Kate O'Neill's Journal

April 5, 2008 Entry (Posted April 7, 2008)

On Monday night, I started to feel like my ears were a little clogged up. I had tried ear candling in the past and thought it might help again. Ear candles are made of waxed cloth in a cone shape. You insert the narrow end of the cone in your ear and then light the other end with a match. The cloth burns down slowly and supposedly draws wax out your ears. You stop and put out the candle when the cloth has burned down and the flame is getting close to your head. Many people have told me that this doesn’t work, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try.

The hardest part about ear candling is finding someone to light the end of the cone for you and monitor it as it burns. Luckily most of our team was over for a baking night. Deena was making delicious chocolate oatmeal cookies and Julia was baking extremely fudgy brownies (they were actually closer to fudge than brownies, which is definitely my favorite type). Out of the whole group, I figured at least one person would be willing to help with my ear candling activity. Steve Slattery jumped at the chance. At first I thought this was really nice of him, until he said that I should let him know when the flame had reached my head and started burning my hair because then he would put the flame out. My initial reaction was confusion because I thought that we should put the flame out BEFORE it reached my head, but then I realized that he was kidding.

The verdict is still out on whether or not ear candling works, but this recent activity has started me thinking about weird things that runners do. We are a pretty superstitious bunch. Over the years, I have met people who eat a Snickers bar 15 minutes before every race, write goal times on their racing flat, tape their nipples to prevent chafing, and use the same pins for bib numbers at every race. I haven’t done any of these things, but I have done plenty of things that non-runners must find absurd. The first thing that comes to mind is icing my legs in a creek up here in Mammoth Lakes. The water in this creek comes from snow melting down from the mountaintop. Not surprisingly, this water is painfully frigid. It also moves pretty fast depending on how much snow is melting. Last spring when the water was moving particularly fast, I almost fell over. Since I only planned to ice my legs, not my whole body, it would have been terribly unpleasant to completely submerge myself. Other odd runner behavior includes paying for massages that actually leave bruises on our legs; drinking liquid iron (it has to be the foulest tasting substance on the planet); napping during the day and sleeping at night for a total of up to 12 hours; and obsessively looking at a stopwatch. This behavior is all pretty weird, but nothing tops the decision by Gabriella Doria, the women's 1500-meter gold medalist at the 1984 Olympics, to bathe in wine to celebrate her victory. A bath of wine or any other fermented substance does not appeal to me, but we all seem to have our little superstitions, habits, and ways of celebrating.

January 14, 2008 Entry (Posted January 16, 2008)

First Race of 2008

I still haven’t gotten used to writing 2008. I keep writing 2007 when I am dating documents or writing checks, but the first race of the year has served as a wake-up call that we are definitely no longer in 2007. The Olympic year is here and for everyone training for the Beijing Olympics, we can sense a clock ticking.

2008 has gotten off to a strong start. For the first two months after the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, I was feeling a little sluggish. I had built my mileage back up and started doing workouts, but I still didn’t feel any “pop” in my legs when I tried to do shorter intervals and all uphill running felt much harder than usual. Seasoned marathoners had warned me that this might happen, but I had hoped that I could avoid it.

I had planned to start the year off with the Aramco Houston Half-Marathon on January 13, but at the beginning of December, I started to worry that I would not be ready in time to race. Last year’s race had been a fun way to start off 2007. My teammate Ryan Hall had set an American record and I had run a PR at the distance. I had hoped to start 2008 off in the same way so I kept plugging away at the training. Luckily, things started to take a turn for the better a week before Christmas. Maybe the holiday atmosphere, Christmas decorations, family parties, holiday baking, and gift giving were the cure that I needed to re-energize my running. Or maybe my legs were just needed those two and half months to fully recover from the Chicago Marathon. Or maybe I got an extra dose of inspiration when I ran on the marathon Trials course while I was in Massachusetts visiting my parents for the holidays. Whatever the stimulus for that turnaround, I’m glad that it happened when it did.

As I write this, I am on a plane returning from that trip [to Houston] and feeling tired, but excited. I won my first national championship. Breaking the finish line tape was a feeling I have not experienced in a long time. Above my seat, my new cowboy hat and silver belt buckle are carefully protected in my suitcase in the luggage rack. These were part of the first-place prize. Neither has ever been part of my wardrobe before, but I am very excited to show them off. I think it was immediately clear to everyone at the post-race press conference that I was a rookie at wearing cowboy hats because I put it on backwards when it was presented. I remember thinking that the hat didn’t feel quite right on my head, but didn’t realize my error until Victah Sailer of photorun.net pointed it out to me. I wore it around for most of the afternoon and now I can see why people like wearing them so much. It gave great shade from the Texas sunshine and my ponytail fit nicely under the top.

I am heading back to Mammoth Lakes this week to continue to training for the Olympic Marathon Trials. Hopefully the first two weeks of 2008 have set a good trend for the rest of the year!

November 24, 2007 Entry (Posted November 26, 2007)

After the La Salle Bank Chicago Marathon, I took a few “down-weeks” to recover. I spent a few weeks in Palo Alto with my boyfriend and then traveled to the East coast,

My first East Coast excursion was to my hometown, Milton, Massachusetts. I often get teased for telling too many random facts about Milton. Here is just a sampling…

• location of the first wooden leg made in North America
• home of the first piano factory in North America
• location of Big Blue (the tallest hill on the coast between Maine and Florida)
• birthplace of our 41 st president
• home of the oldest chocolate mill in the country

I could go on and on, but I will try to control myself and stop there.

With all that history, I obviously welcome any chance I get to visit. Last month offered the perfect opportunity. Milton High School was starting a Hall of Fame and my sister and I were being inducted into the inaugural class. It was a fun night full of inspiring sports anecdotes. My father went to MHS and then taught there for almost 30 years (which is where he met my mother who also taught there). Our family has very deep roots at the school and we all loved being part of an event that brought so many alumni back to the area. The only negative part of the evening was that it fell on the same evening as the third game of the World Series. As everyone knows, Red Sox fans are the biggest fans in the country (MUCH better fans than the Yankees). Luckily for me, my speech was early enough in the evening that I couldn’t be blamed for people missing the beginning of the game.

While I was in town, I also had the opportunity to take a tour of the Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials course with two members of the Boston Athletic Association (Carly Graytock who has also qualified for the women’s Trials and Terrance Shea who ran in the Men’s Trials earlier this month.) I couldn’t be happier that the Trials are so close to my hometown. The BAA puts on a spectacular event every year and they have done a great job promoting the women’s Trials. Every year on Patriots’ Day the excitement level in Boston raises a few notches for the Boston Marathon and I am sure that people in the area will embrace the women’s Trials with the same level of enthusiasm.

The next weekend, I went to New York City to watch the men’s Trials. It was amazing to watch Ryan Hall move ahead so decisively; to see Dathan Ritzenhein run a huge PR; and to see Brian Sell make his first Olympic team after steadily climbing the American marathon rankings over the last four years. Within a few minutes of watching these achievements, however, we learned the news about Ryan Shay.

I don’t think that I have ever gone from such an emotional high to such a feeling of devastation in a matter of seconds. I first met Ryan when we were both training with Team Running USA in Woodside California in the winter of 2006, but I followed his career for much longer. The first time I remember watching Ryan race was at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in 2001. My Dad and sister were there to watch. We were thrilled to see someone from Notre Dame, our Dad’s alma mater, racing in the 10,000 meters. We had no other connection to Ryan at the time, but all three of us started cheering for him. In hindsight, he didn’t even need any encouragement. He took the lead early and no one went with him. He kept pushing the pace and easily beat the rest of the field.

When I got to know him better a few years later, I saw that he gave everything in his life the same level effort. I’m echoing the words of many other coaches and runners who knew him, but he was honestly the hardest working and toughest person that I have ever met. At the same time, I got to see another side of him – the soft, caring side that he showed for Alicia and extended to his teammates and friends.

Watching the men’s Trials reminded me of a few things. It was inspirational to watch the men compete and was impressive to see how the New York Road Runners showcased the sport. The tragedy with Ryan’s death was a reminder of how much honor and dedication goes into the sport of running. I will carry these lessons forward as I prepare to compete at the marathon trials in Boston next April.

October 15, 2007 Entry (Posted October 16, 2007)

Heading into the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, I felt as well prepared as I could possibly be. My marathon simulation runs had gone well, no little injuries had popped up, and my legs had felt strong during my taper (sometimes I feel sluggish when I start to cut my mileage back in preparation for a big race, but luckily that did not happen this time). The only thing that was missing was the experience of actually having done a marathon. I had no idea what those last few miles would feel like. Before races, I usually try to visualize my race plan and imagine how I will feel as I execute it. When I tried to do that as Chicago drew nearer, I kept meeting a mental block around mile 20. Too many questions kept popping into my head and I couldn’t fully concentrate on imagining the last six miles.

In the last few days leading up to the marathon, we kept hearing weather forecasts saying that temperatures would be in the 80s with high humidity. I figured the heat might affect my pace, but assumed it would not be too bad as long as I drank all my fluids at the fluid stations. Looking back on it, that assumption was probably a little too naïve.

I felt awesome for the first half. The crowds were five deep in some places and full of encouragement (I still cannot get over how many people woke up early on a Sunday morning to cheer on the competitors). I kept finding myself smiling (not something that I expected to ever do in a marathon). I was hitting my splits and thoroughly enjoying myself. After reaching the halfway point, I started to notice the heat a little bit more. This was partly because the temperatures were rising, but the second half of the course also did not have as much shade from tall buildings as the first half. My mile splits started slowing down a little bit, but somewhere around the 25 kilometer mark, I heard my coach Terrence and teammate Jen Rhines yelling that I was in seventh place and that the sixth and fifth place women were within striking distance. Hearing that distracted me from my splits as I just concentrated on moving up in places. After I caught the next two women, I heard Terrence again and my boyfriend Adam. This time they both said to forget about times and just go after placing high. That was all the encouragement I needed to stop looking at my watch! (The splits I was seeing on my watch were rather depressing). I don’t really remember the rest of the race, but I guess that I moved into third place somewhere around the 35 kilometer point. The last seven kilometers probably made up the most challenging half hour of my life. The idea of running seven more kilometers seemed impossible. I could not imagine how I could run that much farther and instead just had to take one corner or streetlight at a time.

I knew that I was in third place for those seven kilometers, but I didn’t really think about what that meant until after I had finished. As soon as I crossed the line and realized my place, I was in shock. Placing in the top three at a major marathon was a goal for later years, not something I thought would happen on my first try. The feeling of elation was quickly replaced by feelings of sickness….My body was full of contradictions for the new few hours. First I was hot and wanted to dump water on myself, but then I got the chills and asked someone for a hot pack. I felt hungry and depleted, but the thought of most foods made me sick. I was very dehydrated, but didn’t want any water either. While that was all going on, I decided that I never wanted to do another marathon again.

Luckily that feeling was very short-lived. As soon as I had taken a shower, gotten my appetite back, and eaten a few pieces of deep dish Chicago pizza, I started to feel better. I have taken the last week off so that I can recover from the race. I know my body needs the rest, but I’m already getting excited to start training again and preparing for the Olympic Trials in Boston in April!

September 2007 Entry (Posted September 7, 2007)

Since writing my last blog, I am a month further into marathon training. The biggest adjustments I have had to make are: patience in the early miles and mastering the art of drinking during long runs and long tempo runs

I am definitely not a patient person. I like to get things as soon as I can (I usually have my taxes done in the middle of January). In workouts and races, I sometimes get anxious to run a fast pace and go out too hard. The last few weeks, I have been trying to improve in this area, but my last race, the US 20K Championships, did not show it. I ran the first half two minutes faster than the second half. Coming off a great race at Falmouth three weeks earlier, I expected to contend for the win, but my legs felt flat from the marathon training and not cutting back for the race. Although I did not have a great finish to the race, I am confident that I will show my full potential in the marathon in four weeks with proper rest and more strength training behind me.

I never gave hydration enough thought until the last month. Having water or a sports drink every 25 – 30 minutes during long runs has allowed me to finish stronger and recover better for upcoming workouts. It is tempting to skip taking a drink at the beginning of the run if I am feeling good, but I’m staring to learn that I will pay for it later. My boyfriend has been extremely helpful in this regard. He offered to ride his bike next to me for most of my runs and hand me my water bottle whenever I needed it. It seemed like a great idea until we realized that his bike had gotten rusty (it had been stored outside for a long time.) He borrowed a bike from a friend. The bike was top of the line, but it was not comfortable for him to ride because his friend is about eight inches shorter. I was worried that we would crash into each other at some point since we are both pretty accident prone. (I have fallen off the elliptical machine in the gym and he was in a bike accident at the beginning of his freshman year.) Luckily nothing like that happened again. He even started to like biking so much that he got a new bike.

I am heading back up to Mammoth Lakes tomorrow. I will be up there until the Chicago Marathon. After thinking of running a marathon for so many years, I can hardly believe that it is now only four weeks away!

Summer 2007 Entry (Posted August 9, 2007)

Marathon Training

Finally! This fall, I am finally going to run a marathon!

I have been running for 15 years. During those 15 years, when new acquaintances hear that I run, they almost always ask if I have done a marathon. (This happens even more often in the Boston area where I grew up since the Boston Marathon is such a big event). I’ve always answered “Not yet, but someday!” That often repeated “someday” has finally become a set date. On October 7, I will run the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon.

I knew that marathon training would be different from training for the 10,000 meters on the track, but it has still taken some adjustment. Terrence always sends us a spreadsheet with our workouts for the week. At the beginning of July, I was checking my workout for the next day. At first, I didn’t think the workout was unusual. I had 3 x mile followed by 200 meter repeats. Then I realized that I had two sets of that so the workout would be twice as long as I had originally expected. I decided it had to be a mistake so I called Terrence to check, assuming that he would he would confirm my gut instinct.

I did not receive the answer that I expected. Instead, Terrence replied the workout was correct. Now that I was preparing for the marathon, I should expect to be doing more mileage and workouts with higher volume.

Since then, checking workouts on my spreadsheet has not caused the same shock. The workouts differ from workouts that I have done in the past, but I have started to expect that.

Over the next nine and a half weeks, I will run two races on familiar territory. The first one will be the Falmouth Road Race. I first ran the Falmouth Road Race in 1994 with my sister when we were 14 years old. We did not train for it (our longest run before the race was only one mile). Our only goal was to run the whole race without stopping to walk and we struggled to even accomplish that! Our finishing time was well over an hour.

We ran Falmouth for the next 10 years. Not surprisingly, we found that training for the race really helped! As our mileage grew exponentially, we dropped about 25 minutes off our times. Hopefully I can continue with that trend on the course. Next up will be the USA 20K Championships in New Haven on Labor Day. I lived in New Haven for six years and never had the chance to run this race. Most years, I was moving into my dorm room that weekend and wishing that I were running instead of lugging a computer, futon, and boxes of clothes up three flights of stairs. I am incredibly excited to return to Falmouth and New Haven this year and race in places with so many memories.

After New Haven, I will go up to Mammoth Lakes again and continue to prepare for Chicago.

May 14, 2007 Entry (Posted May 16, 2007)

As I started to write this blog on the start of my 2007 track season, I could not help feeling shocked that it is actually 2007. The last three years have flown by! When I left Athens at the end of the 2004 Olympic Games, I remember sitting wide awake on 2 am flight from Athens to Frankfurt while everyone else around me caught some sleep. I was too excited to sleep. I had not run as well as I had hoped in my race, but I was already thinking about the 2005 track season and setting new goals for myself.

Almost three years have passed since that night. Unfortunately, I have faced some obstacles on the way to achieving those goals, but I am determined that this year will be different. I am going to reach those goals that I set in 2004!

My first two track races of the season were a 5K at the Mt. Sac Relays and a 10K at the Cardinal Invitational. Neither went quite as well as I had hoped, but I learned from the experiences. At Mt. Sac, I got a little carried away during the first 2K and went out too hard. That made the last 3K of the race quite painful, but I know that someday I am going to get strong enough to carry that pace for the full race distance. I will have a few more chances to run in competitive 5Ks during the summer and I am excited to lower my PR in the upcoming months.

At the Cardinal Invitational, I wanted to run the World Championship standard (31:40) or the Olympic Games standard (31:45). I was under the Olympic Games standard for the first half, but once again, I faded over the second half of the race. Looking back on it, I think that I could have run faster that night if I had not been so focused on achieving the standards, but I am glad that I went after the fast time.

My next race will be as a member of the US team for the Bolder Boulder 10K. I am excited for this event because it is one of the rare opportunities that distance runners have to compete as a team. My teammates on the US team will be Elva Dryer (the 2005 Bolder Boulder champion) and Sara Slattery (the 2006 champion). We will compete against other international teams and we will be scored cross-country style with points awarded on the basis of finishing place. The team with the lowest score for all three runners is the winner. Over the years, I have heard countless runners (both elite and recreational) rave about this race. Boulder must have the largest and most enthusiastic running community in the world, so I feel lucky to race there this year.

After Bolder Boulder, the big focus will be track nationals in Indianapolis (and another chance to go after the World Championship standard in the 10K!) Just thinking about these races has gotten me energized for tomorrow’s workout!

March 2007 Entry (Posted March 30, 2007)

My 2007 racing season has had some mixed results. In the middle of January, I ran at the USA Half-Marathon Championships in Houston, Texas. The pace went out a little faster than I was expecting, but I surprised myself by holding on to that pace for most of the race. The last few miles, I slowed down a bit, but as I get stronger and more confident at the distance, I think that I can finish at a better pace. I ended up placing second and running 1:11:47, a big improvement over my first half-marathon last fall. My only regret from the day was that I could not see more of the men’s race. I saw the lead men around the 7.5 mile mark when they had turned around and started heading back to the finish line. My Team Running USA teammate Ryan Hall already had a huge lead at that point. It was exciting to see, but I still had another 5 1/2 miles to go before I could find out by how much he had smashed the American record! Since then, I have watched some of the footage on Flocasts. It’s not quite the same as watching the race live, but it is still inspiring of course.

After that race, I started to get excited for cross-country nationals in Boulder, Colorado. Workouts were going well and I was pleased with my progress. Unfortunately, the race went terribly. My excitement got the better of me and I went out too hard which caused me to fade badly over the last half of the race. Going out too hard is always more painful at altitude than at sea level. After training at Mammoth Lakes for so many months, I should have learned how to pace myself better.

The Gate River Run, which serves as the US 15K championships, was a better indicator of my fitness level. I was hoping to break the 50 minute barrier, but missed it by 6 seconds. My goals for the rest of the year are higher, but it is a step in the right direction. Team Running USA was very well represented with Deena Kastor and Jen Rhines placing first and second in the women’s division and Meb Keflezighi and Ryan Hall taking the first two places in the men’s race.

This week, we are heading down to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. I am looking forward to training at sea level and getting in some speed workouts before I start running track races. Over the next few months, our training group will be split up as Deena heads to the East Coast for the Boston Marathon and Meb and Ryan travel to London for their marathons. They have all been running amazing workouts so distance running fans should expect to see the US well represented!

December 8, 2006 Entry (Posted December 15, 2006)

The last time that I wrote for the NYRR blog, I had just started running again after missing the summer track season with a stress fracture in my foot. The injury has healed well - I have not noticed it at all! When I returned to training and did not notice any residual pain, I was excited and tempted me to start doing more mileage than my coach Terrence had recommended. Yet with much self-control, I managed to resist. Since I returned to running in August, my mileage has increased, my workouts have progressed, and I have done three races.

My first race was the Running of the Bulls 5K Fun Run in Palo Alto, California.  This race was unlike any other in which I have participated.  Inspired by the annual bull-running in Pamplona, Spain, people from the community run through local neighborhoods in Palo Alto, alongside elite runners, dressed as bulls and cows.  Later in the day, children participate in a track and field clinic and compete in races too.  The event raises money for the area public schools and for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team in Training.  Instead of wearing my usual Nike singlet and shorts, I wore a cow costume complete with udders, a tail, and horns and received a lot of compliments on my new attire (translation: I’ll stick with Nike gear any day of the week).

A month later, I ran the Big Sur Half Marathon with my Team Running USA teammates Jen Rhines and Ian Dobson. This was my first time running the 13.1 mile distance, yet the time passed surprisingly quickly because the course is so scenic. Most of the race follows the coast and anyone who has watched the Pebble Beach golf tournament on television knows this is one of the most beautiful places in America. I approached the race like a workout and was pleased with my efforts. Having now experienced the half marathon distance, I am looking forward to improving my time when I race in the National Half Marathon Championships in January.

Back to racing shorter distances…last week, I ran the Manchester Thanksgiving Day Race in Manchester, Connecticut. The race is an unusual distance – just over 4.7 miles. David Monti of the New York Road Runners recently called this race "the granddaddy of all the [Thanksgiving Day] trots" in an article for RunnersWeb.com. Almost 10,000 people register to run a year and many come dressed as Christmas trees and other holiday items. It is also one of the first races that I did as a professional runner so it holds a special place in my heart.

I didn't run quite as fast as I would have liked, but I could see progress in my fitness level. One of the other perks of racing the Manchester Road Race is that the course is only two hours from my parents' house outside of Boston. My father even managed to sneak away from his cooking duties (he is usually in charge of the turkey preparations) to drive down and see the race. He left as soon as the race was over to make sure that the bird hadn't burnt. I followed a few hours later with my sister and our teammate Ian Dobson. Ian won the men's division, becoming the first American to win since 1993. To add to the excitement of the day, one of my cousin's football teams had won its Thanksgiving Day football game and qualified to compete in one of the state's high school bowl games. Our dining room table was full of champions on Thanksgiving Day, and we had many reasons to be thankful!

Summer 2006 Entry (Posted August 18, 2006)

I am a planner. I like to know exactly where I will be and what I will be doing months in advance. At the end of June, I thought that I had my whole summer scheduled. I would run US Nationals, go home to see my parents and sister for a few days, and then fly over to Europe to race and train with the rest of Team Running USA. Unfortunately, an injury forced me to toss those plans.

Training went well leading into US Nationals, but my right foot started hurting during my last week of preparation. I had banged it on something and it had been sore ever since. I thought the pain would go away if I took care of it. Luckily, I was staying at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista where they have a stellar training staff. When it did not get better in time for the 10K at Nationals, I took Coach Terrence's advice and had an MRI done on my foot.

To my surprise, the MRI showed that I had a stress fracture on the outside of my heel bone. Quickly, I had to cancel my plane reservations to Europe and make new summer plans. I decided to stay at home for a few weeks with my parents and sister. Once I had made that decision, I realized that I would have to start cross training again, a thought that definitely did not appeal to me. I love running outside, especially in the summer time. When I am cross training, I typically spend about half of the time wishing that I were running instead. Being inside a gym is just not the same. Because Laura has been dealing with a foot injury of her own, I fortunately had her company. (For a short time, I wore a walking boot on my right foot and she wore one on her injured left foot. Many people gave us funny looks as we walked down the street. One man even asked us if we had been in a tragic three-legged race accident.)

Within a few days of trekking up to the local gym, we decided to add some pool running to our workout schedules. I am a huge fan of pool running. My college team pool ran twice a week throughout the cross country and track seasons. Although I did not appreciate getting up early in the morning for these practices (we met at 8:00 AM, which feels like the crack of dawn to a college student), I felt as though they paid dividends. We got a great cardiovascular workout without the pounding of running on land. Plus, we loosened up our leg muscles for the workouts later in the day. To make the time pass more quickly, my teammates brought music to blare on a radio. (My sophomore year, a few of my friends only listened to U2. To this day, I cannot listen to “Bloody Sunday” without smelling chlorine.)

Anyway, I should stop reminiscing about my college years and get back to this summer. The pool that Laura and I used for workouts holds many happy memories. We lived in it every summer of our childhoods. From June through August, I had permanently shriveled skin from being in the water so many hours. We played Marco Polo, Shark, and even invented our own elaborate game with our friends called “Beam Routines.” We did underwater handstands and somersaults along one of the lines painted onto the bottom of the pool and scored each other as though we were in a gymnastics competition.

This summer, we played no games of Marco Polo and left ourselves no time for pool acrobatics. We were all business once we got into the water. Pool running may sound easy, but it is not. Keeping good posture is a challenge – it is always tempting to tilt forward and do the dog paddle. Laura and I keep constant watch over each other to make sure that this never happens. Once we get moving, it is easy to make our heart rates go up just as though we are running on land. Unfortunately, the scenery does not change as it would on a run, but we did get to watch the next generation of pool kids playing the same games that we did many years ago. (A few of them saw us pool running in the section of the pool that is 11 feet deep and thought that we were actually standing on the bottom. “Look at how tall they are!” we heard them yell.) I did swim down to the shallow end once to test out my old gymnastics tricks and was sorely disappointed to find that my skills had deteriorated. I think one of my handstands would have only scored a 3.

After having my foot X-rayed two weeks ago, my podiatrist said that I could start running again. Since then all of my runs have been pain-free. I am looking forward to building my strength back up over the next month and then rejoining the rest of Team Running USA to enjoy more altitude training and prepare to have an excellent year in 2007.

Introductory Entry

We came back to Mammoth at the beginning of the month. After being in Palo Alto for the winter, the weather up here was a little shock to the system. Mammoth had a record snowfall this year, but luckily the snow hasn't gotten in the way of our training at all. We can drive for just 20 minutes to a lower altitude and run in shorts and T-shirts. It's the perfect training environment, since we still get the benefit of living at high altitude.

The first few runs at altitude were a little challenging. We usually like to chat on our "non-workout days," but that was not possible for the first few days. Since then workouts have been going great. We have been on a new schedule for workouts since we arrived. During the fall and the winter, we did interval workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays, tempo runs on Saturdays, and long runs on Sundays. For the next few months, we are going to do intervals on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then a tempo within our long runs on Sunday mornings. (For example, we might run for an hour and 45 minutes, but the middle half hour of the run will be at a faster pace.)

After a year and a half filled with injuries, I finally feel like I have been getting back into shape. Now I am growing excited for the rest of the spring and summer season races. This weekend I am running a 10K on the track at Stanford with Alicia Craig. After that the two of us will return to Mammoth for a few more weeks of altitude training. A few of us will leave at the end of the month to do a 3K at the Adidas meet in Carson, California. Two weeks later, I will run in the Circle of Friends 10K. My family and I are very excited that I will be racing on the East Coast again. I haven't been there since the World Cross Country Trials. This is the longest time that I have ever been away from home. Two weeks later most of the people in our training group will travel to Indianapolis for USATF Nationals. After that, a group of us will go to Europe for some track races. I've never taken part in the European track circuit so this should be a great experience.