Joplin Jaunt

AM: 6 miles
15 mins. core

After a busy day of travel and an evening of math games with my cousin Preston--smartest 8-year-old you'll ever meet--Jordan and I were understandably exhausted last night. Does that justify being asleep--not just in bed, but asleep--before 9pm? Perhaps not, but the 10 hours of uninterrupted slumber was absolutely blissful. This morning we took our time getting moving and enjoyed a few cups of coffee courtesy of my aunt Kelly before heading out the door for our run destination: the Missouri Southern State University track. Jordan's schedule called for an 800m workout, and as per usual I would just be tagging along. We figured that a university track would be practically deserted at 9am on a hot and sticky Saturday morning--imagine our surprise, then, to discover that we couldn't be farther from the truth. Since the old timers were on the track, that meant we were relegated to the surrounding areas. We used this opportunity to scout out the MSSU cross country course (future site of the 2011 Division II National XC meet) and the roads surrounding the campus. Certainly not ideal, but we had no other choice given the unforseen circumstances.

I should also mention that I'm halfway disappointed and halfway relieved that we missed out on this year's Boomtown Days Half Marathon by a mere week. Jordan and I both had horrendous races there last year, but judging by this year's results at least one of us could've won some coin. Oh well, maybe next time.