So it's only the third day of the trials and I feel like so much has happened since. I was walking around the festival on Friday and there were soooo many people there- a bit overwhelming actually.

The track races have been great: Tyson's Gay american record in the 100 during the heats and Jeff Demps new high school American Record. It was awesome to see the pure joy on Kara Goucher's face when she realized that teammate Amy Begley achieved the A standard and made it.

I was hoping that Chanelle Price would have advanced in the women's 800 but the trip up took more out of her then I thought. I was also hpoing that Lisa Koll from Iowa State would have ran better in the 10k- she had a great college year and I was hoping she would extend her season.

Now for a few other items NOT on the track. I read an article about the parking situation around Hayward Field and how horrible it is. It said that if you park in the wrong place then you will pay $12 for the ticket. Well it's $20 to pay for parking anywhere else. SOOOOO I was thinking I can park almost wherever I want for however long I want and only pay the $12 ticket. NO I HAVE NOT DONE THIS AND I AM NOT SUGGESTING YOU DO THIS but the idea definitely crossed my mind.

I was able to go to the adidas house where there was a press conference with Tyson Gay. He showed off some new adidas gear and also spoke about  the trials, Usain Bolt and may other topics. The interview was cool but the frat house that adidas rented looked awesome.

Two other events that I really enjoyed was visiting the wooden statue athletes. It's so hard to really put it into words but if your in Eugene make sure you stop by Birch and Fairmount. It's very amazing.

I have been by the adidas tent at the Villard Street Pub the past few days checking out that whole scene. On Saturday they had a Hootie 5k run. What is a hootie?? Well after talking to a few different people I finally got an answre but it took some time. It was just a really fun 5k with all different people doing it. There were past Olympians like Gary Fanelli, well known Brooks coach Kevin Hanson and many other runners. What a great day!!

WHAT DID THAT SAY???

Yes don't worry I didn't just put the word "sex" in the title to get people to see this blog (bit it worked I know).

So about a week ago I was at practice talking with a few teammates and we were debating whether or not having sex the night before affects your performance. Well, I did a little research and found out that it does NOT affect your performance. It might be different for each individual but for the most part it doesn't affect you.

Check out the article I read.

So while I'm in Oregon in nice cool weather- about mid 50's-60's the past few days, New York has been getting hit hard with some brutal BUT usual summer time conditions. The last few days have been in the 90's and I know the humidity makes it feel even worse. But on top of all that there are always track races to be run. On Tuesday at Icahn Stadium they had a low key meet with some good times. Men's 1500 winner was at 3:51 and a few 800 races in the mid 1:55's.

A few good races but the best part about the entire meet (not like I was there, but just from reading the results) was the 2nd place guy in the 1500. This "nobody" ran a 4:08 1500.

You gotta love the creativity of New York.

So I got to watch Webb at the Pre Classic this past weekend and to be honest I was hoping he was going to run faster, but I'm hoping he'll be ready to go by the trials. In an Olympic year that's all that matters- make sure you're ready to run fast when it means the most.

I was looking around at some of the other events on the site I came across the Milers Series. To my surprise I saw that Webb was entered in the 800. Unfortuatnely I won't be at the race but I would love to see him rip up the track and run something fast. I feel like he hasn't had a great start yet (and he already had a few races this year) so a good 800 will help shake some dust off.

Best of luck to Webb!!

So over the past two days in Boston the city had some great Marathon races. I saw a picture of Lance Armstrong running Boston this year and I think it's great. Although I wouldn't consider him a regular celeberity, I get a kick out of celebs who run a marathon. Because he's an athlete I feel that he is in shape and can take the abuse of training for a marathon. Remember when Puff Daddy ran the New York Marathon in 2003? When celebs like Puff Daddy (people not in the athletic part) do marathons it becomes even more amusing. Will they finish in one piece- who knows? During P-Diddy's marathon debut I had my coach and his friend pace and escort him throughout the entire race. Both are runners and have police backgrounds so it worked out well. I came across these pics the other day and wanted to put them up- enjoy!!!

Friday Night under the lights 5k at Western Oregon didn't go well at all. I don't even want to say 5k race because it was really slow and bad. So even though the race was Friday night it took me a couple of days to figure out whether or not I shoulld blog about this and what the title should be, so here it is.

About a mile into the race a guy starts drafting off of me, something that I don't really care about. It doesn't bother me- it was windy and cold that night. He then gets in front of me and I stay behind him. It feels like he's slowing down so I go to pass him and get in front of him again. After the start/finish we go around the turn and he says to me "you're slowing down". Now in all my years of racing I've never had somebody tell me I'm slowing down, but then again I've never ran this slow. So I yell back to him, "then go around". And I'll admit, I was thinking- what a jerk this guy is. You tell somebody they're slowing down in a race. Yeah I can tell I'm slowing down buddy, thanks forthe ingsight.

So after a few seconds he says let's run this together. He passes me again and is lane 2 as we get towards 200 meters and he's pointing into lane 1 like he wants me to get there and run the race as teamwork. I never made it back up there.

After the race he comes up to me and apoligizes basically saying that he wasn't trying to be a jerk about it, but just trying to get me going again. He knew I was slowing down and wanted a little help to get back up to the front.

So I'll admit at first I was thinking this guy was a jerk BUT it was def really cool that he tried to help me out, it's just too bad it didnt work out at all. So if he reads this- no hard feelings.

The biggest meet this past weekend was the DI National Championships at the Tyson Track and Field Center in Arkansas. While there were some good races and performances, there were only a couple of great Noo Yawk performances. But, this weeks winner is SHANA COX.
Cox is a senior at Penn State who placed 4th in the 400 running 52.57 in the finals winning her heat by a nice margin. In her career at Penn State she holds numerous school records including the indoor 300, 400 and 500 as well as the outdoor 400 along with some relays. She has multiple All-American certificates with her best finish coming at the 2007 outdoor 400 (2nd place).
Cox is from Westbury (on Long Island) and went to Holy Trinity High School. In her years at Holy Trinity, she was considered the next great runner. She held the national high school record for the 300 meter dash (37.59) and was a three time National Champion.


Other Notables

The LSU women's 4 x 400 team for winning the National Championship. Now, there is nobody on the team that has any ties to New York (the closest is from Philadelphia) BUT when you name your daughter after a place in New York then it makes everything all right. The winning team consists of Brooklynn Morris, Nickiesha Wilson, Latavia Thomas and Deonna Lawrence.

Another mention goes to Josh McDougal. Now I know he was the big favorite and he didn't win either the 5k or the 3k. He was 5th in the 5k (14:58.62) and 6th in the 3k (8:03.77) but he still earned two more All-American awards. Of course I think he should have won at least one of those races but it didn't work out. That's why National Championships are funny- it's not about the time it's about leaving with the title. Also, for those that don't know, McDougal lived in Peru, New York where he was home schooled during his high school years.


Congrats to all Noo Yawkers and good luck at the upcoming meets.

For part 2 of cross country I will take you through Van Courtlandt Park- one of the most famous cross country places in New York. In case you missed part one you can check it out here.

Now for the fun part- New York style XC. As I already said, I am a bit biased, I've raced in New York all my life. In high school, college and post collegiate I've ran the same courses and have ran pr's on these courses. I know all of that has a big say in this debate because I feel that until you really get to know a course you won't run too fast on it. Once your confident in knowing where you are on the course and how much left it becomes a lot easier- well at least that's how I look at it.

I know that there has only been three previous winners of the Noo Yawker of the week and it makes sense to "spread the wealth" BUT for this week it is a repeat winner- JENN STUCZYNSKI.
As I said I was thinking of other people who had an amazing week but nobody else performed as well at such a high caliber event. What did she do?? Stuczynski placed 2nd at the World Indoor Championship in Valencia this past weekend. She vaulted 4.75 meters which was an indoor best and second best ever for her. 
Read more on Stuczynski's lifetime performances and check out this video.

Other Notables
At the UW Last Chance Meet this past weekend in Washington the mile was the a hot race. Top two went sub 4 minutes and the top four were under 4:02. Kyle Heath from Syracuse ran 4:01.68 (NCAA provisional time) to place 4th but set a new school record. He ran more than a second faster then the previous record of (4:02.79) set earlier this year on February 2.
Check out the Syracuse University website recap.

At the IC4A Championship in Boston, Tim Hodge from Stony Brook University won the men's 3k in 8:04.42 (NCAA provisional time). The Long Island based University has been getting better and better over the years and it shows with their New Zealand import. Hodge set a new school record and also became the first IC4A champion in school history. Check out the Stony Brook recap or look at Hodge's profile.

Congrats to all of the Noo Yawkers on another fine week of performances.

 This past weekend showcased some good competition with teams competing at conference meets or last chance meets. But there was one individual who stood out more then anybody else - PETER KOSGEI.

Kosgei attends Hamilton College (DIII) and competes in the New York State Collegiate Track Conference. This weekend he won two events and helped his team set a school record in the third. On Friday night, he ran the mile leg on the DMR team running a 4:03 split. His team's time was 10:18- good enough for a school record. On day 2, Kosgei set meet and facility records by winning the 1000 (2:27.82) and the mile (4:10.54). He was named Most Outstanding Runner of the Meet. In the mile he went through 2:09 at the half and then picked up the pace. During his 1000 he dropped a 26 second last lap- pretty impressive. Read more about Kosgei and his accomplishments this season at the school website.

Other notables

Here a few other people that had some impressive performances:
Stony Brook University's Lucy Van Dalen won the women's Mile at the NYU Last Chance meet. Her time of 4:46.50 was almost 10 seconds in front of the next competitor. Van Dalen who is from New Zealand is in her freshman year at Stony Brook.

Okay, so this girl has absolutely no ties to New York but still very impressive- Heather Dorniden. She ran the 600 in the Big 10 conference race. In the lead with 200 meters left she fell and hit the track hard. But she got up so quickly she was able to overcome the 30 meter deficit and win her heat- a must watch. Here is a link to the video clip, her race is towards the end, but definitely worth watching.