Red Dirt Harriers

Fuck my legs- particularly my left one, interpret that however you please. In a perturbed haze, I sought out some political insight into this months various state elections. I'm intrigued by the fact that I know 2 of the candidates for the district 44 race in the state house, Emily Virgin and Isiah McCaslin. Most of the candidates are running with a surprisingly liberal slant, for Oklahoma, of course. Education is mentioned heavily along with personal freedoms, this of course gets pretty murky because one persons "freedom" is another's "protection of personal freedoms." Interestingly, as stated by the incumbent, Oklahoma is "#1 in the world in female incarceration," a noteworthy stat, if true. Also remarkable (if not fictional), is the idea that significant funding can be recouped by pulling state National Guard troops off the trail of pot growers. While I agree it's an unnecessary exercise, I think that I heard some of the most ridiculous idea...

I'm about to head over to The Abner to watch the culmination of a beautiful futbolistas and fervent fans with all manner of noise making equipment. I don't really find said eguipment to be "annoying" or "distracting." In fact I think it's an indication of the level of enthusiasm for the game that the fans can drink beer, wave flags, yell/spit/whistle at players/refs without a break. The sports animal WWLS is broadcasting from the bar which I also believe illustrates the fact that soccer is an unyielding force that should be more than just lightly accepted by Americans. It also illustrates the fact that sports is a sellout scenario and Jim Traber, ESPN, they can all be bought. Suck it! I'm going to eat sweet potato planks and drink quality beer to toast an epic event.

So since I last reported, I was in the thick of things in New Mexico grilling red meat every night and consuming bacon and beer for breakfast. The training camp had to end, of course, and now I'm back in muggy Oklahoma. I hesitate to really complain because the weather has actually been a lot cooler than it was while I was away and some people had to train right through the worst of it. In any case, I feel like I've re-acclimated to the summer conditions here and returned to my sleep deprived self. Mileage is still up but I'm sort of taking it a little more easily with the long tempo runs as those are more difficult in these conditions than anything. We headed to Ada, OK for the 43rd annual Fireball Classic and came away with mostly positive experiences. Jenny got a course record, C-top got his first quality race effort in, and I ran a decent time over a very rugged course. The guy's record is held by Conor Holt from '96 when he was evidently coming off the Big 8 10...