Red Dirt Harriers

So I had this really eloquent, pithy write up of the week surrounding the OKC marathon. It was Norman Music Fest, Jenny's birthday, and then I was going to recap training and all. Well somehow I lost it as I hate typing these posts from iPad. Suffice it to say that I had a lot of fun that week, ran 2:37 in a very controlled effort in conditions which I hate. I recovered fine after an awesome backyard crab boil, but then travelled to the Green Bay marathon only to be have my effort stymied by the weather. I actually finished but the assholes decided to only indicate the finishers in the top 5 of each gender. I thought I was running conservatively enough going through 1/2 in 75' but everybody slowed and the nature of the course almost ensured that. I ceded 5th place around mile 23 when I stopped to stand in a sprinkler hoping I could regroup and make up the gap, but that didn't happen. I'm most frustrated by again getting two separate races where weather just killed my po...

I'm sitting here waiting for the Oklahoma summer heat to abate. I've elected to hang out in Stillwater for the summer which is pretty low-key and relaxing. I have some great training venues, with the cross country course literally feet away, the track less than a 1/4 mile away and dirt roads less than a mile. It's allowing me some time to rest physically and mentally from the last six months. There were alot of miles run and some frustrations in different respects and so I opted to change my surroundings. The summer around here really tests you're resolve and I have yet to really get anything going in training. Last week, I was in southern California with friends and managing to effectively stay up way to late, drink way to much beer and waste alot of time in traffic. It was a good time and made it apparent how tough a stimulus consistent 100+ degree heat is. I could spend all day there outside and have little lingering fatigue, whereas here its an hour here or there....