I'm a 22 year old Junior at the University of Louisville.  I've been running since the 5th grade, but started taking it seriously in 7th grade when I made my varsity squad and ran at the state meet in cross country.  I prefer the longer events, thus in high school I was always better in cross country than anything on the track.  I qualified twice for the Footlocker National Championships, finished 33rd and 13th.  I qualified for the IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships during my senior year of highschool and ran in Japan, placing 60th.  I redshirted my first track season at UofL and came out the next season to hit personal bests in the mile and 5k indoors.  During outdoor I found my true calling at 10,000m, running 28:41 in my first 10k at Mt. Sac.  I went on that season to finish 13th at the NCAA Div I National Championships.  With all my redshirting I'll be around at Louisville for two more years.

Personal Bests

1500m: 3:53

1 mile: 4:09

3,000m: 8:15

5,000m: 13:54

10,000m: 28:41

A Slow Return to Running

It's been and will continue to be a slow return to running for me.  I went 10 weeks without running due to a stress fracture in my left tibia.  I've been released to run, but only very low mileage, and I haven't been aloud to run more than 2 to 3 days in row yet.  To make up for lost mileage I've taken up biking, swimming, and weight lifting, also I'm doing Jay Johnson's general strength routine, check out runningtimes.com if you'd like to see it.  Over all I'm excited for the upcoming fall, while I'm not sure what my fitness will be coming into the 2009 cross country season, I know I'll be good to go later in the season, possibly fresher than some runners who blasted too hard too early.  I guess the thing I love most though is just being able to run again. Something about just running a easy 3 or 4 miles just feels good, even if it is 80 degrees outside and you've got a killer side stitch.  Training continues on and my mileage ever so slowly crawls upward, but I'm enjoying the summer and the little running I'm aloud to do, so I'm content.