Since my last blog after Lignano, Italy I was doing alot of traveling and racing and just never got around to writing a blog so this one will probably be a little longer as I try to recap everything from the past couple weeks. Go here for videos and results of all of my races.

Belgium
My next two meets were in Liege and Heusden. After running well in Italy I was anxious to get back on the track making the small adjustments I thought would take me to a 1:46 low. There was a slight snag in the travel when Geena Gall's and my luggage got lost. Of course I just had a carry-on but it was just a touch over the 10kg weight limit so I had to check it. We had a short layover in Rome before landing in Brussels and the bags never made it onto our second flight. But that side story doesn't get much more interesting as the bags arrived at our hotel the next day.

But as far as the race goes, we had a pace maker that was supposed to pace for 600 meters going through the 400 in 50.5 - 51.0 so I wanted to get out right behind him and see what I could do. At the gun I got out well and positioned myself into second right behind the pacer exactly where I wanted to be. About halfway down the backstretch I started to notice that the pacer was working ridiculously hard just to get to the front. At the 200 mark he was in an all out sprint...and slowing down. I didn't want to run a slow tactical race so on the curve I moved past the pacer. As soon as I came up on him he started to break down completely and ended up stepping off the track before the 300 mark. Probably the worst pacer I've had in one of my races. So now I was in the lead, which ended up not being a good thing for me as I started over striding trying to stay as relaxed as possible. I came through in 51.5 and things started to move when we got to the backstretch. When it was time to kick with 200 to go I realized that 300 meters of over striding had completely zapped my legs and I was out of gas. I finished a ways back at 1:49. So not a good race for me and sort of a waste of a good opportunity.

Three days later I raced at Heusden. Heusden has been one of those tracks for alot of people where they just run fast. Alot of people have had PR's on it and it is where Alan Webb ran his 1:43 a couple years back. I was in the B section but we still had a pacer that was supposed to go out in 51.0. I think we ended up going out in 53 something but this time I just tucked myself in 3rd place. Off of a slow pace like that people usually just start to sprint with 300 left. I was in second after the pacer stepped off at 500 and then made a decisive move with 250 to go and I took the lead. I kept pressing through the curve and into the homestretch. I ended up getting passed by one guy but still finished very well with a 2nd place 1:48.1. It was probably my best race for going out in 53 so there were definitely some positives from it. And another plus was that I ended up placing 8th overall including the A race, which put me in the prize money.

Finland
After the two Belgium meets I changed my schedule and decided to go run my next two races in Joensuu and Lapinlahti, Finland. I ran both of those meets last year so I knew what to expect. It took the better part of a day to take a train to Brussels, fly to Riga, Latvia, change planes to Helsinki, and then a 3-4 hour train ride to Joensuu. I got in around 8pm and was to race the next evening.

The race did not have a pacer and from a slow first 100 I took the lead off the break. This time I was much more prepared to lead and tried to focus on keeping my stride frequency up while still staying patient and relaxed. We all got around to 250 to go when things started to pick up. There was a guy in the race from South Africa, and he was moving on the outside while my teammate, Kevin Hicks, was moving just to my outside. When we were all abreast, the SA guy completely just moved down on Kevin and he got shot back to 5th. By then we were headed into the curve and the guy tries to do the same thing to me. I battled with him with elbows and body contact as he was trying to get on the rail. Eventually I squeezed past him but got tripped and almost went down. It was everything I could do to not fall. I got onto the homestretch and tried to kick but after the 100m physical battle I didn't have a strong kick left. Kevin actually ended up coming back and winning the race in 1:48. I was not far back at 1:49. I wasn't happy with that race at all. I feel like I was positioned well and would have had a 1:47 race if I hadn't had to waste so much energy trying to stay upright and on the track. But that's racing, that happens sometimes and you have to deal with it. In hindsight I should have just given the SA guy a hard solid bump at the first sign that he was going to be a problem. I'm usually always the biggest guy in the race and shouldn't be afraid to be the aggressor.

For the 5th time in about 15 days I race - my last of the season in Lapinlahti, Finland. Now I can finally start to feel all of the traveling, racing, and stress of the season weighing on me. So I decided to run as conservative as possible and make sure I finish well. I got out well but still stayed near the back of the pack, just chillin. I was in last with 200 to go and made a strong move to the finish. I passed 4 or 5 guys but finished 6th. I probably should have moved a little earlier or been in a bit better position before the kick but it was a good finish so I was happy with it.

After Finland I returned to London to the OTC apartment where most of the other guys were. The trip getting back is a pretty good story. One of the things I like to do in Europe when I'm not training or running is getting around or to where I'm going completely on my own. I like trying to figure out public transit or train routes to get somewhere the cheapest I can. So for my return to London, I was scheduled to get into Stansted airport at 11:55pm. This airport is also about a hour drive from downtown London and the OTC apartment is probably a 40 min drive on the other side of the city center. So it would be a challenge for me to make it back at all, not to mention trying to do it in the middle of the night.

Our bags took forever to come into baggage claim so I ended up walking out of the terminal at 1am to start my journey. Of course when I know I'll be in this kind of a situation I never research ahead of time about the best way to get there. I always just assume that it will work its way out eventually, and I knew I had plenty of time. At the worst I wanted to make it back to the apartment by 10am. I caught a break because the first thing I saw for public transit was the last train for the night headed into London city center. I hopped on that and 50 min later I was downtown. There was a bus station right outside so I hopped on a bus that was headed in the general direction of Teddington (SW). I get off a stop where I knew I could get on the tube because once in that system it is really easy to get close to Kinston or Teddington. But my first piece of bad luck is that the tube doesn't start running until like 5 in the morning.

I start walking back to a place I can get back on the bus and luckily the bus runs every 15 minutes. Now at 2:30 am as I'm waiting there this very nice $80,000+ Audi is driving by and slows down in front of me. I can see that there are two guys in it. The car then drives off but makes a u-turn in the middle of the street about a half a block down. They come back and again slow down in front of me (about 30-40 feet away) but this time they stop. Then one of the guys gets out of the car and starts walking toward my side of the street. At the same time there is some other guy already walking my direction on the sidewalk. This guy stops to engage me in conversation as the guy from the car walks past me to an ATM behind me. The sidewalk guy asks me if I live around here or know the area. I quickly tell him I don't while I'm trying to keep the two guys and the car in my range of vision. Luckily the guy accepts my answer and just keeps on walking. So I feel a little safer now that I know I can just take off running if I need to and I'm not in the middle of everyone. I watch the ATM guy very closely to see if he's going to make a move to mug me or something. But he gets his cash and jogs back to the car and they take off. My bus comes a few minutes later and I'm out of a potentially bad situation.

That was the exciting part of the journey by far. The rest just involves me hopping around different buses trying to get to a place I've seen before so I can walk to the apartment. Finally, as its approaching 5:30 am, I recognize where I am and start walking in the direction of the apartment. I get there 20 min later and crawl into bed about 6 am.

Now I've just been hanging around, trying not to run too often or eat too much. We've been playing alot of hearts games and rummy. We have even resorted to a game of go fish yesterday. Most of the guys are starting to leave back to the states now so there are fewer and fewer. Will Leer, Russell Brown, Nick Symmonds, Sally Kipyego, Lauren Fleshman, and Ben Bruce are still here for now. I will be around for a bit longer until I head to Iceland to vacation around for a week and then head home to Eugene in mid August, just in time to watch the world championships in Berlin.