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Silver's Web Log
(7-13)
Greetings Friends and Family!
For all you track geeks (you know who you are), guess who was at the track yesterday? Adam Goucher and Jorge Torres doing a workout in preparation for the 5000m at the World T&F Championships. Kara Goucher (formerly Kara Grgas-Wheeler) doing repeat 1600s at about 5:20 pace. Mark Wetmore (CU coach) and Arturo Barrios (former 10k world record holder) coaching their respective runners. A team of Japanese marathoners, including a 2:08 male marathoner and a 2:21 female marathoner easing into their workouts. And me, standing beside the track, exhausted, starstruck, and positively giddy. I had one last 200m interval left, and I started off behind a trio of the Japanese women. I gave them about 10m lead, then took off. I was running 36 second pace, and they were pulling away from me, en route to a 1600m. Wow. Wow!
Oh yeah, did I mention I’m in Boulder, CO? The aforementioned track is Potts Field at the University of Colorado, Boulder (CU Boulder). I’m approaching the end of my second week in Boulder, and the energy here is simply indescribable. This town lives and breathes running, fast running, extreme running. It simultaneously humbles and inspires. My host (an engineer) measured the elevation at the bottom of his driveway at 5190ft. We’re about 1.5miles from the Boulder Reservoir, and I understand the Kenyans live just down the street. Every time I run the reservoir loop, I keep hoping to hear the soft “whoosh” of a fast-striding pack of them go by. No luck yet, but that’s probably because I haven’t yet been able to pry myself out of bed at dawn when they train.
I’m training hard, and loving it—-the trails, the gorgeous scenery, the supportive community. I hope all of you are doing well & I’ll look forward to seeing you in a few weeks when I return to Santa Barbara. More on my adventures in Boulder when I have the chance to write.
Take care,
Silver
(7/14)
Hello Friends and Family!
Hope you are all having a good Monday morning. Yesterday was busy, but fun! First, I met up with the Boulder Road Runners at 8am for their weekly run. About 30 runners showed up, of all different abilities. As this was my first time meeting with them, I introduced myself around to as many people as I could before we started running. As we left the parking lot, I found myself running with a couple wearing matching Motorola Marathon tee shirts. Turns out that they (Jennifer and Andy) had just moved from Austin, TX to pursue Masters degrees in Education. Really nice couple, and good runners (Jennifer is a 5' flat miler). I'll look forward to running with them again. Also, as I side note, I'm feeling like a real runner again. Cranked through a good 7mi at a decent pace. Altitude adjustment is progressing nicely. I understand there's a great trail at 8000ft, but I'm going to hold off for a little while longer!
Post-run, the Road Runners had set out bagels, cream cheese, cookies, cinnamon rolls, sports drinks, water, Clif bars, and GU for everyone to enjoy (even visiting runners!). I understand they do this every week, rain or shine. The socializing time (and the sugar) was much appreciated.
Later on that day, my Boulder host, Charles, asked me if I wanted to get some kittens from the Animal Shelter. Of course, I said yes! Turns out that Charles is a shelter volunteer. He not only takes shelter dogs for walks and playtime, but he also provides foster homes for kittens that get dropped off at the shelter. His duty as a foster "parent" is to socialize the kittens so that they get used to being handled by humans, thus making them more adoptable (no one likes a surly, antisocial kitten). I picked out 3, then Charles picked out 2 more, so we have FIVE kittens here for 2 weeks. Charles has 1 room set up as the "kitten room." We keep them in there with a bunch of playtoys and regularly interact with them so that they'll feel safe, yet stimulated. Fun!
That's it for now. Hope you all are doing well & having a good summer!
Take care,
Silver
Well, I think I had my first Kenyan sighting yesterday morning at the Boulder Reservoir. I made it to the Reservoir around 6:30am (waking up at 5:45 'cuz it's a 20 minute bike ride from here). I felt like crud, running so early in the a.m. after having a hard track workout at 7am Tuesday morning & 5mi run Tuesday evening, but nevertheless, there I was, a night-owl who feels physically ill getting up any earlier than 8am out with all those dang chipper early-birds. Why I picked a sport that favors those who love early morning physical exertion, I have no clue. Okay, maybe I'm a little tired and grumpy right now. Moving on....so I'm running up this slope, and this guy is running towards me wearing tights (mind you, it's approaching 80 degrees at 7am) and he's just FLYING. Effortless, long, open stride. Slender build--take the average, slim, athletic male and turn him SIDEWAYS, and THAT'S how slim this guy's outline was from the front. He went by me almost noiselessly. Kenyan? Methinks yes.
For those of you who don't know about the Kenyan mystique, Kenyan and Ethiopian runners have pretty much dominated distance running on the world stage for several years now--everything from track to cross-country to marathons.
In other news, I toured NOAA's (the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Admin.) Boulder, CO, facility & got to check out their solar flare & NWS prediction facilities. Their supercomputer room is pretty awe-inspiring. I pestered my poor tour guide with questions (inquisitive mind goes wild when confronted with lots of cool sciency stuff), so that at the end of the tour, my guide asked me if I was a scientist. A little coyly, I replied that no, I'm a sports model and long distance runner :)
Today, I'm touring NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology). It's a fairly long tour (2 hours), the highlight of which is the atomic clock by which time standards worldwide are set. Pretty cool stuff! Speaking of cool, it's definitely NOT cool here in Boulder. Yesterday's high of 100 degrees was a new record. Whew!
Hope y'all are well and having a good week. More updates to come....
Take care, Silver
By the way, Jorge is such an efficient runner. Absolutely effortless. Adam is a little less efficient, but his stride just screams "POWER". It is reassuring to know that even those who run world class times have to really work for it. The trio of Japanese ladies I ran behind on Friday, later in their workout, they were gasping for air. Of course, they're gasping for air at much faster speeds, but still....
Another person I met yesterday at the Sunday run was Patty Murray. She's being trained by Ric Rojas (who, incidentally, remarked that I had "pretty good biomechanics") and has qualified for the Trials with a 2:42. Unfortunately, she's recovering from a hamstring injury, so she's just running easy miles while it heals. My next door neighbor, however, gave me Lorriane Moller's phone number and said I should give her a call. How cool is that?
7-18-03 Friday
Well, NIST was a miss. It was less a tour and more a 90-minute junior-high level
cryogenic science demo using liquid nitrogen and assorted sundries. Fifteen
minutes was entertaining (how many times have you seen a superconductor levitate
a magnet?), 90 was excruciating. What was cool (pun unintended) was the atomic
clock, which is the primary time standard for the U.S. It neither loses nor
gains a second in 20 million years. If you want to check out the technology
(a laser-cooled cesium atom fountain), go to http://www.boulder.nist.gov/timefreq/cesium/fountain.htm.
Time stands still for no man, even a man with a 2:08:58 marathon PR, such as...Mark Plaatjes. Mark won the 1993 World Championships gold medal in the marathon and is the local guru of physical therapy. One of the runners under his care right now is Faith Byrum (21:36 road 4mi), who is aiming for an Olympic Trials qualifier in the marathon. Very down to earth, determined young woman. We talked about the ins and outs of marathoning for a bit as she was undergoing some PT.
Speaking of fast people, my best friend, Michael, rolled into Boulder today (you owe me for that one, buddy!). He's competing in the Xterra Central Championships triathlon this Sunday. Great excuse for an evening of carbo-loading! We headed downtown to the Pearl Street pedestrian mall and scarfed down oodles of noodles at an Italian restaurant. Mere minutes before we were to bolt for the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop, a hellacious thunderstorm struck. Torrential rains quickly spawned a river coursing down the brick sidewalk. Lightning flashed, followed almost instantaneously by a thunderous CRACK. Way too close for comfort. Did our heroes forsake dessert for a safe refuge? Fortune smiled, as both shelter and sustenance were attained at a nearby 7-11 with a bountiful ice-cream freezer. Life IS good.
Signing off for now.
--Silver
7-19-03 Saturday
This morning, Michael & I arrived in Keystone, 96 miles from Boulder and
the site of the Xterra off-road tri. Along the way, we gained 4000ft in elevation.
Keystone sits at a lofty altitude of 9321 feet.
As Michael picked up his race packet, I admired the scenery--scads of 6' tall men with 6-pack abs and 6% body fat. Oh yeah, and the mountains were nice, too (just kidding!). Seriously, though, there was an amazing density of rippling muscles, tan skin, and abs of titanium, both men and women. I sucked in my gut, tucked in my shirt, and took advantage of every opportunity to flex my distance-running honed MASSIVE biceps and triceps :-) Okay, maybe not, but I was feeling pretty fit until I spied a female pro triathlete with washboard abs pushing her 1-year-old in a jogging stroller. Humility is good. Humility is good....
Around noon, Michael went to check out the 26k mountain bike course. I decided to scope out the 10k trail run course for him, and accidentally ran 1 1/2 loops of it (am I thorough, or what?). My report--two crossings on which to remain vigilant. One being a slat bridge, 1' wide, composed of irregularly spaced 2"x4"s with plenty of gaps between them. The other being a series of 2"x10" planks with a steep drop-off approximately 12 inches to the right. The rest of the trail was up & downhill through mud, rocks, tree roots, forest, single-track, trail, and the occasional mound of horse poop. The fourth time I almost wiped out from my shoes finding immovable objects hidden in the dirt, I thought, "hmm, perhaps I could be a bit more graceful." The course ended with a 40' wide river crossing with a rope traverse 1/3 of a kilometer from the finish line(this, after a 1.5k duck pond swim and 26k mountain bike ride).
When I met up with Mike, he was stressing out over the mountain bike course. It began with a leg-busting single-track/switchback climb to over 11,600ft, then a hairy-scary, highly technical descent with 1 1/2' stair step 90-degree turns, roots, boulders, and several 3' drops between trees. "It's f---ing nasty," Michael said. What to do when your best friend is facing possible doom and grievous bodily injury? Carbo-load! One shared beer and a large veggie pizza later, we were replete with glycogen and positivity.
I have to admit, though, I'm scared for my friend. I just want to see him come down that mountain in one piece tomorrow.
Tired. Late. Must go to sleep now.