WIND. . . .my least favorite element

The wind around North Texas early this week was really wild. On Sunday and Monday, the wind blew very hard out of the South. I went for a 7 mile out-and-back run Monday afternoon and made the mistake of running with the wind at my back for 3.5 miles "out". On the return to my house, I literally thought the wind was going to lift me off of the ground. It slowed me to a snail's pace for the second half of the run. Here are some tips for the next run you do on a windy day:

1. If you must do an out and back run, start by running in to the wind. Then, the trip back will seem much easier.
2. Have your spouse or friend drive you for your desired run distance into the wind and do your entire run with the wind at your back.
3. Make it into a workout. Run into the wind for 1 minute hard, then turn around and run with the wind for 2 minutes.
4. Go to a track and do an interval or repetition session. An example: repeat 200s (run one with the wind at your back, then jog diagonally across the field back to the start).
5. Dust off the old treadmill. Personally, I hate running on treadmills but with Monday's wind gusts the treadmill would have been a relief.
6. Tuck your chin to your chest, grit your teeth, and suck it up! The wind only makes you stronger!

Track is Back!!

I love the month of March! Daylight savings gives us more outdoor time in the evening, flowers and trees are blooming, the weather is usually really nice, and track season kicks off. Yesterday, the boys at Krum had their first track meet at Iowa Park. I love coaching track because I get to see so many different types of kids compete--the throwers, jumpers, sprinters, hurdlers and distance runners.


Here are my top 10 favorite track and field memories:

10. Seeing Forth Worth O.D. Wyatt set the national high school record in the 400 Relay (39.76) at the 1998 State Track Meet.
9. Watching Logan Bowman (a Krum runner I coached) win the 1600 and 3200 at the Region II-2A meet in Stephenville (2005).
8. Attending the Penn Relays as a Freshman at Rice in 1999 and running on the 4x800 relay.
7. Setting the Rice school record and NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the Distance Medley Relay at the Notre Dame Last Chance Meet. I ran the lead off leg (1200 meters).
6. As a Senior at Childress High School, beating Vernon High School to win the 4x400 District Championship in 3:21. My teammates were Jerome Jackson, Eric Green, and Norman Drew (Grasshopper).
5. Seeing Luke Inman puke up his mexican food after splitting a 50 on the 4x400 at the Amarillo Relays. Luke was added to the relay after another runner was injured. He had gone to eat lunch at a mexican place with his mother only an hour before. We finished 3rd in 3:24--this was the first time I realized we could have a really good relay.
4. Running a 3:46 PR in the 1500 at the Texas Invitational 2001. Clyde Colenso of SMU rabbitted the race with perfect pacing. He completed the entire race (and made it look easy) to win in 3:43. Another SMU Mustang, Dalibor Balgac, finished 2nd with me close behind.
3. Attending the World Track & Field Championships in Edmonton, Canada in 2001. It was truly amazing to see the world's finest track athletes compete at their highest.
2. Seeing Krum Sophomore Coleby Borchardt win the Region II-2A 800 title in dramatic fashion and a personal best time of 1:57.17 (not bad for a Sophomore, right?).
1. Winning the 1998 Class 3A 800 for Childress. I can still remember every detail of that race.

I can't wait to add to the memories this track season!!

Cowtown Recap

I checked the weather forecast periodically throughout the week last week, and as Saturday approached, I was dreading the WIND. Sure enough I woke up at 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning to a howling North wind. I arrived at the race with my friends Tod Tieszen, Paul Polk and Shane Pierce at about 6:30. (See a picture of me and Shane above.) It was awesome riding to the race with those guys--a race is always more fun when you do it with a group of friends.

Before heading to the start line, Tod led the four of us in prayer. Despite the cold, I decided to run with just a singlet, shorts, hat and glove. At the start, a group of half-marathoners jumped out to the early lead. I quickly settled in behind this lead group. At about the 6 mile mark this group started to break apart, and the eventual winner took a commanding lead. I stayed close behind him until the half-marathon and marathon courses split at the 8 mile marker.

My goal time coming in to the race was 2:28; a 5:40 per mile pace. From the beginning of the race, I kept a plus/minus count of how close I was to 5:40 pace. By the half way point, I already had over 2 minutes in the bank. I took my first POWERBAR gel pack at around mile 15 and my seconde at mile 21. By mile 23, I had over 3 1/2 minutes in the bank, and so all I needed to do was maintain in the last 3 miles to exceed my expectations.

At mile 24, I merged with the finish of the half-marathon course. Many of those runners were cheering me on as I passed. As I made the final turn and had the finish line in my sights, I felt a rush of adrenaline. The police escort was bottlenecked by waves of half-marathon finishers, so I passed him up and gave my best effort to sprint to the finish. I crossed the tape in 2:25:13, my 3rd best time ever (over 3 minutes faster than my goal time).

My splits are below:

5:30, 5:45, 5:31, 5:19, 4:34 (this one and the next had to have been mis-marked), 6:19, 5:30, 5:30, 10:48 (I missed the 9 mile marker so this is a 2 mile split), 5:35, 5:27, 5:46 (this would be my slowest mile), 5:33, 5:30, 5:29, 5:41, 5:41, 5:32, 5:40, 5:20, 5:36, 5:28, 18:03 (at this point I was so excited about winning my 3rd Cowtown that I quit looking for mile markers and just ran)--2:25:13