A Long Time Coming

Ok so finally things have settled down, orders are in (sort of) and I can take a deep breath...not to mention drink a few beers! It is nice to have a deadline pass and it amazing me that I we are all done book January 2009! Truthfully I never thought I would be living in CA this long but it is fun and definitely worth every moment. So without further ado...what I have been up to in classic Sean-esque bullet point format!

• Olympic Trials

So we went to the Olympic Trials which can be sort of seen by my feeble attempt at reporting on it when I was there. It was an absolutely amazing experience and I am so glad we went. We saw some incredible races, spent July 4th at Hayward Field, walked about 6 miles a day, had amazing runs and hung out with some great people. I am not really going to go in to everything but I have to thank Villard St. Pub for some great nights. Dianna and I will definitely remember this trip for a long time.

• Work

So work has been really busy. As I mentioned we just passed our first big deadline for 2009. This means we had a new line of shoes and apparel to show and I had to get out to all my accounts which means driving in total around 2000 miles and flying even more. After a long stretch of hotel rooms, living out of the Matrix and a suitcase I am glad to be done. Not that the travel ever ends, but the bulk of the summer travel is over and that is a nice feeling. Overall the new line has been really well received and I am pumped for Reebok Running. We are really going to make a leap in 2009, mark my word!

• Running

So running has been fairly consistent, but not as exceptional as I had hoped. I have averaged 6 days a week since the trials which is pretty good. I've had a week with only 5 days and stretches of up to 14 days in a row of running in there as well. The main thing is that over the past 5 weeks every day I have run I have run over an hour, with the exception of 2 days, one of which I did 5mi and the other I did two shorter runs. That is definitely positive because I have also had a few "long" runs of 12-14 mixed in as well. So when I am getting 7 days in a row I am getting close to 70mi a week, so I am happy. I have had one up tempo day a week as well so I would say training for Dirt Dog XC is going good, not great, but good. It should be fun. More on Dirt Dog and our team in a coming blog.

• New Apartment

On top of all of this we moved! I guess I already mentioned this but it is worth mentioning again because it is just another reason my blog has been so dormant. We are now in a 2 bed/2 bath place in "North Pacific Beach" which is a big upgrade from our old 1 bed/1 bath in South PB. We have a little view of the bay which is great for the nightly Sea World fireworks and we have a "private" balcony which has my sweet new grill on it! The second bedroom is my office which really helps keep me on task and keeps the other parts of the apartment clean of Reebok crap. Overall a great move and nice to have a big place.

So that is pretty much all I have for now. Things are going well overall. Looking forward to racing in a month or so and getting back to XC. I will start posting a weekly training log again starting this Sunday which I plan to keep updated (but you know me...).

Sorry...to all 1 of you...

So I know not many people are probably even checking this blog anymore, and therefore not reading this, but I apologize for my absence. My excuses range from work to laziness but here is my vow:

I will post an update tomorrow night.

Why tomorrow night? Well tomorrow is a big deadline at work and once 5pm is past I can take a bit of a deep breath and think about something other than work.

So until tomorrow please get some sleep, don't stay up all night thinking about what I could write about, but rather sleep well knowing your favorite blog will have a great new post tomorrow!

I have a blog?

Oh right I have blog...more on that later.

Track Town USA

Alright so I haven't posted much over the past few days...but I have been busy so I will use that as a good excuse. We have been here in Eugene since Thursday morning and we have seen some amazing races. Sitting in the stands at Hayward Field watching the best in the country and some of the best in the world compete for a spot at the Olympic Games is pretty much a dream come true. I can only think of a few things I have wanted to do more in my life, one being go to the actual Olympics, and it is a great time.

Lots of things to talk about and no time to do it. I have posted a picture that sort of sums up out times here in Eugene. We are about 2mi from Hayward Field and we walk every day. This is not an easy walk with the hills that surround the area between us and the track. On top of it all we have walked all over town and we are on our feet fairly late each night having a good time on Villard Street with pretty much everyone in Eugene. If you know what it is like at Rosie O'Grady's in New York during the week of a meet or the NYC Marathon that is what is like at Villard Street Pub this week.

Good times all around and today should be some of the most exciting events yet. Just looking at the lists for the 1500 and 200 I can see virtually anyone making this team, although you have to assume Lagat is a lock.

I doesn't look like I will continue with my daily recap but I will have a recap of the entire Trials next week.

Well we are off to the festival and then it's day 8 of the Trials...this will be amazing.

Olympic Trials - Days 3-4

Ok lots of things have been going on between traveling, running, and lot of other more important things that have consumed me for the past few days. It has been a tough stretch the past few days with the loss of a very close friends mother and I would like to express my deepest condolences again. I think if you read my blog you probably know this already but it is a really tough circumstance and when it happens to someone that is so close to you it really takes a while to get your head around it.

Well here is my combined Day 3-4 recap of the Trials. Lots of very exciting action and really great story lines over the past few days.

Recap:
This is going to be tough to recap 2 full days of competition. I will sum it all up using descriptive phrases rather than calling out lots of names, times and places. There was a new OT Record, and near American Record, in the Men's Decathlon. Extremely exciting Men's 800m final with nothing less than a actual dive across the finish line in order to make the team. A somewhat predictable yet still exciting Men's 5000 final. A men's 100m final that showed the dominance of one man and the resurgence of another. A pole vault that saw the American Record holder almost miss his spot and a former, now 40+, vaulter see his Olympic dreams realized one last time. Lastly, although not chronologically, a great 400m final for both Men and Women that saw potential medalists punch their tickets as well as look on with the agony of knowing their medal is likely waiting for them in London in 2012.

Day 3-4 Olympians:
Women's Triple Jump - Shani Marks and Erica McLain
Men's Pole Vault - Derek Miles, Jeff Hartwig(!), and Brad Walker
Women's Discus - Aretha Thurmond, Suzy Powell-Roos, and Stephanie Brown Trafton
Men's Long Jump - Trevell Quinley, Brian Johnson, and Miguel Pate
Women's 400m Hurdles - Tiffany Ross-Williams, Sheena Tosta, and Queen Harrison
Men's 400m Hurdles - Bershawn Jackson, Kerron Clement, and Angelo Taylor
Men's 100m - Tyson Gay, Walter Dix, and Darvis Patton
Women's 800m - Hazel Clark, Alice Schmidt, and Nicole Teter
Men's 800m - Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating, and Christian Smith
Men's Decathlon - Bryan Clay, Trey Hardee, and Tom Pappas
Men's 5000m - Bernard Lagat, Matt Tegenkamp, and Ian Dobson
PHEW...

Highs:
3. Andrew Wheating/Christian Smith - Men's 800m - Final - 2nd /3rd Place - 1:45.03/1:45:47
I have tried my hardest not to combine athletes but they both deserve a nod here. Wheating was a little known boy from Vermont that has just exploded on the scene and is a great story to follow. Smith is a former NCAA champ who was in a hospital bed for 2 months no more than 15 months ago wondering if he would ever run again. Smith was the final athlete accepted as #30 on the declared list, the only runner in the final without the Olympic "A" standard, and a complete and utter surprise to everyone except himself and his training partner, and fellow Olympian, Symmonds. Great stuff going on in the Men's 800m, with a man who could be considered one of the best in the world being left off the team.

2. Rebecca Donaghue - Women's 5000m - Semi-Final Heat #2 - 5th Place - 15:38.95
So here is a true random decision and very biased by the fact that she runs for a Boston based team and her story is just really good. Donaghue has battled through injuries and really worked on getting healthy and staying that way. She qualified running solo at a Boston High Performance meet a few weeks back in which she ran a PR. In her Semi-Final here she PR'd by over 15 seconds and looked damn good doing it. Now she won't make the Olympics but I think she deserves a nod here for the incredible accomplishment and the sentimental value I have for someone that runs on a team from Boston.

1. Bershawn Jackson - Men's 400m Hurdles - Final - 1st Place - 48.17
Alright a great race and a great place for a truly great runner (did I say great enough times there?). Now again biased I am to another athlete, this time because he ran at a DII school (St. Aug's) and I had the opportunity to see him race a few times before he was "known." Biased thoughts aside, you have to feel good for Jackson who missed the 2004 Olympics after stumbling over the final hurdle and being out leaned to lose his chance at an almost guaranteed medal in Athens. Jackson will go in to Beijing as a favorite the gold but it wasn't with a little drama again. Once again going in to the final 50m Jackson stumbled and looked like he may lose it, but was able to really gut it out after 10th and final hurdle to get the win and have his first shot at Olympic glory.

Lows:
3. Khadevis Robinson - Men's 800m - Final - 4th Place - 1:45.53
Unbelievably KD is on my list for a second time and neither time was good. Although I can't blame him for not making the team it is really disappointing to think he won't be at the Olympics. I am really happy for Wheating and Smith but they have little to no chance on the international level just yet. Robinson is a true competitor that would have had a decent shot at the Olympic final had the races worked in his favor. Unfortunately he'll have to wait another 4 years to prove it.

2. Lashinda Demus- Women's 400m Hurdles - 4th Place - 54.76
The world leader will not be heading to Beijing and that is a shame. Althogh the US has an exceptional crew heading to the Olympics in the event it will be without, with debate, their best shot at the Gold. A sad state of affairs, but that is how it works at the US Olympic Trials.

1. USATF

Ok, so here goes a bit of a rant on the USATF. Now feel free to go on any running website and you will find all you need to know about the controversy surrounding the Men's 10,000m final on Friday night. The long and short of it is that the bumbling fools at the USATF office have allowed Adam Goucher in to the final on a special exemption even though he was sitting 8th on the provisional list. This means that by allowing Goucher in to the final 7 athletes with faster times may have to sit and watch the final while Goucher gets in. Why can this happen you ask? Well there are lots of theories. I will go with a mix of the following:

1. Alberto Salazar - The man with the plan. Salazar could probably get the USATF to let him on the Olympic team if he wanted. He has more pull and who knows why...not me. He was a great runner who coaches great athletes, but it doesn't mean he should get to bend the rules.
2. Nike - Huge corporate sponsor of the OT and happens to also sponsor Goucher. Now this is maybe sounding like a Nike hater talking but there is likely truth to this hating. Nike is the puppet master to much of what goes on at USATF and they virtually own the town of Eugene.
3. Poor Decisions - A major issue the USATF has dealt with is just making poor decisions. This is simply unfair and not well thought out. A resolution has to be made or I guarantee a lawsuit will follow.

Well that's all I got for ya. Here is a link to all the info on the 10k insanity so it can be followed: Amby Burfoot Takes on USATF.

The next time a write it will be from Eugene...Happy Trials watching to everyone it is going to be a great next 4 days!

Delay

I have a little delay on my recap of Day 3-4. Things got a little crazy around here yesterday and I need to sort a few things out...I'll try and get the recap up soon. We take off for Eugene tomorrow and have a really long layover in San Fran so I will get my recaps for all my 5 blog readers during the day tomorrow. I hope to have some sweet pictures to post over the next 4 days when we are at the trials.

That's all I got for now...next time I post I should be in Eugene!