What Ale's me?

This fall is turning out to be a real challenge in terms of getting the consistent running in that I'd like to.

Work has been busy, and I've been doing a bit of traveling which was not anticipated.

Now I find myself sick and out of commission! I woke up with it on Friday and sitting here blogging on Sunday night, I don't think I've reached the apex of the sickness. I'm hoping I wake up tomorrow and things have made a turn for the better, but we'll see.

We had an arctic blast hit Dallas on Wed. It was 75 degrees on my way in to work, and by that night, temps were in the low 40s. A drastic change like that is bound to bring out the bug in you assuming you've already been exposed, and with my entire office and kids sick for the past month, it was only a matter of time before I succumbed.

I went out in 39 degree weather for a great tempo run on Thursday morning. That must have done it for me.

I was able to get an easy spin in on the trainer on Friday, and tried to go for a light jog on the treadmill tonight (Sunday), but I wasn't feeling it, and bagged it after 20 mins.

I had my eyes on taking my wife's entry into the white rock half marathon in 2 weeks and going for my sub 2 hr goal, but I've missed my long run two weeks in a row, and think I ought to stick to the original plan of shooting for the Houston Half Marry.

Happy Thanksgiving

Long time no blog, I know.

To be honest, I really haven't had a ton to report on. I took my family and my parents to Atlanta a couple of weeks ago. I was sitting on the couch on Wednesday trying to figure out what to do that weekend, and 24 hours later, the plans were set. One of the benefits to working for an airline is spur of the moment trips.

Some know that I lived in Atlanta from 1995-2003, and went to undergrad there. It's a town I'm very fond of for a number of reasons, so it was great to go back and visit.

We were shocked at how much had changed in the past 4 years. Tons of development in town. Urban revitalization at its finest I'd say. Certainly a real-estate developer/investor's dream.

On Sat morning, we headed over to Emory U., my Alma matter, to walk around campus. Like the rest of Atlanta, Emory has been building, renovating, and expanding at a rapid rate. It looks great. We stopped by the P.E. Center, which had a third floor added to the top of it over the last couple of years to check out a Varsity men's soccer game (Emory was crushing Carnegie Mellon U.) then peeked in on the pool and saw the 4 or 5 guys who didn't travel with the team to Savannah, GA for a swim meet that day finish up their morning workout.

I graduated in 1999, and every men's team record has since been re-written since I left. The oldest record on the books was Sebastian Popa's 200 Butterfly record set in 2002, which I witnessed him set. Other than that, they were all 6 mos to 2 years old.

The team went through a drastic change while I was a student. When I was recruited to swim there, it was a sleepy team that didn't field a full squad and had to fight it out for 3rd and 4th place (out of 8 teams) in our conference.

By my Junior year, we had begun transforming into a more "proper" team training more like I did in High School (basically more often, smarter, and harder) and results followed.

No one will admit this, but Emory is now a top NCAA swim program due to the efforts of former assistant Coach Jessica Berkowitz. She was hired during my sophomore year and overhauled the attitude, recruiting, and training philosophy of the team taking us from a team with one top 10 finish at the National Championships ever, to a consistent top 5 finisher and eventual runner-up National Champion (the women's team won a national championships in '06). Without her overhaul, we wouldn't have landed the recruits we began to land, and the head coach we eventually hired who was able to take us over the top.

During my senior year, the men's team won our conference championships for the first time ever bringing down the Johns Hopkins dynasty. That year, we ended up 6th at the National Championships, and we've been top 3 nearly every year since.

Let me be perfectly clear, I feel I had more to do with the success out of the pool than in it. I was a good High School swimmer, but never bettered my best times in my best events, the 100 and 200 backstroke while in college. My PR's were set when I was 17 years old. Luckily, I was good enough as a high schooler to be able to continue contributing and scoring as a collegiate swimmer. We had some amazing athletes who were the reason for the team's success, but I like to believe that as a captain that year along with my co-captain, that we were able to foster an environment that set us up to succeed, primarily by helping to change the attitude of the team from passive and self deprecating to aggressive and confident.

Visiting the pool that morning brought back fond memories for sure. That was the first place I ever saw my wife, and were our friendship began. My closest friends from undergrad were teammates. When I looked down from the bleachers into the water, it was strange. How many hours did I spend in that water? How many miles have I covered in that little 50 meter x 25 yard space? How much suffering did I put myself through in that space? How much was learned in that space? In a way, it was like digging up a time capsule and revisiting old memories.

So the trip to Atlanta was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to visit again.

US Men's Olympic Trials

The results from the Men's US Olympic Marathon Trials certainly fill me with emotions that scratch both ends of my feeling spectrum.

In January of this year, I ran the Houston Half Marathon. After completing the race, I met up with friends who were out on the course watching and they mentioned that the lead runner who passed them out on the course was all alone, American, and absolutely flying.

That runner turned out to be Ryan Hall, who went on to break the American Record in the half marathon that morning while becoming the first American to break the "Hour" in the half marry with a 59:43. If you've got 15 minutes, this video is a can't miss.



That was Ryan's first half marathon. He went on to run the London Marathon in the Spring (His first full marathon) finishing 7th in a very deep field with a 2:08.24, the fastest debut marathon for an American breaking a record held by Alberto Salazar and Alan Culpepper.

Last weekend, Ryan Hall won the Men's US Olympic Trials with a 2:09.02 out pacing Dathan Ritzenheim and Brian Sell by 2:05 and 2:37 respectively. A very convincing win.

The connection I made with Ryan being out on the same course in Houston with him (though over an hour behind) this past January and the excitement he generated by coming out of nowhere to bring American distance running back on the map will forever earn him a spot in my heart and mind as I am now a loyal follower and fan of his.

Transpose this excitement with the news that Ryan Shay, who trained with Meb Keflezighi and Ryan up in Mammoth Lakes with coach Bob Larsen for a time, passed away during his attempts to reach his Olympic dream this past Saturday, and you can quickly become overwhelmed with confusion and mixed emotions. Though I have not seen results of the autopsy, news that he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart at a young age and other heart conditions in his family lead me to believe that there may be a correlation.

I could write about how we should all be grateful for our health or to visit our physicians regularly to ensure all is well, but at this point it all seems to be trivial or cliche.

We all know why we do it. I look at people doing Ironmans, Ultra Marathons, those attempting to summit Everest, or even something as simple as swimming so hard you puke or faint the moment you stand upright after climbing out of the pool. I get it, and I would never question someone who aspired to push their body to the limit. In fact, I find it more frustrating listening to the lay person talk about how stupid or dangerous it all is. In my mind, not knowing whether or not you can or can't, and not knowing approximately where your limit is is not living.


Ryan Shay 1979 - 2007