Has it really been two weeks since my last post? How did I miss the clamoring from my adoring fans? Have I already run out of things to write about? Au contraire!

The training for my half and 25k has been marching along. It's at that point when I am getting ready to get it over with so I can free myself from the shackles of my training program (by that I mean, run less) and get to race day. On the 18th I went to Lowden State Forest and ran from one end to the other and back again. I have begun to map out certain routes on trail runs and "race" them instead of just wandering around. It's part of the never-ending quest to keep it all as interesting and challenging as I can. Plus, afterward I can claim the FKT (fastest known time) for that particular route! If I never share the routes with anybody I can take the FKT's to my grave with me. It's a great plan!

Anyway, I put in 12 miles at Lowden Forest that day. Beautiful running weather, felt a little sluggish. My new trail shoes are still putting a pretty good hurting on my calves. The highlight was that I actually saw, you won't believe this, another runner! It is the only time I have EVER seen another runner at a park other than Rock Cut in Rockford, where you might see a dozen in an hour. You must understand that Lowden Forest is not the most heavily visited park in the state. In fact, sometimes I am the only person at the park as far as I can tell. So coming across another runner several miles into the park was so suprising it really almost brought me to a dead halt. As a friend of mine once said when I told him I liked to hike and run alone in the woods, "That's the craziest shit I've ever heard!". It was nice to see another lunatic out there running.

The next week I put in a solid 7 mile tempo run (another thing I won't miss: the tempo run) and then Coop and I ran a small fun run in the hills near Mt. Carroll called The All-Terrain Run this past Saturday. This ended up being the hardest 5k distance race I have ever raced, by far. The climbs were completely brutal and the descents were strewn with golf and basebell sized rocks. Throw in a couple of creek crossings and you had the makings of a really rough day at the office! I think we were quite a bit more prepared than most of the small crowd racing it due to the fact we do a fair amount of trail running and climbing. I finished second in around 29 minutes, though I was sent backwards at one water station, causing me to retrace my steps twice.  I probably would have been in at around 26 minutes, that's how tough this thing was! Coop blasted everybody there in a little over 22 minutes and one of the young cross country kids came in fifth, having a real breathrough run in my opinion. It's amazing how you begin to embrace the torment that you can encounter in very hilly trail running. It was Hell but I would run that race again this weekend if they let me!

Unfortunately, I still had a scheduled 13 mile run scheduled for the next day, my last real long one before the races. It went very well considering it was done in a steady downpour. I ran it in under 1:57 without much trouble, so I am hoping on half marathon day I can go just over 1:50. The only downside we that my right knee was pretty stiff afterward and hasn't improved much today. No pain, just not real good range of motion and stiff. Hopefully that will disappear during my taper.

The most interesting and exciting stuff that's happened lately is that cross country season has gotten underway! I was hoping for five kids that were "all in" and we ended having seven. In a nice suprise, my niece Maddie decide to go out for the team in her senior year, which means I get to coach Coop and her together. That is pretty cool! Also, most of them have been doing some sort of running over the summer so I am looking for it to be a pretty rewarding year. There is some talent there and already I am seeing pretty significant improvement in a couple of the kids, and we didn't start practice until last Wednesday. Oh, to be young again!

My goals for the cross country program are pretty simple: to encourage kids to run. I would be thrilled if ten years from now I see the one of them running the streets of Lanark or read on Facebook that they are training for a half marathon or something like that. I am not dreaming of building a juggernaught program or grooming state champions. I must admit, though, that my competitive fires are stoked a bit when I feel like we are being ignored. For instance, the other coach asked me to write up a short summary of the team for an area newspaper. I do it, send it in. Area round-up comes out: no mention of us. Thanks for wasting our time! For about about hour all I could think about was how great it would be to someday have a kick-butt team and then telling that paper to stick it where the sun don't shine when they came sniffing around! But that would be petty. Incredibly satisfying on a personal level, but petty.

Whew! I better have another Corona and chill out! Keep running...