Running Shorts

Welp, time for end of the year lists, time for reflection, time for taking stock on the recent past. LOOKING BACK AT 2014 2014 was, from my perspective, very much a return to form. I finally got back the consistency that had been lacking in my training since college. In 2012 and 2013, I was constantly shifting between race plans and training methods. I wasn't running consistent mileage, I wasn't doing appropriate development workouts, I wasn't training with any real plan in mind. I was just following my whims of the week. But a little over a year ago I stopped writing my own workouts and got a coach to do that for me. I picked a new focus on long-term development for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials, which gave direction to my training. I had stability in the workplace, so I could get into a regular routine of running. I focused on solid, fundamental training. And the results speak for themselves. I definitely had a few hiccups (summer hamstring woes) and a few disa...

Winter is the time most people relax and take stock in their fall racing season. Whether training for a marathon, a cross country season, or even a series of road races, racing often winds down as the temperatures drop and the days get shorter. Thanksgiving often mark a last hurrah, one final chance to see what you've got in your legs, before retreating back into the winter slog of base training for the spring. Not for this guy. I still have one final race on my schedule this training block: the USA Half Marathon Championship hosted by the Houston Marathon on January 18th. As it's name suggests, it's one of the premier half marathons for American athletes. I'll most likely be racing against some runner named Meb and other people like him. I'm going to get my ass kicked, and it's going to be fantastic. Wait...what? This race attracts the best runners in the country, and -- just being realistic -- I know I'm not quite at the level where I can mix it...

Sorry for the delay in getting this post out, I don't really have any good excuse. Holidays and such, I guess. Anyway, for the third time in the last four years, I finished second . (The one time I wasn't second, I was fourth.) So that's disappointing in a Phil Mickelson-esque way. My time this year was 30:48, which was a solid 30 seconds better than last year, but about 30 seconds slower than I ran earlier this fall at Minster (which, admittedly, is a much faster course with much more competition). Coming down the home stretch. The race this year was over by the first mile. By that point, Team USA Minnesota member and eventual winner Eric Finan had started to gap the rest of the lead pack. Going up Liberty hill around the mile and a half mark, that gap became a gulf, and all that was left was a race for second. By the time I was struggling up Liberty, I realized today just wasn't my day. So what can you do? Pack it in, gut it out, and don't let anyone...