Boston to Eugene

Monday, April 14: 8:30 PM - 5 Miles, 34 min around the park
Tuesday, April 15: 6:00 PM - Track Workout @ Bentley
25 min w/u, 5 x 1000m @ 2:53 w/ 90 sec rest, 24 min c/d
2:52.9, 2:51.8, 2:53.9, 2:52.9, 2:51.2 (Total = 14:22.7)
Wednesday, April 16: 8:00 AM - 7 Miles, 47 min at the Fells
7:30 PM - 4 Miles, 29 min along the river
Thursday, April 17: 8:30 AM - 10 Miles, 70 min at the Fells
Friday, April 18: 8:00 AM - 8 Miles, 51 min along the river
Saturday, April 19: 7:30 AM - 23 min shakeout (slow) around Boston Common
9:00 AM - Track Workout @ Bentley
25 min w/u, 5 x 1200m @ 3:36 w/ 1min rest, 24 min c/d
3:35.7, 3:36.2, 3:35.9, 3:33.1, 3:30.4
Sunday, April 20: 4:00 PM - 14 Miles, 91 min at the Fells w/ Rupprecht, Lansing, Nieskens, Ira, Matt, and Dan

Week Total = 71 Miles, 2 Track Workouts

Monday, April 21: 6:00 PM - 6 Miles, 40 min along the river
Tuesday, April 22: 6:00 PM - Track Workout @ Bentley
26 min w/u, 6 x 400m @ 63-66 w/ 90 sec rest, 26 min c/d
64.9, 63.6, 62.5, 64.6, 64.1, 65.5
Wednesday, April 23: 1:30 PM - 8 Miles, 52 min along the river

Another busy week and an even busier weekend so again I apologize for the late post. Amidst all the craziness of this past week, there was a lot of excitement and a lot to talk about. So much has happened since my last post that I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll first start by talking about those numbers above. Considering everything that was happening in this one week and the amount of hours I put in at work, I have to say it was a decent training week. I went into Tuesday's workout feeling pretty tired and was nervous about not being able to perform as I knew it was going to be a tough workout. After the warm up, Kevin told me that this was one of those predictor workouts and would give us an idea of what I could do in the 5K right now. This put even more pressure on me so I tried my best to psych myself up. Overall, it went pretty well and even though my legs were heavy, I felt strong throughout. I didn't find myself slowing down or struggling too much with the pace and was happy with the effort. For Saturday's workout, again I was feeling pretty tired from the week and was stressing a bit about plans for the weekend. I didn't feel very good on the warm up and when I got back, I already saw some of my teammates struggling with their workout and having to scale it back. Because of this, Kevin told me not to worry about the pace and said as long as I kept it under 75s, I'd be fine. I hit the first one on pace at 72s and felt fine so I kept it right there and eventually dropped it down by the end to 70s feeling pretty strong, which was very encouraging.

As you'll read about below, my weekend was packed with events and was both very exciting and very exhausting. I tried to rest when I could but there was just too much to do so by the time Tuesday rolled around, I was feeling pretty drained. The workout that night was short and fast so I was able to get through it fine but it didn't feel as smooth as I would have liked. Now that I have some time to rest, I'll take the next couple days easy and hopefully be ready to roll Friday night in Eugene. The race I'm talking about is the 5K at the Oregon Relays. This is my first major 5K of the year and I'm looking to open up well and cut a big chunk off my current PR. For those that might be interested in checking it out, I'll be in Section 2 at 5:00 PM (8:00 PM EST) and according to what Mark told me Monday night, Flotrack will be there covering it live. Since I'll be in the slower heat, there's a chance I might not make it on there, but you can check it out anyway and see for yourself.

Now for the more exciting stuff. As most of you know and as I already mentioned last week, this past weekend was very big for Boston as it played host to the US Olympic Marathon Trials and the Boston Marathon. Being the huge fan that I am of this sport and knowing so many of the athletes competing, I was very excited for both these events as well as the atmosphere that surrounded them. I'd like to talk about all the events and people that made this weekend so incredible but there was just so much that I'd never be able to fully capture it all or even describe the impact it had on me... so I'll just select a few notable performance and events that affected me the most.

To start, I just have to say that the women's trials on Sunday was one of the most exciting and motivating sporting events I've ever witnessed. To be on the course watching these amazing women at so many points in the race and watching their hard work and love for sport pour out of them was just incredible. Over the years, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many of these women and follow their careers as they've developed into the incredible athletes that they are. Because of this, I was also emotionally involved in the outcome of this race. First of all, I have to praise Deena as she continued her consistency and delivered an amazing performance to win the race in a dramatic fashion. She continues to be an idol of mine and to see her compete in person always gives me goosebumps. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch this clip from the 2004 Olympics without tears in my eyes. She is an amazing woman and will always be an inspiration to me.

Joining her in the journey to Beijing is Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, who has an incredible story of her own and really changed the dynamic of Sunday's race. Behind her, capturing the 3rd spot on the Olympic team was former Reebok Boston standout Blake Russell. When I was a sophomore in high school, I asked Blake for her autograph at the Maine Distance Festival and over the years, that autograph has become more and more valuable as I've gotten to know her more and as she's developed into an outstanding athlete and now an Olympian.

I'll skip a few spots and recognize a good friend of mine, Megan Hepp. In just her 3rd marathon, she ran 2:37:29 to finish 12th in the nation. After having lunch with her on Saturday, her usual amazing personality and attitude led me to believe that she was going to do well and I told her that anything was possible. She proved that to be true with her phenomenal performance and I believe she'll have a tremendous career ahead of her. Just a few spots behind her was a fellow Mainer that ran much of the race with Megan. That was Sheri Piers as she placed 16th and ran an incredible 2:38:46. She's improved so much just in the last couple years and really showed what she is capable of in Sunday's race. At age 36, she still has so much more to look forward to.

This post is starting to get very long so I'll try to cut down on the wordiness. Other notable performances in Sundays race were Caroline Cretti (21st - 2:40.12) and Caitlin Tormey (23rd - 2:40:29) both of Zap Fitness, as well as Emily Levan (67th - 2:45:45) and Kristin Barry (73rd - 2:46:58) both of Maine. In addition to all those I've already mentioned and all those I didn't mention, I have to recognize the legendary Joanie. I don't need to go into the accomplishments that she's achieved in the last three decades as everyone knows what she's done. At age 50 in her 7th qualification for the Olympic marathon trials, she ran an amazing 2:49:08, accomplishing her goal of running sub 2:50 and adding so much excitement to this magnificent race. She is a hero to so many (as seen here).

Without going on too much more, I'll just note a few people that stood out in my mind from Monday's race. First, my two friends that stayed with me over the weekend ran great races. Jay ran awesome finishing at 2:28:16 in only his 2nd marathon, PRing by 35 minutes and placing 38th in the mens race. At age 22, he has a lot of potential at this distance and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can contribute to the sport. Rich may not say much about his performance, but running a 2:45 after being pretty banged up and averaging 20-30 miles for the last 6 weeks is pretty noteworthy. He's a great friend and I was really glad to have him here for the weekend. Rupprecht also stayed with us for the weekend to watch the races and take part in the festivities so it was really great to have him around and add to the excitement of the weekend. Also, Anne Martin continued to represent Edward Little High School very well as she ran a 13 minute PR of 2:57:34 and placed 34th in the women's race. It was great to see her do so well and knowing the work load she has had while currently in law school just amazes me even further.

Lastly, I'll mention my NB Boston teammates that participated in this event. Christy delivered a strong performance of 2:58:13 in her first ever marathon. Chris Voce ran well with a 2:47:50 result looking pretty strong as he passed us. Then there are my two close friends and training partners, Mario and Ryan. Mario has dealt with a very rough training cycle with injuries and frustration but still went out there with a great mindset and delivered a solid performance coming in at 2:30:24 for 51st place. He's been a great friend and teammate and has given me a lot of inspiration over the years and I know he has a lot left to achieve as an athlete. As we all watched our friends pass us in the 23rd mile, we cheered as loud as we could and put all our efforts into helping them get through the battle that they were in. We all know how hard they've worked and many of us have worked hard right along side them, so we are all very emotionally attached to these extraordinary people. Therefore, when I saw Ryan come by us and step off the course, I immediately felt this weight come down on me and started feeling sick to my stomach. I could not grasp what I was watching and could not imagine anything other than a great performance from him. Ryan has been one of my best training partners over the last two years and has gotten me through some tough workouts. In the last 6 weeks especially, I've done some real quality work with him and have often found myself struggling to hang on. His training had gone perfectly leading up to this race and I knew he was in the best shape of his life. He did everything right and somehow, things just didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. I don't think anyone can explain it and therefore, I couldn't come up with anything to say when I stood there next to him. All I could do was put my arm around him and let him know that whatever he was feeling at that point was shared by all of us.

We are all affected by the people around us: our friends, family, teammates, coaches, people we look up to, and people that look up to us. This is such a mental sport and our emotions affect our performances and dreams more than anything. This was a big weekend for me emotionally as it was filled with motivation, inspiration, friendship, and many dreams. Even though it was physically tiring, the emotional affects will hopefully propel me into Eugene as I use the inspiration from my peers above to achieve a great accomplishment of my own.

Much more to come after Eugene, so stay tuned...