Running Shorts

Ok now, before I get any complaints about being arrogant or an elitist or anything like that, let me first give my definition of an "elite runner." The way I think of it, in the running world an "elite" is anyone who places competition before participation. Elite runners range the gamut from full-on professionals to the local fast post-collegiate runners; the term to me also includes high school and college xc and track athletes as well as masters and age-group competitors. More than meeting a certain time standard, being an elite runner is more about having a competitive mindset. So now that that's out of the way, let me also say this: while elite runners are often the most visible athletes to the general public, they do make up a minority of the running community. People are often intimidated or put-off by elites, thinking that the faster runners judge anyone slower than them as inferior, less worthy, "not a real runner," etc. Of course, when you a...

As per my fall racing schedule from last week, I raced the Hudepohl 14k this past weekend. It's a fun kickoff to America's largest Oktoberfest celebration. The race starts at right outside of the Moerlein Lager House, between the Reds and Bengals' stadiums. Heading west at the start, the course basically makes on giant loop around downtown and Over-the-Rhine, passing many historic breweries and -- of course -- a couple killer hills. Like the past couple years, the competition was a little sparse; however, Michael Eaton from Louisville showed up again. He won last year by about a minute, (and is a 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier) so I knew I'd have a tough race ahead of me. I finished second to Eaton in 43:36 and couldn't be happier. The race went out fairly conservative the first mile, and then I tried to get into a good groove and ratchet the pace down a little bit. From the start it was just the two of us, and it would remain that way for the durat...

So now that it's mid-September (what?!), I just realized I should probably post my planned fall racing schedule. My last race of the spring was the Hyde Park Blast ( read about it here ), which ended on a bit of a downer. Trying to push through a nagging hamstring injury, my spring races didn't end as well as I hoped they would. Since then, I've taken about 2 months away from racing, instead getting in some quality training. My hamstring is fully recovered and healthy, my mileage is back up in the 90+ per week range, and I'm running regular 20 mile long runs, 60 minute aerobic threshold runs, and hill repeats. Training's going great, and I've been feeling great during it. With that said, I've actually technically started my fall season. Two weekends ago, I ran the Zero Prostate Cancer 10k here in Cincinnati. This year was the first year this race has offered prize money: $250 for both the men's and women's winner of the 5k and the 10k. I chose t...