of people to come out to Burke Lake.

I stayed at Regina and Clay's Saturday night in Bloomingdale on a surprisingly comfortable couch, with a plan to grab shoes and extra running clothes from my office before going to Alexandria to get a ride from the O'Haras. Matt brought up training questions before I left, though, and I wanted to answer them. Upon leaving, I hoped to get a bagel from McDonald's on the way. I then passed a blind woman who asked me to walk her to a bus stop five blocks away. I obliged her, but worried how long it would take. Upon seeing the bus leave before we got there, she then bid me walk her another six blocks, then find a cab for her. All of which I was pleased to do, but I was also hungry, thirsty and short on time. I bought a train to Gallery Place, and walked as fast as my loafers would take me to my office, grabbed my clothes and started running back. All of a sudden, Tender and Matias popped out of the metro station, it seemed. I was confused. I saw I had seven minutes until the yellow line came, so I ran back out and over to City Sports to get some body glide and sport beans to give me some sustenance. I got back in time for the train and made it to Alexandria with a minute to spare. We went to the lake and met up with Dolla Billzzz, Tex and Witty. Billzzz was content to run a little easier than the other three, and after we hit the dam on the first lap, I headed back and finished the 14+ miles with him. The weather was perfect- a little chilly, but clear, the light wind hassling us none. I then had some fried chicken at Safeway.

Monday night, I ran out from the Vienna metro to meet Karl and Mike, who interpreted our plans to mean Tuesday. After waiting for him, we started off for Sunrise Valley, and Karl noticed we got to our normal cruising pace faster than normal. I had been exhausted on the ride over and somehow kept my shit together for 13.25 miles, with an extra loop around the Vienna Metro afterward.

Tuesday night I extended a Thomas loop out to Upland for 13.25 again, averaging 6:27s. I somehow ran 5:40 for my fourth mile, which puzzled me, but I didn't stop my watch at any point.

Wednesday had some potential for disaster. I felt miserable during the warmup and was rushed a lot of the time. I also didn't really get into the groove during the first few 800s, which we hit in 2:31, 2:30, 2:27 and 2:27. I led the fifth, in 2:25, and sat back a little for 2:25, 2:22 and 2:22. I did feel a little tight around my tailbone, I'm not sure what the deal there was. With a long cooldown, I had 12.25. That night, I felt a little off in my lower body. During the workout, my tailbone felt stressed, which was really bizarre. I had a cramp in my right calf while stretching out in bed, and when I woke up, felt some odd tightness in my lower back.

I met up with Dave Burnham Thursday afternoon,. He was running home from work,. but he accompanied me to West Potomac Park and halfway to Hains Point before he turned back. Using the 2011 Marine Corps mile markers, I cruised some 6:15s, the eased up for my run back. Some chaunce tried to race me along the mall, it actually made me feel uneasy. I didn't feel any of those lower body muscular-skeletal issues.

Friday I woke up with no desire to run, and realized there were worse things in the world than taking a day off when you could physically and mentally really need one.By the time half of my work day was over, I knew it was the right move. I wondered how I'd even get the energy to get up and walk to the metro. Surprisingly, when I got home and went to bed, I had a difficult time falling asleep.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30 to the sound of water pouring through the downspout near my window. I knew it was cold, and it was going to take a lot to get me out there. I went back to sleep until 7 to let that clear up, and when I stuck my head outside the porch, I saw it wasn't raining too much, but it was cold. I thought about bagging the Have a Heart for Hoffman-Boston Elementary School 5k, but then I thought about the last time I hung Dave out to dry (or soak) because I was afraid of adverse weather, the workout before Halloween, and I didn't want to do that to him again. I headed to the metro station to catch the shuttle bus to East Falls Church and walked two miles to the starting line. I warmed up with Dave, who, like me, had no real race plan. I wasn't feeling great, but considering the inertia that comes with mornings like that, I wasn't shocked. When the race started, we bolted out fast enough that within a few seconds, I couldn't hear anyone on our tails. I started to feel off when we dipped under Wilson Boulevard, but I kept going. My form didn't feel right, and I had no idea how fast we were going. We passed the mile in 4:57, and while I was surprised that we were going that fast, I also wasn't, because I was definitely working. I eased up a little bit, but at the same time, both my calves and shins started to tighten dramatically and I didn't have a good feel for them. Dave got farther and farther away and I gave up hope of catching back up with him -- we'd be on our own. I hit the turnaround at 8:06 and realized just how much I had slowed. The one nice thing about an out-and-back course is being able to see the other people in the race, so I got to bid good luck to our women's team (who finished 1-7) and others, including John Kendra and Mike Naff. I also got into a better groove with my form right before the turn, which made the second half more pleasant, even though I was running slower.I hit the second mile with a 5:29 split, and I can credit most of that to the downhill portion after the turn. I was paying for that first mile. I stopped even trying to catch back up with Dave and just kind of ran comfortably in. A few people shout to me that I should go get Dave, but I politely declined. I hit three miles in 5:17, much better, considering my effort, and finished up at 16:17 for second.

We sported a seven-woman team in the race, which attracted a serious crowd from non-racing GRC athletes. Breezy and Murph came by during their long run, Michelle took these wonderful photos, and a soccer mom who I later determined to be Dart showed up, too, along with Jerry, Avril's fiancee, Dave O'Hara and Rich Saunders. That kind of support, for a little 5k, was fantastic, and it demonstrated a major ancillary benefit to the GRC Racing Team. I had planned to do 2xmile on the W&OD after the race, but about two minutes into the first one, I just wanted to quit. One my way back, I bumped into the women's team and joined them for their cooldown, which helped me a lot. I ended up getting in 12 miles total. I considered doubling to get 85, but after a nap and seeing the trees bending to the wind's will, I was fine with 78. I needed a little break from the mileage.

On the surface, it was a better rust-buster than last year's By George 5k- 39 seconds better, though that race involved 1.5 miles into a heinous headwind, though a flatter course. This time, though, I'm not recovering from throat surgery. I was upset with my lack of feel for the pace, which took me out in the same split as my delightful Richmond 8k and disastrous Philly Half. I'm disappointed I didn't push through the discomfort in the second mile, I fell back from Dave like a hypothermia or carbon monoxide victim accepting his fate, even though it would have behooved me, and him, for me to stay with him. I couldn't help but wonder if some company for the last almost-two miles would have helped him break 16:00. I blame my leg issues on insufficient stretching, and I can fix that... easily. The positive, which Michelle pointed out, was that I maintained solid form at the end, which I hope will bode well for my ventures into the longer distances this spring.

My sleeping follies last week motivated me to force myself to wake up early, despite another late night that was largely such due to delays with the metro. I thought about delaying my long run for a day, but had little desire to run it in the dark after work, so I figured I'd just go out and face the wind, which evidently was supposed to make it feel like eight degrees. The whole damned loop is hilly. The bridges spanning the beltway were ridiculously windy, and for most of Georgetown Pike and Haycock, I seemed to be running right into the wind. Just like the last time I ran this loop, in October, I hit 11.1 miles in 1:11, which was pretty cool. The undulating hills on Georgetown Pike east of the beltway always beat the crud out of me. Lorraine, at 17, was awful, but not as long or steep as I always fear. I ended up hitting 19.1 miles at 6:30 pace, with only a little discomfort in my hips when I was coming down Orland at mile 17.75. 

Laps on a dark track

The visually-pleasing snow Monday afternoon did not last until I got home and ran because by the time I got out there, a mild freezing rain was falling. I headed out to do an Albemarle, but the wet road reflected a lot of the light on the dark stretch, and it wasn't nearly as eerie as usual. I was pretty tired, too, my cough is back.

I had to work late Tuesday, so I didn't get home to start my run until 8, but when I arrived I saw my new shoes, which were long overdue. They were a little rigid, as was to be expected for the first run in them. I went out and did an Oak, and did a pretty good job of keeping it slow on Oak. When I got to the W&OD, I started hammering, and ended up running 5:05 for mile that I ran in 5:42 the week before

Wednesday was downright miserable, and it started long before I got to the track. The metro trip alone took more than an hour, making me late. Dickson, Shredder, Bogart and Raekwan and I warmed up on the track, but that's rarely a good idea for me, mentally, especially when I have a long track workout ahead of me, I just don't want to see those stupid lane lines more than I have to. My whole body felt like my basic balance wasn't there.

I led the 2ks- 78s and 77s, and generally kept things pretty even, though I was two seconds slow in the second 400 of the first, though I made up for it, and was a second fast for each lap of the second. I did well enough with the first two 1ks, hitting 75s for both, thanks in large part to Dave's superb pacing during the second, but I couldn't stay faster than 5:00 pace on the 2x1k that were supposed to be 73s. In fact, in the fourth, I was struggling to keep my legs cranking within the second 100m, and I dropped at 400, running 75. It reminded me I badly need to get turnover work in, after missing it Monday.

Thursday night's weather was fantastic. I was exhausted when I woke up, so I forgot running to work, but came home eager to run a New Virginia Manor in 50-degree weather. I got out to a pretty fast start- 6:07s for the 2.1 miles to the start of the loop, then I got moving. I honestly didn't feel like I was going that fast until I got to the two-mile mark and I was well under 12:00. I came through 5k in 18:03, then finished my first four-mile loop in 23:36. I took it a little harder in the second loop, was 20 seconds faster through two miles and 5k, but I was starting to feel some intestinal distress. The last mile was pretty rough, the flat parts moreso than the uphills, but I finished loop two in 23:24. I'm lucky McLean residents never realized there was a recession and also didn't stop doing home renovations, because there were plenty of portable toilets all over the place. After taking care of business, I was pretty dizzy, but managed to run home for 13.5 miles.

I felt pretty rough Friday morning when I set out to do a reverse Westmoreland++, and by the time I got to the bottom of Grove, I decided to just do a Fisherman's and just double with a five-mile loop in the afternoon. I felt no better after work, so I took the afternoon off. Instead, I doubled Saturday, with an Idylwood+ in the morning and some moderate miles in the evening, after the Olympic Trials broadcast. I ran out to McLean High School and did 5xmile, three in 5:12, two in 5:11. I kicked a bit on the last 100 of the last two, but otherwise, I was consistent with my pacing, and I was pretty pleased with it all and the 80 miles I tallied for the week.

Sunday morning, Raekwon picked me up and we met at Difficult Run with LTO and Dave, Tex and Shredder, Murph, Dangerous Dave and Yukon Jack. We started out heading out to Leesburg Pike and back, on the way back, I managed to twist both ankles pretty badly. My right ankle was so uncomfortable for a while that I wasn't sure if I could keep going, but within a few minutes I stopped limping and was back at it. We crossed over the washed-out portion and the terrain almost immediately improved. Much like my last trip to Difficult Run, the sky was completely clear and the view from the ridge was magnificent. The falls were raging, thanks to days of snow and rain. We ended up with 14.5 miles, and headed back to my place for brunch. I had a few mimosas while cooking pancakes and omlettes before having my own meal, and by the time I sat down, I was pretty much useless. I took a nap and got an easy Fisherman's loop out of the way before dark.

The next morning, Outlaw came to get me to go back to Difficult Run. We met up with Karl and Hanson, but this time stuck to the Great Falls side. We wandered into Riverbend Park and came back on the Bootlegger Trail and got in 11 and change. The falls were once again fantastic, Outlaw got a kick out of the pole marking the river's high water points. Two days in a row running there was pretty fantastic.

Thursday night was wonderfully warm, close to 60, and I felt loose when I headed to McLean High School for another workout in the dark. Since the Spiders were coming up to GW the next night, I moved the GRC workout up a day- 8x800. Given the trouble I had sustaining high speeds with a group last week, I took it easy to start off- 2x2:34, but I was eager to get going, because the next two, 2:30, 2:31, just kind of happened. The next, 2:30, was problematic because I felt my efficient digestive system once again get the best of me, and McLean's bathrooms were inside the school, there entrance to which was a quarter mile away. After that resolution, I hit 2:29, then resolved things, again. Then 2:27, 2:26. The 2:29 went particularly well, because I was at 77 at the quarter, and kicked like crazy. That workout was the first time I noticed any troublesome wind in 2012, but I typically pushed through it pretty well. I finished my last lap with a 71, which pleased me. I knew, however, that some remedial turnover work was going to be necessary, because I didn't trust myself to run under 5:00 pace consistently for the whole workout, though I knew after my third 800 I could do so.

The next morning I ran to work, something that seems to always promise a good time, but ends up being miserable. I got going pretty fast, clocking myself at 6:10s for a few of the half miles on the W&OD. I eased up when I got to the Custis Trail. The cyclists weren't too bad, though they were pretty constant, toward the end. When I passed the Kennedy Center, more than 10 miles in, I felt like I had been running forever. I ended up getting to work after 1:26, for the 13 mile trip.

Thursday morning, I got up at 6 to meet Hulk Logan at Galaudet for my badly-needed turnover work. It was about 20 degrees when I woke up, which usually isn't too bad, except that I encountered it after about 6.5 hours of being almost completely still. The metro had not yet warmed, so the trip into the city was rough. So, too, was the reception at Metro Center- a delay on the red line that put the next trail 13 minutes away. I wanted to get a long warmup before turning it over, so I walked to the office, suffered through a quarter mile on the treadmill, then headed out to the track at the quietest football stadium around. Hulk showed up and we got to work on some 400s, four, then six 300s and seven 200s. None were extraordinarily fast, we got down to 31 for two of the 200s, but it did the job- got me used to moving my legs that fast again. I subtly moved from moving a little faster than I thought I could sustain to cranking it in the middle 100 of a few of the 2s. It's a foundation from which I can build some speed and resistance to self-doubt and weakness.

With my Friday run planned for the morning, I will get four of my five weekday runs done in the morning, not a bad record for a chilly week in January.

Too fast

I hoped to get a lot of sleep Friday night, but had trouble actually getting to sleep, so I pretty much jut got a little less than eight hours. In the morning, I ran an Ernst loop with Sam , with Murph and Billy along for the first stretch. I was pretty dehydrated, and was definitely not comfortable when climbing Loughboro, but I stuck pretty close to Sam most of the time. I was relieved when it was over, though. He wanted to go two hours and I was fine with 80 minutes, so I turned back after we got back on the towpath.

Sunday I had planned to do an easy long run on the Irvin loop, but I apparently don't know how to do that. I thought I was close to 7:00 for the first mile, but it was a little different than my usual first mile via the metro park and ride lot, so I wasn't quite sure. I felt like I was keeping it loose, though I had an idea I was a little ahead of schedule about six miles in. I definitely slowed climbing Creek Crossing , but still came through 10 miles in 1:04:44, a little under 6:30 pace. I slowed even more on Westbriar Ct, but sped up a bit down the hill. When I got to Wolftrap, I just kept going and figured I'd better finish what I had started. I got pretty aggressive on Oak and was rolling on Providence. I had to dodge a little traffic on Idlywood, but cruised down Barbour and finished hard up Haycock to hit 1:42:08 for a 6:23 average over 16 miles. I really didn't plan on it being so fast, so perhaps I won't do hills in the morning.

No lobster tonight

Jason and I drove to Richmond Friday afternoon, got our bibs (and saw the JARRINs, Benford and Nicol), dinner at Pasta and Such and made it to Emily's. We checked the forecast- it was supposed to be about 30 at 7 am, and when I unpacked I realized I had forgotten my long running pants. FACK.

I slept pretty well and got up at 5:15, and we drove down to the start. It might have been cold, but I didn't really notice. We warmed up, changed out shoes and headed to the starting line. I saw Ryan Lee, Pat Love and Paul Myer wearing the sharp new Richmond uniforms. Some dude in Vibrams tried to sneak up to the elite start, but he was appropriately shooed back. I mean, this guy's standing here, wearing little rubber toe shoes, expecting to be taken seriously...

The masses started fast, but things settled down within a minute and I moved into a nice pack with a tall VCU runner and a shorter Galen Rupp. We cruised up a slight hill heading west on Broad Street, watching the Afro-centric pack ahead of us and thankful we weren't trying to keep their pace up. We came through the mile in 4:57, though with the delayed start it was actually

4:55, and I felt pretty good. It was nice running with a pack. An African dropped off the lead pack and I pushed the pace to catch him. We got him right around two miles, crossing in 9:57. He tried to struggle and take the lead a minute or so later when we turned on Mulberry and Grace streets, but eventually he fell back again. Shortly after this turn, the tall and short guys pulled away from me slightly, along with a guy in black. I held on as much as I could, but I was losing ground.

My third mile split was 5:14, and I was not pleased with it. As the course started rolling, I put on a long surge to try to catch someone so I'd have a race on my hands at the finish. Every now and then, little Rupp would come back a little, but I couldn't close the gap. I was pleased to see my pace move back the way I wanted it with a 5:11, but I was hoping to be under 5:05. We made our turns onto Cary Street and I really made my move a little early. By the time I reached the .4 mile downhill stretch to the finish, I was kind of floating.

Spectators were cheering for Georgetown when I ran by,and it killed me not to be able to correct them, let them know I was a Spider. That compounded my frustration with the end of the race. I heard Emma Berry and Erin Lunny cheering halfway down the hill, but I wasn't kicking the way I expected and hoped to. You can see in the video both little Rupp and the guy behind me charging into the line, but I just kind of float. It's aggravating to watch. I just kind of stopped when I crossed the line, turned and watched people come in. Jason PRed by 20 seconds and Nicol was chasing him down, running 26:35.

I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I finished. From the four mile mark to the finish, I only ran 4:55, with a downhill like that I was expecting to be in the 4:40s. I feel I could have broken 25, and I blame it on my third mile- that's when the other guys, who did run in the 24s, got away from me. I'm not great at sprinting by myself, that's why I was pushing so hard to catch up with someone else for that last stretch. That all said, it was a 56-57 second PR, from my 2003 YMCA Turkey Trot. I can't believe it took almost eight years to break that PR, but I did it. I never slowed past 5:14, even when I was hurting, and I don't want to try to run faster than that next weekend. As fast as I ran relative to my previous PR, I wasn't exhausted at the end, and I definitely wasn't smelling lobster, my body's signal that I've pushed myself to exhaustion. I hope that means I have room to improve based on my overall training. If I smelled lobster under 25 minutes, I wouldn't be worried, but if I did at 25:18-19, then I would be a bit concerned about my chances to run fast for 13 miles. I left the race feeling pretty good, and the cold never bothered me.

We drove back to Emily's and cooled down from there, running out to Monument Avenue to watch the marathoners pass. Dave Miller looked pretty good at this point, but he was on his own. Of all people, I saw former Spider Sam Beese, then bumped into Julie Rechel, who was waiting for her roommate to run by. I jumped on the course after I ran out of grass median and joined the runners until they got to Cary, then I turned back and headed to Emily's. The weather was gorgeous, and even though I don't want to run a marathon, I think it would have been a good year to run Richmond. I couldn't stop smiling, regardless of my own race, to be in town for such a great day. I've thought this since 2009, but when it comes time to run a competitive marathon, Richmond is it for me. I love racing down here. I'm almost positive I will do the Monument Ave 10k next year, rather than the Cherry Blossom race. It will mean back-to-back weekends down there, following the Spider Relays, and I can't argue with that. I'll definitely do this 8k again.

The Spiders were at the regional meet, and it obviously didn't go as well as last year, but things are looking up.We had three freshmen in our top seven, and Ryan Lee redshirted. He had run 24:16 at the 8k, so he should be ready to go next year.

I headed over to campus to replace my hate that I left at Wiggy's in May and he apparently fed to his turtle. Then back to DC that evening.

The next morning, I was up just in time to grab my stuff and bike and get to the metro so I could watch the Veterans day 10k. I biked from

the first mile mark to the 5k, then back to the finish to watch the GRC go at it.

Around 3:30, I headed out for a longish run and did a shortened Brook. I was averaging under 6:00 pace through six miles, and I started to feel some intense abdominal pain. I slowed down a bit and jumped into the woods at mile seven to alleviate that pain, then got back to work, keeping things under 6:00 pace through 10 miles. Traffic got a little tight for a while on Old Dominion, as it always does, and I slowed a bit. I also missed the turn I wanted to make onto Mayflower and instead took Dolley Madison to where it crossed Mayflower. As I ran through the neighborhood between Westmoreland and Great Falls, I thought my timing must be off, and I must have slowed significantly, or really gotten lost. I hit the point a mile from home in 1:25 and thought I had slowed down completely. I jogged in, mapped my route, along with my intended route that was not much different, and I realized that I had mapped a 15-mile loop, not 14. Oops.

Monday evening I did a pretty sedate eight miles around Westmoreland. Tuesday I planned to do a peppy 13 miles in Annandale. Things were going pretty well, faster than 6:10 pace through six, then I hesitated and turned back when I wound up on a street that turned out to be correct, and added an extra mile to the loop. I knew I was way off and didn't a second longish run, so I stopped when I got to Grove and walked the rest of the way home after running 13.5.

Wednesday didn't go as well as I would have liked. Karl isn't running Philly anymore, so now I will have to latch onto strangers if I want to run in a pack for the half. I was looking forward to helping him pace the first half of his trials attempt -- having his goal in mind would have given me extra motivation to stay with the guys running 5:17-5:18, and it would have been fun. I still should be able to find people with whom to run who are staying loose in the first half of the marathon. I went to BCC to do my now-solitary race-pace run. I planning initially to do three miles, then when I came through the first in 5:16, decided to do 3xmile. I got in the back of the B pack when they started a mile, but didn't really feel like fighting to the front of the group and stopped after a lap. I didn't feel like running, said that to Jerry, and he said in that case I probably shouldn't be running, so I cooled down and headed home. On and off I started feeling some discomfort along the outside of my right foot. It's the first time I've felt anything like that, and though I immediately assumed the worst and decided it was a stress fracture (like I diagnosed with my right hip the days before I went to Oregon), it's probably just the hypersensitivity that comes with tapering and focus for a big race. Luckily the scheduling technicality makes this the penultimate race, decreasing a little pressure.

Philadelphia's Saturday night low is 43, a little warm, but after Chicago, I can't complain. No rain is in the forecast as of Thursday afternoon. Then again, I did fine with rain at the Freedom's Run race. As much of a breakthrough effort as that was for me, and the fun I had doing, I am looking forward to running a pretty fast course with other people this weekend. I, for one, am happy the half and full marathons use the same course for 13 miles, though I'm sure the marathon runners won't be pleased to see the half guys splitting off and heading home.

Late October, early November

I let this go for a while, so I'll hold off on most of my elaboration.

Tuesday I did another Annandale loop for 13. I didn't enjoy it as much as last time, but I didn't dislike it, either.

Wednesday's workout was 2x2k and 4x1k, which I did in 5:04, 5:00, 3:00, 2:55, 2:55 and 2:52. It was pretty damp and cool, and everyone had steam pouring off of their bodies, which added to the light fog on the track.

Thursday night I ran a Thomas for 13. The weather was still great. Friday I ran up to and around Catholic after work.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:45 to get a ride from Dangerous Dave up to BCC to run. I stumbled around and tried to tie my shoes, but to no avail. I was too tired to even get dressed. I told Dave to leave me, and I went back to sleep for 4.5 hours. I woke up to what Dave, Dart, Michelle, Sam and Scott ran their workout in- freezing rain. After waiting it out, I bundled up and ran a Park Plus for seven miles and was cold for hours. The rain turned to snow halfway through, but I was already soaked.

Sunday morning, I woke up to Fishstick's voice in the hallway as I lied on the floor of the unfurnished apartment above the GRC store on M Street. I slept there after going out for Halloween in Georgetown, though I just stayed at one party. Chicken neck and Murphy were outside, ready to go, so we jogged across the Key Bridge and waited for the throngs to come along. I jumped in with Breezy in the second mile and tried to keep him under control in the mid 6:00s through the nine mile mark. I headed back to the store to drop off his gloves and hat, then caught Caitlin and ran with her to the 11 mile mark. I then chilled out with Brian Quinn and his parents while we waited for Larry to come through 16 miles. I ran over to the Smithsonian building and waited until the Notorious E.L.I. came through with Emily in tow. I ran with her to the finish, then back to the store for 19 miles total. I felt a little weird when I crossed under the bridge where I sat down and dropped out last year, but didn't mention it to Lauren at the time, she had another mile to run and her calves had been cramping since 16. Both she and Breezy PRed by a minute, so I was pleased to have accompanied them on their runs.

Monday night, I took care of the track work I delayed from Saturday. I had a zipcar for the evening and drove out to McLean to pursue a 10 mile progression, starting at 6:00 and getting five seconds faster per mile. I thought about doing it on the road, the W&OD, the CCT or the towpath, but opted for the consistency and feedback I would have with splits I could check as frequently as I wanted.

I wasn't feeling terribly spry when I started, I think I had heartburn, for some reason. It was dark by the time I started, and the track was practically empty. There were two people jogging, but they were gone a little more than a mile into my workout. I knew I was a little fast on each lap, but rather than slow down I just tried to stay consistent. I wound up generally running five seconds faster per mile than I had planned. I ran six seconds per mile faster for my last three, and the way I did it pleased me. My posture and form petty much the whole time was upright and "distance run," no lean into the curve, I didn't hug the inside, I just sped up. When I got to my eight mile and I went under 5:20, I felt really good about the way the workout was turning out. To finish it off under 5:10 felt great. Although it would have been a bigger mental boost to have done this in the freezing rain Saturday morning, I'm glad I did it this way

My splits were as such: 5:54, 5:52, 5:44 5:38, 5:35, 5:30, 5:25, 5:19, 5:14, 5:09.

The next day I did an Oak loop, I think. Wednesday I started the track workout with two miles at 5:16 with Karl. We got started slow because we talked too much on the first lap, but after adjusting, we came through right on pace. Then I did 800s in 2:24, 2:23, 2:21 and 2:20. While waiting for anyone to finish the last two 800s before moving onto 400s, I did another mile at 5:16 on my own. After that, I was kind of cooled down and decided to just run easily and skip the quarters.

Thursday night I did a Scott's Run for 11.5.

Friday I ran a little bit around Capitol Hill, but with no real focus, and just kind of passed 25 minutes.

Saturday was a cross country workout at the Cell Phone Tower field in Bethesda. We did the fartlek workout in flats, and the frosted grass was a little slippery. I would fall off the pace Sam and Witters would set, but most of the time kept fighting, though my quads went numb during the two-minute segment. They're both ready to go. After it was over, I discovered that my right nipple had bled like crazy through two white shirts. It was fairly embarrassing.

Sunday I did an Irvin, with some adjustments to keep me off Maple too much on the way to Crossing Creek. I wasn't terribly engaged through all of it, averaging 6:30s.

My department had a retreat on Monday that ended early, so I was able to get home and run in the daylight, so I did 8.5 miles on the Pimmit Run trail.

Tuesday night I went out to do an easy 13 on the New Virginia Manor loop. I was a little peppy early on, but wanted to just run relaxed. I knew I was moving when I split 24:46 for my first four-mile loop, but just kept cranking it up and did the second loop in 24:12. I ended up averaging 6:14.

Wednesday I did a 30 minute progression- 10 at 6:00, 10 at 5:40, 10 at close to 5:00, and wound up averaging 5:55, 5:35 and 5:08. I might have been a little worn out from my run the night before.

Thursday I managed to get up and rung before work- a Westmoreland. Friday I did a Park Plus, also early.

Surprise hills and more Sunday meanderings

I discovered the W&OD Trail is not as flat as I thought. Saturday morning, I took the metro out to Vienna, then ran to the trail's intersection with Maple Ave. Inconveniently for my purposes, the half mile marker closest to that intersection was on the wrong side of Maple, so I continued another half mile west to the 12 mile mark. I switched into my racing flats and headed out toward Reston, hoping to average 5:40s for 10 miles.

I knew the trail trended uphill heading west, so I was a little worried to split 2:41 for the first half, 2:46 for the second, 2:44 and 2:47 for the second mile to split 11. I was better off in the third mile with 2:51 and 2:56, then I noticed some dramatic but short hills, which slowed me down to 2:57, 2:54 over the next mile. The hills, though they included both and up and down, but the 'up' won. I closed in on Reston and went 2:58, 2:52, before turning around and mirroring my 2:52 and speeding up to 2:44. Another 2:44 and 2:46 as I got to enjoy the down on that hill, then I started to slow exactly where I had been fast before- 2:46-2:50, then 2:54, 3:00. I was getting tired now, and closed in 2:57, 2:53. I even split the whole thing- 28:30s for 57:00, to average 5:42 per mile. A little slow, but given what turned out to be a much more inconsistent course than I expected, I'm okay with it. While I was out there, I saw the off-road trail next to the W&OD which looked a lot better than its counterpart in the Falls Church portion of the trail. Had I not been running with a consistent pace in mind, I would have loved to have tried it out. I ended up with 99 miles that week, feeling no need to run an additional mile just to reach triple digits.

I was as pleased as I could have been with it, considering the surprise hills and my general distaste for 180 turns. Despite some steep but short hills on the Four Mile Run trail in Arlington parallel to the W&OD, I thought the latter was pretty gradual, though the portion near Virginia Lane should have taught me otherwise.

I took a moderate walk in Rock Creek Park to Jack Manner's going away cookout. Though fun, it was bittersweet, because he has been one of my favorite people with whom to run on weekends. His training leading up to the 2010 Boston Marathon was quite motivating, and it's been hard to see him struggle with foot injuries since. Now he's being sent to a farm in Vermont where he can run and run and run. Little by little, a lot of the guys from my early days with the GRC are going away- Dylan, Ernst, Dirk, Towpath is still around but swallowed up by 12-hour workdays. Luckily Bain has had a long streak of workouts at BCC in advance of his New York-Richmond marathon double.

Sunday I slept in and waited for my mom to arrive on her way home from Richmond. We went out to watch Lauren Peterson race her bicycle, then she headed back to Pittsburgh and I went out to enjoy what will likely be my last real long run of the fall. I headed down Grove to West, over to Fairwood, which I had not run in full in more than a year, then up Virginia to Idylwood. I took it all the way north, as it turned into Kirby, until I hit Dolley Madison/Chain Bridge Road. It was more of last week's hectic running on a busy road with a barely-existent shoulder, but a lot more manageable this time, and only for a little more than a mile. Then it was up Glebe and down, up, down and up Military Road again. Quincy was pleasant, and somewhat new, and turning on 14th and back to Kirkwood was totally new. I got to do a little of Spout Run, two blocks, not as much fun as during Marine Corps but maybe I can join Breezy for that part. Lorcom Lane was very hilly, and maybe if I hadn't been 15 miles into a run it would have been more pleasant to run. I just took Lee Highway back to the W&OD and back up Grove. I'm really getting tired of that hill. I was pretty thirsty, so I stopped and bought a Gatorade at Lee and Glebe, that helped a little.

There's a chance I'll take a short road trip in two weekends to do a long run perhaps in Prince Edward County if the weather is really good, but that might be too close to the 8k. I'm doing them purely for pleasure now, which sounds weird, because who runs for more than two hours for the heck of it? Without a doubt, I am extremely sensitive to heat and humidity. I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same dramatic difference, but these days when I run I am thriving, rather than simply staying on my feet, as I do (sometimes) in the summer.

Monday night I planned to go out to McLean High School for some quarters, but shortly after I got home from work, an unexpected rain started (well, unexpected in that I hadn't checked out the forecast). I toyed with taking the day off, but instead went outside, where it was no longer raining, and started instead toward New Virginia Manor. I evidently left my Run for Roch hat at BCC, so my backup was a still-new Gatorade synthetic hat I won at a Steelers 5k in 2007, 2008 or 2009. For a while I thought it was too much, and my head was getting pretty warm, but as I finished my first loop a light rain started up again, and I considered heading home and lying down. Then, without even thinking about it, I kept going and did another loop and felt much better once I made that apparently subconscious decision. I finished that 13 miles in 1:29.

Worth the wait

Thursday after work I started to do a Scott's Run, but changed my mind and ran to Vienna and back, with a little extra, to do 11 miles. It was nice and boring, and I kept it around 7:00 pace.

I ran to work Friday and realized just how much I dislike it, or at least the route I take. Rain was misting when I headed out and I never really felt relaxed. The W&OD trail portion is okay, but once I get on the Custis Trail I just get frustrated with the amount of bike traffic. There's a little bit of consistency with the portion on the Mt. Vernon Trail and crossing the Roosevelt Bridge, but ocne I get downtown, I'm stopping every few blocks for traffic and it leaves the run on a bad note. That said, it still is a nice way to combine a morning run and a commute, pretty much getting 12 miles done in the time it would take me to run three miles, shower and commute to work. Maybe running home would be more pleasant- I'd deal with traffic early, and not feel the long pounding downhill -- I actually prefer climbing. After work I did an easy three-mile loop.

Saturday morning, I had grand visions of the workout I would do. The weather was perfect, I felt rested, and I was ready to get faster every three miles on a 15 mile run though McLean. Unfortunately, I was so well rested because I slept longer than I should have, and didn't start my run until 10 am, which put my in direct conflict with the hordes of shoppers on their way to Tysons Corner. I had to stop about a half mile in while I waited for traffic to pass on Great Falls, then again on Westmoreland at Kirby. I responded by overcompensating with those miles, 5:53 and 5:55, where I was planning to go 6:30s. I was close on the third mile- 6:22, then once I started my 6:15s I once again dealt with traffic- at Chain Bridge Road at Old Dominion (5:45 for that mile) as I tried to cross Dolley Madison Parkway and Balls Hill Road. Spring Hill Road was once again challenging, moreso because of the twists and blind curves in the road, though the undulating hills didn't help.I think I was right on 6:00 pace though the second mile of that segment, then I slowed down to 6:05 in the third. When I hit the Lewinsville Bridge over the beltway, I had to cross through traffic to get to a shoulder, then when I got to the top of the hill at Dolley Madison, I once again had to stop at the intersection. At this point, I gave up, then headed down Chain Bridge Road to Pimmit Hills and ran home that way. Had I started the workout at 7 or 8 am, I would have been in a lot better shape, traffic-wise

Sunday morning I headed out the opposite way, up Great Falls until it became Lewinsville and got out to Brook. I usually stick with Old Dominion all the way back, but this time I took a left on Spring Hill. I found it to be a much better, and safer, segment of the road than between Old Dominion and Lewinsville. It was narrow enough that cars had to drive slowly maneuver properly, and I don't think I even saw any heading north. Georgetown Pike was another story, though. The entire 1.9 stretch west of the beltway had no shoulder to speak of, so I spent most of the constant climbing and descending switching back and forth across the road to make myself more visible to cars and be able to see them myself. Once I crossed the beltway, I had sidewalk paths, but the hills got even tougher. I thought back to the Freedom's Run Half, and how hills seemed to provoke me to run better, and how that was not happening today. I made the turn onto Chain Bridge Road at 13.25, at which point I had averaged 6:25s. I took that short road past the old Kennedy house Hickory Hill and turned onto Dolley Madison before finding the next portion of Chain Bridge. I turned onto Old Dominion and as I passed a segment of the Pimmit Run trail I guessed I had been running 1:39, looked to my watch and saw it was that time exactly. I felt pretty impressed with myself, which then deflated in last 5.5 miles. I looped through Forest Villa, headed down Carlin then up to Birch. Once again, I was climbing and dropping, and I forgot just how long that street is. When I crossed Kirby, I knew I still had work to do, because Lorraine is a bad mother. I had only climbed it once before, the day after the GMU track race, but this time I was able to focus on a walker who was halfway up the hill. The rest of the run was easy, though as I crossed I-66 a block from home, I was a little flabberghasted that I had been heading the other way 2:15 before. It seemed like days ago.

Monday I had another nice nighttime run, this time though Annandale. It was a similar to a 13 mile run I had done one morning in July, back before Oregon, but with the stark difference that I didn't worry about whether I would survive until I got home. The last time I ran it, I started with a squeeze bottle of solid ice, drained it halfway though, then had to find a water fountain so I could refill the bottle. Monday's run was much more pleasant. I'm so glad the weather is cool and I can train without fear of overheating

Tuesday night, I ran five miles out to McLean High School, via Powhatan, Birch and Old Chesterbook. I did 12 400s with 200 jog- 74,72,71,73,71,71,72,71,72,71,72,71 and ran home on Great Falls. 13 total.

Wednesday I pretty much just ran around the Tidal Basin until the GRC people showed up on the Mall for a workout, warmed up with them and then headed back for a miserable 13 miles.

Thursday I biked to McLean High School for a long workout- 6x2k. It wasn't too ambitious- starting at 80 and getting one second faster per lap in subsequent repeats. YF2K53 was there walking his laps on the outside lane in the dark. It wasn't a memorable workout, I ran 6:36, 6:32, 6:28 and 6:25, but during the third and fourth, I felt increasing gastrointestinal distress. After neutralizing the situation, I resumed the workout, but my legs felt weak. I came through the 1200 a second fast- 3:47, but slowed dramatically and stopped after a 5:07 mile. I thought about doing another 2k at 5:18 pace, but 200 meters in I just didn't have the will for it anymore, so I went for a long cooldown to total 13.

Friday morning I woke up to run before work, but felt terrible, so I slept in and only did 3.25 miles and after work got in another seven.

Seven years as a Spider alumnus

Monday afternoon I ran a Presidents' Loop, pretty exhausted from waking up at 5, and achy from the bus ride back from Pittsburgh. I averaged 6:45s.

Tuesday morning I did a Fairview Loop in the morning, having some trouble with dehydration around mile seven despite temperatures in the low 60s, and three miles in Kent Gardens Park in the afternoon.

Wednesday, I slept in and skipped my morning run to contritue to my recovery week by getting more rest and focused on the workout- 2x mile and 6x800. I once again felt faint during the warmup, extremely so when crossing East West Highway, but things got better. We ran 5:06 and 5:02- two seconds fast for each, but the 800s were not as easy. Someone, I am not sure who, paced the first (2:24) ridiculously poorly, and we came through the 400 in 70, then finishing in 2:27. The second was better- 2:25. I took the next two and ran 2:22s evenly, which pleased me, and I felt fantastic. The leaders took us out too hard for the 2:20s- our 200s at 33, and I stopped at the 400 with a 69. I took a break and ran the last one, way behind the group- they went out in 66 and I cautiously in 69, finishing in 2:21. Big City ran with me when I did another 400- 66. I was happy with how the workout went, aside from the pacing fiasco. With the humidity dropping lately, I've been able to keep myself together later in workouts and feel a lot better.

Thursday I wanted to explore the downstream portion of the Pimmit Run Trail, so I ran up Kirby to the Marie Butler Leven Preserve and sought to pick up the trail there. I found it, but lost the trail when I came to a neighborhood. I realize where I went wrong, and should be able to find it next time. In the meantime, I did a few laps of the grassy loop at the preserve, then headed into Dominion Hills and caught the upstream portion of the trail. Aside from one downed tree in the second segment, the trail was clear after Hurricane Irene.

Friday morning I did an easy 4.25 mile Idylwood loop.

Saturday brought the most meaningful race of the year--the Spider alumni cross country race. I still feel fortunate, nine years later, to be able to participate in the race. In 2002, I was reeling from two weeks of getting my ass kicked one way from the cruel Virginian summer and the other from my first Division I practices, after a year off following a Division III season that is better forgotten.

When I transferred to Richmond the previous semester, I wasn't eligible, nor was it reasonable for me to expect to join the track team without having run cross country the semester before. As I gradually met the Spiders, thanks to gracious introductions from Ruth, Emily and Angry, I joined them for afternoon runs when I could, but joining runners for their supplemental work served only to give me an abstract idea what the program had come to expect, I had no idea how hard they ran on a daily basis in real workouts. Though I had run cross country at Hampden-Sydney, from day one I was minutes ahead of the rest of the team for regular distance runs, let alone races, so for all intents and purposes, I hadn't run on a strong team since high school track 28 months earlier, and I was out of the sport, as far as real competition was concerned, for almost two years.

When I arrived on campus in August for cross country, a little bit of me died every day, as I finished farther back in every workout as the alumni race -- then just a 5k time trial because we had yet to build an alumni base -- approached. I figured I had a few days until I finished dead last and was subsequently booted from the team. Lauder said later he thought I'd be cut. Somehow I pulled out a fifth place finish and a four-second PR, striving to catch Rhue toward the end of the second mile before I dropped back. In doing so, I managed to finish ahead of five guys who were already on the team. I still remember the day the results went up on the website, my "open" affiliation evidence of my provisional status with the team, but proof that I could hang with them and serving as the best validation of my running career to that point. Four days later, Steve told me he wanted me running for the team at the UVA meet the next week, and I started on the road that would lead me to a lot more of these Spider Alumni 5k races. The relief that I felt that afternoon at the Athletic Director's picnic has been unmatchable, even with my best races since. It changed my whole identity as a runner and oriented me where I am today.

The race moved from Bandy Field (my favorite) to athletic fields owned by St. Catherine's and the Collegiate schools. These days, a new softball stadium at the St. Catherine's fields means we're pretty much never going back there for the alumni race, and I'm not terribly disappointed. The sprinklers seemed to always turn off five minutes before the start, which exacerbates the amount of fluid built up in my shoes. I hadn't run the course at Collegiate before. Our competitive ranks were thin on the Alumni side- Ciccarelli still hobbled from the Little Rock Marathon years before, Lauder now quite relaxed about his running, Watson holding together his hamstring with scotch tape, Molz and Benford in West Virginia for the Charleston Distance Run, Llano convalescing from a car accident a week before, Quinn teaching the leaders of the future in Colorado and Jonny somewhere on I-95 between Richmond and Maine. Seann is still getting after it, but an ankle sprain two weeks before left him severely hobbled. The whistle squeaked and I stuck back in the pack, just trying to get an idea where the course went, because it was all new to me. Most of it was on very short playing field grass that was not saturated with water, which alone made it faster than St. Catherine's. It also seemed to have fewer turns, though there were patches where the ground was uneven, a stark difference to the smooth trails and road on which I run, and it reminded me how soft I have gotten. Skipper and York and Connor and Adam had pulled away within the first mile, and I was dropping back. As we got to the mile mark, a fellow who shall remain unnamed called out 4:25! 4:26! 4:27! I freaked out until I looked at my watch- I came through the mile in 4:49, the bloke had just missed the start.

I spent the next mile struggling and lagging behind a William and Mary guy.As I neared the end of the second mile, Steve was waiting near a tree. "Get green" he whispered. The WM guy was about 30 yards ahead, and I figured, why not? I came through mile 2 in 5:08 high, then set to work reeling in my target. I had him less than halfway into the third mile, and I charged up the one significant hill on the loop to try to shake him, but I felt him on my tail. As I closed in on the last stretches to the finish, Barkhuff was waiting on the second-to-last field, screaming for me. I managed to hold off the WM dude, plus a pair of Richmond freshmen to finish my third mile in 5:10 and the race in 15:46. I cooled down with the other alumni and did a little extra to get me to 90 for the week. I did some mild uphill running that evening.

I woke up well before 7 Sunday morning for my long run. Seann, Lauder and Z were planning to start at 9 to do about 40 minutes, so I wanted to get at least 90 in before that. I ran to and through campus to Panorama Drive, over the Hugenot Road Bridge and onto Riverside Drive, left toward Hickory and Cherokee for some rolling hills. There isn't much of a shoulder on Cherokee, but traffic was light. I wore a shirt for this part of the run so I could grab a Gatorade at the 7-11 on Hathaway, then headed to Stratford Hills. I cut a few miles from the Riverside Drive portion to ensure I would be back in time to meet the other guys, but climbing and descending Rockfalls was great, as always, especially the portion down Menokin. I jumped back onto the bridge to head over the James River and onto Westham Station, once a favored stretch of quiet shady road, which has since been transformed to a staging zone to build a new bridge over the river. The trees are largely gone now. I barely remember climbing the hill to Westham Parkway. Then I headed back to campus for 14 miles in 90 minutes.

Seann decided on Roslyn, one of my favorite loops, though we only got to Higginbotham before we turned around. I ended with 20 miles in 2:10, and though the last two miles were pretty lagging compared to what I was running earlier, it was great to be with my old teammates.

Monday morning I ran out intending to do a reverse Scott's Run, but I made a last-minute turn onto the Pimmit Run Trail, ran out to the Potomac School and back for an easy 85 minutes.

Tuesday morning was a sedate out-and-back 10 miles to Vienna at 6:42 pace, then 4.25 miles at 6:30 pace on an Idylwood loop in the afternoon.

I remembered how to race

My workout race Thursday evening was okay. It was extremely humid, and my decision to run in my gray GRC shirt was questionable. I blazed from the start, a little too fast, because I let up in the last minute of the first mile, which I covered in 5:00, I think. I eased up for a minute, during which an Ethiopian passed me. I would catch him on my fast minutes, then drop when I slowed down, and he was visibly confused as to what I was doing. He left me behind in my third recovery, and I definitely slowed down on my own, though my last 30 seconds were great. I won a gift certificate to the Chris Sloane Running Company. During my cooldown with Laura, a delightful cool breeze transformed the climate, something we could have used 30 minutes prior.

Friday morning was just an easy seven miles on the Pimmit Run Trail. I should finally be able to do some more work on it Tuesday afternoon.

My Megabus trip back took 6:40, thanks to traffic escaping Hurricane Irene. By the time I got to Pittsburgh, my knee and hip joints were about ready to fall out. Dad made linguine with clam sauce and I got to play with Arnie.

The weather was cool but humid in the morning for the Run Around the Square. I knew it wouldn't be an easy race when I saw Curt Larimer. The course isn't very fast, with a flat first mile, an uphill mile+ and less than a mile downhill. Only former Hounds Joe Mahoney and Dan Lesser have broken 16:00 there, and some good runners have raced there. It's a good course, though, and a wonderful race, usually boasting more than 1200 finishers.

We started out fast, and even the mile that is on the road is hard, because the bricks on Milton Street are really uneven. There are dips three feet away from a rise, and it really pays to know the road's contours. It's almost like running through a field that's been torn up, despite the brick surface. It's a fun element to the race. I tucked into the pack behind Playmaker and a dude in red. Some guy in green was directly to my right and someone else was on my heels. My heart and lungs caught up with my legs when we made our first turn.

We turned down the steep hill into Frick Park and Red came hurtling down the hill, almost like he had tripped and was constantly catching himself and we descended, but he was moving with enough confidence that he thought he was going to break the race open. Well, he didn't. Within 30 seconds, the pack, which I was leading by that point, swallowed him up and left him behind, because whoever he was, he didn't break 17, unless he was banditing. He couldn't have run the race before, because nobody in their right mind would try to run away from the pack we had that early in the race with two long hills ahead of him. Playmaker and I started dueling up with hill, and I had a step on him, as we came through the mile in 5:00. When we crested the hill, I put on about seven fast steps to get the flat stretch off on the right foot, and I think I moved a few times to block a pursuer. "Gamesmanship!" Dave Wilson said later. I maintained a slight lead as we rounded the ballfields on South Braddock Ave, wanting to be in position to speed up when we hit the second uphill trail and blow it up with a mile to go, but felt a little worried when we turned onto the sidewalk, whoever was on my tail wasn't interested in running with me.

I swung a little wide on the left turn onto Forbes, and stepped onto the street, for no reason apparently. A few seconds later, Curt and t-shirt passed me, then Playmaker. I jumped back onto the sidewalk before we crossed the bridge, which had a knee-height cement barrier protecting the sidewalk. T-shirt hurdled it, now in a battle with Curt. The pack was moving away from me and I thought I saw Green out of the corner of my eye, but evidently not. I let the three leaders pull away, but once we turned back onto the trail, I just moving again. I remembered how broken I felt in 2009 when Remix and ERF Chaunce dropped me, and I realized I wasn't going to gain anything jogging it in. I couldn't see anyone directly ahead of me, but I knew he was up there somewhere. I hacked away at the hill, and wondered when I'd see the two "mile" mark, which is more like 2.1. When I crossed it in 6:28 (I know... but the whole mile is uphill) Playmaker was about 50 yards ahead of me. We had more climbing to do, and I kept after him.

When we crested the hill, my left foot slipped and I yanked my ankle. It hurt like hell, and I decided that maybe it would make the heavy breathing I was about to do feel a lot less terrible. I launched myself down the hill, intent on catching Playmaker. It's pretty darn hard to catch someone down a hill, but I decided I wasn't going to let him beat me. I didn't know it at the time, but I had a comfortable lead on Andrew Bell. I just started running recklessly down the hill, with a late-race intensity I haven't felt in a long time. I passed Playmaker with about a third of a mile left and put some distance on him. I was shocked and how I was able to fight back there. I eased up a little with about a minute left and I heard him on my tail, so I pushed again and held him off by two seconds to finish in 16:24. It was a second faster than I ran when I won it in 2008. I checked old results later, and only once or twice was my time not good enough for second place. T-shirt (Pat Dantzer) and Curt had run 15:57 and 15:59, by far the best top two the race had ever seen, and Playmaker (Chris Stoddard) was two seconds behind me, so if anyone could see the race in the woods, they got two good shows.

While I'm not crazy to have lost -- had I at least stuck with the leaders in mile two I would have had a chance -- I was pleased to have been able to recover and run Playmaker down in the last mile. It seemed for a while like it would be a lost race, but I recovered well. When I think back to the time I started chasing him in earnest and when I caught him, I'm amazed that I was able to do it, and as fast as I did. If nothing else, I regained some resilience and courage that I had been missing for a few years. The prize was a gift certificate to New Balance, but they didn't have much worth buying, so I picked up some socks and bodyglide. At least it wasn't another Elite Runners and Walkers gift certificate...

Dan Holland raced, the only Hound to compete.

Sunday morning I headed to the West End for my favorite long run loop- 20 miles. I made a few changes for some turns, so the mile markers were very general.

I woke up at 7:30, not terribly excited to run. After dropping my bottle off, I finally got started at 8:30. I was hoping to get going early enough that I'd be heading down Noblestown Road when Nate and his gang were heading up, but that would have required me to start much earlier. I definitely felt the race still in my legs when I got started, somehow the flat stretch on Wabash Street felt the same to me as when I started climbing Steuben and Chartiers. My first change was turning onto Stafford and Stadium, a long downhill and a steep uphill. When I got to the top and hit Motor Street, a nice breeze cooled me off. Sheraden Park looked really nice, as did the hillside near the pool for which I coordinated the landscaping work in June. I picked it up, relatively, a bit in the Sheraden Park coop, then slowed down when I climbed Kelvin and Mutual, another slight change.

I didn't exactly roll down Chartiers past the cemetary, and I knew it wouldn't be a fast run. My calves were really sore, so I decided to just finish it and not try to run too fast. I grabbed my bottle or raspberry lemonade propel that I found in a cabinet, took a few swigs and dropped it at the top of Broadhead Fording. The Ingram section was uneventful, and someone said hi to me on West Prospect when I got into Fairywood. Man, that neighborhood is just so run down and isolated. I ran through the project and past the Giant Eagle distribution center, the most hopping place in the area, and jumped on the tracks. I had to walk over most of the rocks near the railroad yard fence. The weeds had grown pretty tall and dry near Napor, but they didn't itch too much when I ran right through them. Someone was walking along the Industrial Highway, which seemed to fly by, but also look like it was hilly for some reason. The sun wasn't terribly hot, and when I got to Mazette, it was overcast enough that I didn't notice it. Some blonde girl almost hit me with her car in Emerald Gardens.

I grabbed my propel and headed up Clearfield, which was completely overgrown- I had to slow to climb it, which gave me a good chance to drink more. It's a ridiculous hill, really. Middletown Road was no better, though I really didn't have any trouble climbing it. When I got to the bottom of Stratmore I left the bottle and my shirt and just kind of cruised in the last few miles, not going too fast and not having any doubt about finishing, unlike last week's sweat box. I noticed a little trail between Clearview and Crafton, maybe that would be better than the brick laden, and uneven,Clearview. I explored a bit in Crafton Heights, and when I hit Noblestown, I just cruised it in, giving my legs a break, though I love to just tear it up for those last two miles. I finished with 20.75, averaged 7:01 and was tired for the rest of the day. The hills were rough, but I was never too tired to keep going, I was just beaten up from the bus ride, the race and almost 21 miles of climbing and descending.

Monday morning, I ran at 5:15 before taking the bus back to Washington. I just did eight laps of Chatham Village- 3/4 mile. I was surprised to run 5:29 for the first, then 4:58, then six 4:45s.