It's been another week of hot, dry weather and decent training here in Hog Heaven. We finished July with 5 days of 100+ degree heat and less than .50 inches of rain. Not good. August has started the same. My big run this week was a 24 mile effort on Wednesday morning for which I rose at 3:30 a.m. and was out the door and into the darkness by 4:00. It's the last long run I'll do before the August 18 Pikes Peak Ascent. With the North Face Endurance Challenge at Madison, Wisc. coming up one month after Pikes Peak, I'll likely do only an abbreviated taper over the next two weeks. We'll see how that works.
Hooray! Olympic track & field starts today. Don't get me wrong. I've enjoyed the swimming, gymnastics, and assorted other endeavors, but it's time for the meat and potatoes of Olympic competition. All the way back to ancient Greece, running and jumping and throwing have been the centerpiece of Olympic competition.
Today's premier event on the track is the women's 10,000 meters. Everyone seems to expect the Ethiopians and Kenyans to dominate the race. The American trio of Amy Hastings, Lisa Uhl, and Janet Bawcom are given little chance to medal. On the other hand, nobody was supposed to beat the Soviet ice hockey team in 1980!
The weekend brings lots more including the men's 10,000 meter final on Saturday, and the long-anticipated women's marathon on Sunday. Stay tuned!
To get everyone in the right mood for Sunday's women's marathon, here's a pre-Olympics interview with U.S. marathoner Shalane Flanagan: http://www.irunfar.com/2012/07/shalane-flanagan-interview.html
And another with U.S. marathoner Kara Goucher: http://www.irunfar.com/2012/07/kara-goucher-interview.html
Besides being rivals, Shalane and Kara are friends and training mates. I'll be rooting for both at London.
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