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Monday, July 28: 10:00 AM - 10 Miles, 62 min
Tuesday, July 29: 6:00 AM - 10 Miles, 60 min
Followed by light core and strength work
Wednesday, July 30: 5:30 PM - 20 min w/u, light track wo @ Tufts, 20 min c/d
1600m @ 4:58, 2mr, 4x400m @ 70, 69, 69, 70 w/ 1mr
Thursday, July 31: 5:00 PM - 9 Miles, 68 min w/ Rupprecht and Trevino @ the Fells
Friday, August 1: 11:00 AM - 4 Miles, 28 min w/ Rupprecht @ Spring Road
Saturday, August 2: Beach to Beacon 10K - 32:37 (27th place)
(5:01, 5:22, 5:14, 5:19, 5:13, 5:26, :59), 18 min w/u, 16 min c/d
Sunday, August 3: 0 Miles

Week Total = 52 Miles, 1 day off

Yesterday, I made a statement on this guy's blog saying that I would have a post up here tonight. After a long day of traveling, some delayed flights and a late night run, I changed my mind and was going to wait until tomorrow. However, I then found myself lying in bed unable to sleep. I got up, went to the computer, and after reading some additional comments on that guy's blog, I decided I'd follow through with my initial statement and stop being such a slacker.

As I briefly previewed in my last post, I had some more traveling in my schedule this week. On Tuesday, I flew to Boston to spend a week in New England in an effort to see many of my friends and family. I would find out later that while I was in the air, a pretty substantial earthquake shook the Los Angeles area and was actually centered right in Chino Hills (where my current residence lies). Fortunately, the 5.4 magnitude quake was not severe enough to cause any major damage to the area and there was no harm done that I am aware of. It would have been my first earthquake, but as I was assured, I'll probably experience another one before too long.

I arrived in Boston late Tuesday night and stayed in Bean-town for a couple days. I was able to reunite with great friends in the area and was later joined my two of my closest friends Paul Rupprecht and Josh Trevino. I even attempted a short "workout" at Tufts to see what my legs could handle. After this "workout", I came to the conclusion that 1 mile at 5 min pace was currently doable, but 6 of them was certainly out of the question! Paul, Josh, and I had a nice run in the Fells the next day and grabbed some good grub before heading up to the homeland (for me anyways) of Auburn, Maine.

Part of the reason I planned a trip around this weekend was to once again be a participant in the Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race. It is by far my favorite race of the year, and though I was more of a participant than a competitor this year, it was still a great experience. The race staff does an extraordinary job with Joan Benoit Samuelson and David Weatherbie taking great care of everyone involved. With everything they've done for me, my teammates, and the rest of the Maine running community, I certainly couldn't pass on this race, no matter how far away I am. I knew I wasn't going to be running at the level I was at last year, and therefore, I couldn't go into it with any expectations. Based on the mile I ran at Tufts a few days earlier, I hoped that I'd be able to muster up 5:20 pace and get into Fort Williams Park around 33 minutes.

When the race went off, I told myself to hang back and go slow. My legs however, had a different plan. For some reason, I am not able to hold myself back in this race...no matter how lacking my fitness is. I found myself running on the shoulders of former teammates and NB Boston studs, Mario Fraioli and Justin Lutz. I then looked to my right and noticed another NB Boston stud... none other than Rebecca Donaghue. I decided to stay close with this group, and if possible, lend some assistance to them in the first few miles as I was sure they would pull away from me in the later stages. Shortly after, we crossed the first mile... I clicked the split time on my watch, and let it register in my mind.... 5:01... My first thought was, I'm in trouble! But I didn't panic. I just let my legs run the way they wanted and tried to keep my breathing under control, hoping to limit the amount of suffering that would surely follow. Somewhere in that 2nd mile, I noticed Mario take a look back to see who was lurking behind him. I believe he had to do a double take to actually make sure it was me. He then said something along the lines of, "I'd say your under 33 minute pace". I'm not sure what my reply was, but I know it consisted of more panting than actual speaking.

At some point in the next couple miles, just as I expected, Justin started to pull away from me. I told myself to just let him go and stay back where I belonged, but my competitive impulse said to go with him. Of course, I proceeded to do the latter. I hit the 5K in about 16:15 and remember thinking to myself that I could not come close to running another 5K at the same pace. After having many experiences throughout my career where the wheels have come off, I could feel that this fate was soon approaching and all I could do was hope that the damage would be minimal. Then, to my surprise, the wheels stayed on. I certainly wasn't in a position to make any major surges or go after the people that had already pulled away, but I was able to maintain that pace and stay in control.

So long story short, I didn't run anything spectacular, but I was very pleased to have this effort as a benchmark and a starting point as I move forward. I was able to take some positives from the race and find out a few things about my current fitness.

More importantly, however; were all the positives I took away from the experiences of this weekend. I saw a lot of people in the few days that I was home and was reminded of how great some of these people really are. Once again, I hosted the annual Summerpalooza at my parents home in an effort to get these amazing people together at least once a year. With the exception of a few select people that couldn't make it, pretty much all the key players were there. Not one person in attendance was living in the Auburn area and people traveled from as far as Eastport, Connecticut, New York, and even Texas to be a part of this. It was pretty incredible to see these people all together again to make this such a success.

With life often getting in the way, I see some of these people only once a year. Often times, such an infrequency of visits causes a friendship to wither away. Not with these individuals! ...a firm handshake, a long embrace, and a smile on their faces makes you feel like nothing ever changed. It's those friends that I know will be a part of my life forever and are the reason I do this every year.

I've had a lot of people (many that I consider my friends) criticize some of the decisions I've made. Initially, I was hurt by these criticisms and their lack of faith in my beliefs, but then I was surrounded by people that have more faith in me than I could ever imagine. These are the people that have lifted me to be who I am today and have allowed me to take these chances that I'm taking. I'm not gonna lie, it's been a tough year... and I'm still struggling. Now that I'm 3000 miles away from those that truly believe in me, I can't afford to lose any faith in myself. No one can give me the things that I'm looking for... I have to go out and find them on my own.

To those that I mentioned above (you know who you are), thank you for a great week, a great year, and a great life. Keep those dreams alive and know that you have others dreaming right along with you.