Change of Pace

Today was a day I'd been looking forward to for so long and I can't believe how quickly it changed into a day of sorrow. It would have been sad nonetheless, but it happened right in front of me and I tried to help save him and nothing we did made a difference.

I'm going to have to go online and find some old video clips of Ryan Shay racing, because that's the image of him I'd like to keep in my memory. Not those empty, blank eyes or the sound of those last few terrible, convulsive breaths or the frantic, fruitless effort to find a pulse between compression sets....I want to remember him young and strong and fast, and very alive.

My heart goes out to Alicia and the rest of his family... Every time I feel like I'm starting to wallow in self pity for how this makes me feel, I remind myself of their heartache and loss that they are feeling today.

Despite all of this, the race still happened and a hundred and thirty other less traumatic drama's played out today. It was tough to see Dan Browne run so strongly and then fade and to see Khalid Khannouchi rally powerfully at the end, but not quite soon enough. There were only three tickets to Beijing being given out today though, and in the end, these were the young men that earned their passage to the games:

Thanks to those who left such nice supportive thoughts and comments. I decided to leave the comments private in this particular case, but I really do appreciate your kind words.

I ran my first track workout in a long, looong time last night and I immediately came out the other end with a head cold. It doesn't seem logical that I could catch a chill and get sick quite that fast just from running four miles on a windy track, but causal or not, that's what it feels like happened.

It was a fairly low intensity outing, which seems sensible at this point:
2 400s: 1:30 each
1 800: 3:05
1 mile: 6:30 (felt faster!)
1 800: 3:07
2 400s: 1:32 each

Plus a half mile warm up and cool down. Surely that shouldn't have made me sick, but I haven't been sleeping nearly enough of late, so perhaps my body just didn't need much of an excuse right now. Ah-choo!

Is it just me? Remember last year when it was such a big deal that Lance was running his first marathon and everyone was taking wagers on how he'd do? Runner's Word profiled him and there were tons of articles about it and endless speculation about what he was capable of and tons of anecdotal stories about how crappy his training had been.

So then this year, granted I was on an airplane while the NYC race was going on, but I totally missed that he was running it again. And he ran a much better time too. If he was a chick, he would have even qualified for the trials. So, go Lance. He must have actually done a few long runs this time around. Either that or maybe dating Ashley Olsen has put an extra spring in his step.

And speaking of tabloid fodder, Katie Holmes Cruise was out there too, though she didn't seem to be tackling it as a competitive exercise. She finished in about 5 1/2 hours and looked pretty wiped out as she walked in the last mile surrounded by her...bodyguards? Handlers? Scientological harem? Apparently the whole headphone ban must not apply to celebrities.

I'm taking this as a cut back week before I ramp the running up towards 50 mpw. I overextended myself last week with emotional stress, travel and lack of sleep, so I figure I can use a little rest. Tomorrow is Friday and I've run exactly 10 miles so far, which might be a tad indulgent, but hell, life is short. A little self pampering now and again is a good thing. Plenty of time next week to start beating myself up again.

Durn it all to heck....I want to see the Philly Marathon results and they're taking their good sweet time in posting them. All I could find so far is that the woman who won was the same one who came in first at Columbus last year. That would be the little chicky who just ran it on a whim to keep her guy friend company and managed to easily qualify for the trials in her first marathon. I don't want to be a playah hater, but jeez louise. She is some kind of big time NCAA track star though, so I guess it was just a matter of time before she figured out she was a decent marathoner too.

Speaking of former track whizzes though, there's a girl that used to work with me who was a little speed demon at Penn who trained half ass for her first marathon a few years ago and got her arse handed to her. I think she ran a 1:19 first half and finished with a 2:57 or somthing like that. A respectable time certainly....if you totally ignore her splits! Anyway, I've watched her pay her dues and learn the ins and out s of the race and she was out there in the park all summer working her butt off, so I'm curious to see if she finally managed to qualify this morning. There's another girl who I think was running it too, who used to be about me speed and she's really worked hard to get to the next level. Of course both of these girls are all of 25 years old, so even if I admire them and root for them, I'm still allowed to hate them for their youth.

I need to sit down and do the math, but I think it's just about time for me to ditch my running shoes and move on to the next pair. I haven't even tried on the Asics I bought a couple of months ago at a warehouse sale, so I'm just assuming that they'll fit. They're one of the ones named after clouds... Nimbus? Cumulous? Stratus? One of those, I'm pretty sure. It really is kind of ludicrous the way I accumulate new shoes. I need to become more disciplined about getting rid of them right away.

I was psyched when I walked by this schmancy yoga shop a couple of weeks ago and saw they were accepting shoe donations to go to Shoes4Africa. They were making a window display out of all the shoes they had so far and honestly, it was a little pathetic. I think they had four or five pairs of running shoes in there. I filled up two giant shopping bags and helped them put together a respectable looking pile of shoes. And still I'm finding random pairs around the apartment! They finally put the Philly results up, but I didn't see either of the girls I thought were running it. Maybe they decided to aim for Houston instead?

Me and the blog, that is. As you can see, I've finally figured out some of the finer points of movable type template configuration and I apologize if it's a little day-glo bright, but I'm a big fan of this particular color combination. The bulk of the old blog is slowly getting transferred over one post at a time, but I can't imagine I have a huge readership for whether I had a cold or shin splints or a pr back in June of 2004 or February of 2005. And if you really are curious, it'll all get reposted sooner or later. It's really just to have for myself anyway, as my own personal record of my post-30's running renaissance.

As for me, there's a good chance I'll hit 60 miles this week and aside from the expected nagging fatigue, it feels pretty good. Just don't bump my shins or I'm likely to swear bloody murder and punch you in the mouth. Next week is an easy one, thank goodness, capped off by a 10K in which, despite my best intentions, I've decided I'm unlikely to break 40. I just don't have enough speed work under my belt and my body just doesn't feel up to it. Occupational necessity dictates that I'll be running it right after finishing up two overnight shifts in a row, but odds are that all my natural physical rhythms will be sorely out of whack.

Having said that, I still feel like I'm in an excellent state of fitness and with any luck, am pretty confident that I'll post something quicker than 42:00.