Wow, trips over but we've just entered the halfway mark in the last push of the race calendar before the big month off from running. Now comes the hard part. I've got a 50 miler next weekend that I decided it would be a good idea to do the week after worlds. Of course this was before I knew if I'd made it to worlds. Honestly, I'm really looking forward to it. Scared to death, but looking forward to it. Why? I'm not sure. It's something new, I've never done something like this before. I like the unknown. People have been asking me why I'm doing that and I haven't come up with a good answer but I think that's what it is. It's a new adventure. I'm bored with what I know. I've done the roads, track, xc and now I'd like to take my running to another realm that I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing. And it is pleasure, I truly enjoy the run, the journey, as much as I do the competition. The 50 miler's a whole new ball game. Could go well, could go up in flames or maybe not so dramatic. Either way, I'm afraid of it. It's going to hurt and that's forced me to plan more than I've had to for a race in awhile. That planning forces me to be more invested in it too. It's a good feeling. I like a good adventure. I need to do this more often.  So, on to something new. 

April 11th is Pear Blossom 10 miler in Medford. If I can walk then that's the plan.  Most of you that read this may know what Pear is but it's a special race for me. The hometown race. I've been doing this race since high school. Several of my old teachers from middle and high school still put the race on and it has become a tradition for me and a connection to where I've come from. It's one of my favorites in my race calendar and if at all possible won't miss it for anything. It's not your typical weekend annual Fourth of July 5k that a few people come out for. The Pear is the largest running (possibly just the largest sporting event but I don't want to label it falsely) event in the Rogue Valley and is an integral part of the Pear Blossom Festival with Parade, Pageants, and other events. It attracts over 1000 people to the 10 mile run plus another 500 or so for the 5k and 1 mile walk. It gets coverage on the front page of the newspaper sports section for two days in a row and all the local news channels as well. How many local races can claim the kind of community intimacy that the Pear attracts? That's why I love it and look forward to it every year. I don't know if this is common in the ranks of the elite but this is how I stay grounded and connected. It's important for me to have something to come back to. Part of my past, call me sentimental. There are other reasons to run races than competition and prize money. I feel like it's something we've gotten away from. The 70's and 80's when runners like Bill Rogers and Frank Shorter would show up to small town road races. Maybe they were there for the prize money but I'd like to think it was more than that, just the thrill of a race and the joy of camaraderie. In 1980, Frank Shorter won the Pear. There's still no prize money. 

I'm considering trying to drive like a Jordanian for a few days when I get home. I'm kind of wondering how many fingers I would get. They aren't bad drivers but they drive very different than in the US. The best way to merge into traffic is just to give your horn a quick blast and nose your way on out. Drivers will just continue to go around you until you get too far out for them to get around and then you're in. And nobody has road rage, incredible.

Anyway, whirlwind day. Of course it was pretty uneventful for the morning. Sitting around the hotel, breakfast, light 10min run, movie, lunch, load up to the course. That's when the fun started. The next 48hrs will be non-stop. By now you've most likely seen results of the races. We've been without internet or any way to communicate since before we left for the race course (so it's not my fault this is late). I have to say, the course was pretty unbelievable, and if anyone will believe me, it was a lot of fun. Up, down, up down,... And it lived up to it's pre-race synopsis as brutal. The race went out moderately fast for the first uphill 200m, then settled in for the 600m downhill. I continued to weave my way from mid pack at the top of the hill to the top 10 by the bottom and settled in for the short flat section before the climb. Ran my own race up the climb letting the main pack gain some ground on me before catching back up on the downhill again. The pack slowed on the flat section and I was able to relax and just settle in to my own rhythm. Everyone was being pretty conservative knowing that that 5th and 6th laps were going to be pretty grueling if the race was pushed from the start. I knew I had to run my own race if I were going to run my best so I let the pack run away from me as they ratcheted up the pace going up the hill for the second time. This was about the time Bobby passed me and held on to the USA lead for a couple laps. By the end of lap 5 I was able to reel Bobby in and Ryan had caught up to us. With a hilly race like this strengths and weaknesses become very obvious. My weakness is definitely the uphills but I can make up for that on the downhill. Too bad we finished on the uphill. Ryan crushed the last two laps and especially the last climb up to the finish, as did Bobby while I held my own, even passing a few people on climb, and was third for the US and 40th overall. Ryan was 33rd and Bobby 37th. Ed Torres (my roomie) was right behind me in 58th an Ed Moran was just behind him in 68th with some nasty blisters. And Bret was 75th. The US ran smart, pacing was even and we put everything we had out there. It was an eighth place showing behind teams that couldn't be caught YET even on our best days (top 6) and Spain who had a very strong team. I'm happy with my race. It is definitely the best of my three World XC events yet. Hopefully that trend will continue. The course played to my strengths sure, but my mind was in the right place, fitness was good and I learn a little more every year about how to run in the middle pack.

We were eighth but one thing I see every year is how lucky we are as Americans and the opportunities that are just given to us, not without putting in the work, but I know other people around the world also put in the effort to be the best runners and they don't have the opportunities we have. Our federation, the sponsors on our backs, and the staff that supports us does a phenomenal job every year to get us here, give us the best support so that we are physically and mentally ready to race, and the best equipment on earth. It just reminds me that with the support system surrounding us, the runners, we certainly can't take anything for granted. It doesn't have to be like that and I hope we remember that during our last interval in the freezing rain, or the last climb in our third workout of the week, or the reason we've been in the pool for an hour and a half on saturday morning with a stress fracture, We have support because we work for it and I'm thankful for it..

How many people do you think have had the chance to cut a rug with Doug Logan, the CEO of USATF. That's right, Logan actually got out on the dance floor with the USA team and the rest of the mob. This was by far the best after party I've been to. Amazing full buffet, with beer and wine, decor and lighting that would be more than you could ask for at a formal wedding, and club dj's mixing tracks like it was the hottest nightclub in town. The Jordanians pulled out all the stops to put on an excellent event. And Doug Logan was on the dance floor, I've got pictures, as was the rest of the USA. Whether it was the foreign country, the seclusion of the USA team at the hotel, or whatever reason, this team has meshed better than any other team I've had the chance to run on. On previous trips I've barely gotten to know the juniors or the women's team but this trip has been quite the opposite. It was a pleasure to get to know the other athletes I run with and against better and I know that our relationships will last long after the trip is over.

Last Leg:

Up at 5:45 after going to bed at 2:15am doesn't feel good. We headed to Petra, one of the new 7 wonders of the world. It was awesome. Petra is in Indiana Jones and I can't remember which one. It's the big temple carved into the rock as they ride horses down a slot canyon. Kind of reminded me of Red Rocks in Las Vegas but 10,000 times bigger and with stuff carved in the rock. Is it bad I think I liked the rocks better than the spectacular carved buildings. The rocks are so cool and great for climbing. I just wanted to scramble up everything. And we all rode camels down the canyon. Pretty sweet day. Check out the pictures.

As I type, the bus is quiet. Heads are back and eyes are shut from exhaustion. The late afternoon sun shines horizontally though the bus windows as we rattle down the road. I think the feeling is one of satisfaction from a long week on the other side of the world, edging out of our comfort zones and a race well run.

That feeling of exhaustion is only half over as we're in the middle of the marathon travel adventure that will take us from Amman to Petra for a little end of the the trip sightseeing, back to Amman's Queen Alia Airport and on to home, a >24hr trip to the other side of the world. Yeah, bet my ankles won't be swollen after this trip. Right. Cankles!

The trip was a lot of fun

Friday March 27th - Jim Estes promised me mud. For a few days I had faith and believed him but my hopes and dreams were crushed today at the course preview. No mud, and what little there had been they were covering it with rock and dirt and rolling it out. What a disappointment. On the flip side this is probably about the toughest course I've ever seen. Turns out that a 20m hill is a pretty big hill. I guess it just doesn't register until you see the hill. The start is not a gradual uphill into a sharp left hand turn then a plummet to the bottom of a 600m long hill, then a short section of flat before the climb back to the top of the course. After 6 laps of that the finish comes right off the top of the course and continues a steep climb up. That should take any kind of sprint out of anyone trying to finish fast. So yeah, it's tough. Guess I should have been running more hills. We'll see what happens.

Other than that it was an uneventful day of sitting in the hotel like usual before a race. Pretty boring. We did play a heated game of Rummy in the evening of which I lost...badly. Hope that isn't indicative of tomorrow.

Well, here we go. Tomorrow is what we came here to do.

Thursday March 26th - Well no Govornator last night, just Antonio Banderas. What a day. 4am prayer, practice, roman ruins, downtown, mosques, taken by a cabbie, cabbie redeemed, now here. Here I am. Typing my day. Lets do it backwards. Not an hour ago I was frantically searching through my room for my camera I'd managed to hang onto all day. I had it when I got out of the cab right? Not right? Went downstairs to see if it was at the front desk and who do I see but the cabbie that had just sort of hustled us out of a bit more than we should have paid (our attache, Adam, said we were "very generous" when we explained it to him) with my camera. I quickly decided that he was a great guy and I was more than willing to pay him more. Adam even professed how surprised he was. So turns out that the cabbie was a pretty good guy and after all the cab ride home with the tour of King Abdullah Mosque was worth something a little extra. We, (Ryan, Bobbie, and I) had picked him up at the top of the Roman ruins and he had volunteered to take us to the mosque and show us around. He actually gave us a decent tour, took us inside showed us around and talked to the guards and stuff. Coming from downtown Amman the mosque was the last sight we needed to check off. The ruins we had come from had the best view of the city so we took the 10 min walk up the stairs from downtown and the old Roman Amphitheater. They just don't make them like they used to. 

After almost 2000 years a concert or play in this amphitheater would be quite a sight and an experience you wouldn't soon forget. It's steep enough that you wouldn't want to be inebriated in the cheap seats and "uncoordinated" people would be better off closer to the stage. 

A tour of downtown gave us the real flavor of Amman. A window shopping, souvenir shopping, turkish coffee drinking, dining on hummus and pita,  being mobbed by 10 yr olds cultural experience like no other. And that was just the afternoon. 

The morning was spent under more mundane activities. I got my morning run of 50min with strides in and I think my legs are back under me although it's hard to tell with just an easier run. We'll just have to wait until Saturday to find out. Had a beautiful sunny but crisp day for running and some field lounging. 

To finish off the morning we had a round of drug testing and I was lucky to escape this year, although it's not that bad since all the pre-race tests are blood tests. 

For those of you who think these trips aren't taken seriously and they're all just fun and playing in mud, well that's for tomorrow and Saturday. Gotta have a little fun while you're waiting for your legs to come around.  Time now to get down to bidness though, going to sleep, tomorrow is the course preview and rest and focus. Ayna ajedu al merhaad!

Wednesday March 25th - Spa day! Much needed too. Trip to the Dead Sea today after practice. Dude, I float. I've never floated, I sink like a rock usually. It was awesome, well novel anyway. And the mud there is heavenly. Greatest mud pit I've been in ever, at least since I used to play in the mud with the neighbor kid down the road.  The Dead Sea was pretty interesting. There's salt deposits on the edge of the sea, like big chunks, weird. The water's about 33% salt, 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. If you stick your finger in the water and then stick it on your tongue it's like a toxic chemical salt taste...maybe I shouldn't have done that. We stopped and took some pictures with a camel too. Interesting day. 

Anyway, back to training. Did a 70min mud run yesterday. Oh it finally stopped raining today too. But the run yesterday was capped off with 10 wet strides. I think that mud run was a bit more than I bargained for, I was pretty tied up, either from the mud run or just the plane trip. The workout today was 10 X 1min w/ 1min rest. Felt ok but had no endurance and legs just felt tight going up hill. I'm hoping I got it out and it'll be better tomorrow. Everybody felt that way so I feel a bit better. Did another short run around town in the pm to shake out. So that's that. 

Tomorrow it's "downtown" with Neil Young and right now we're vegging out to the Fox movie channel and the Govornator in Collateral Damage. Araka. Tosbeho.