Week in Review

60 miles
30 mins. elliptical
0 doubles
3 AFDs
5 states (NC, MA, NH, MA, RI)

Before I comment on this week's training, I first want to express my gratitude. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who sent me their thoughts, prayers, well-wishes, text messages, emails and donations on behalf of my family members in Joplin. As one benefactor stated, "I know we're not in close touch, but this running world and industry is one big family." Never has that been more apparent than after the outpouring of support I received this past week. For that, I thank you all. If you've not yet donated and have an interest in doing so, please see my previous blog post for both a mailing address and a PayPal account.

Though running is somewhat insignificant when compared to the events in Joplin, it is nonetheless what all my many adoring fans (read: my dad) look for on this blog, so I would be remiss without providing a brief recap of last week's activities. True to my word, I took a "down week" that consisted of significantly lower mileage, no doubles and no workouts. Doing so was hardly difficult. I spent the early part of the week in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, meeting with the rest of the Karhu North America team to learn about the exciting Karhu and Craft lines for Spring/Summer 2012. If you think that means we spent all day lounging around and logging miles, you'd be wrong. Tuesday's meeting lasted almost 11 hours and Wednesday's wasn't much shorter, which meant my runs were early and relatively brief. Portsmouth is a charming New England town, and what it lacks in terms of running paths and trails it makes up for with beautiful harborside views. My personal highlight was running across one of the nearby bridges solely because the other side was home of Kitterly, Maine. Prior to this week both Maine and New Hampshire were states I needed to cross off my travel "list," so I was psyched to easily traverse between the two in the course of a single run.

Originally I'd planned to undertake a rather cumbersome cab/bus/train combination down to Providence on Friday morning, but fortunately two of my coworkers who live in Providence graciously offered me a ride at the close of meetings on Thursday. Jordan flew out on Thursday morning and was eager to relive his glory days so without further ado we commenced our holiday weekend a bit early. I spent the majority of the following three days repeating the mantra "This is his special weekend. This is his special weekend" over and over in my head, as most of the time I felt like I'd fallen asleep and awoken in the middle of a "Van Wilder"-meets-"Animal House"-meets "The Hangover" scenario. I've never seen more doctors, lawyers and other Ivy League advanced-degree holders behaving in a more juvenile manner, but it was clear they were having a blast and their shenanigans were (mostly) harmless so I refrained from objecting too loudly.

Though there weren't too many ladies in the mix, I was grateful to have my friend Kim around for most of the weekend. After an incredibly courageous performance during last month's Boston Marathon (during which she gapped the entire field by almost a minute at the halfway point), Kim sustained a soleus tear and a DNF that was just as emotionally painful as it was physically. Fortunately she has healed quickly and is back on her feet already, so I was eager for us to log some miles together. Not only did I get to tag along for several runs with the RHT (record holding trio) of Kim, Molly and Roisin but I also recruited Kim for shopping and day drinking and generally helping me put up with the silly boys. Definitely a clutch performance by Ms. Smith.


Memories! Jordan and I at Campus Dance '08, our first "event" together


Brown '06 classmates, teammates and best friends:
Craig, Jordan, Owen and Tushar reunited at Campus Dance '10

After such an exciting and exhausting week, Jordan and I could both use some time to rest and relax. Unfortunately neither of us will get it, as he departs for DC on Tuesday and I'm off to work 13.1 Chicago from Wednesday on. This means I'll probably be frontloading my mileage for the week, which might actually work out well since I'm planning to race the half marathon on Saturday. The temperatures are sky-high here in Charlotte and I can only hope for some reprieve in the Midwest next weekend. Either way I plan on putting forth a hard effort with the goal of earning a PR and the victory. The down week is over; it's time to get back to work!