Movin' On To The Great Outdoors

When I stepped off the track at Reggie Lewis following my 800m yesterday lunch time I knew the 09/10 Indoor season was over.
Overall I can deem it a success and not just based on my three medal haul over the weekend,lest we forget the World Record in the 4x800m,the bronze at Millrose or the two prs/club records in NYC in March.
It's also important not to gloss over the lows,failure to make the A team for Millrose and thinking I wouldn't even be running at MSG in late January,the arse kickin' I took over 3,000m at Swarthmore on Jan3rd,the"bitch slap that was heard around the world"at The Armory on Jan 7th or the painfully sub par Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile on Jan 23rd but to get to the highs I had to endure the lows,in running as is in life sometimes you have to go through the eye of the hurricane not over it,under it or around it,sure you may get battered,beaten,bruised and bloodied,but chances are you'll come out the other side a better person for it.
B4 closing the chapter on Indoors and this weekend,a few final thoughts from"The Gospel According To Top Cat"
To the doubters,the naysayers and above all the haters sorry I'm not finished,sorry you wrote me off after the injury,sorry you were penning my obituary after The Armory on Jan 7th and sorry you thought I couldn't claw my way back{wanna know how I really feel?cop a load of Jay Z's "Encore" that's what I think of you}I was built Ford tough the e on the end of Forde means extremely!!

How was I able to run three races in three days and medal in all three?,a couple of reasons,the extra mileage helped for sure,post 3,000m I asked fellow triple eventer at Indoors and good friend Steve Chantry what kind of mileage he regularly runs in the lead up to the 3,000m,mile,800m at Indoor Nationals and he told me 80 miles,granted Steve will run twice a day but even so 80 miles is going some period much less for a runner in the 55-59 age group!
Another feather in my cap was the lack of pressure on me,too often in the past{07 &09}I've clocked high profile races prior to Indoor Nationals and drawn the glare of the spotlite,this time around I flew very much under the radar and while only my previous performances drew name recognition I had no inward expectations much less outward expectations.

Of the six previous Masters Nationals I've competed at I doubt I've ever been as relaxed as I was this weekend,how relaxed was I?had I've been any more laid back I'd have been a feckin' ironing board!!!
Seriously off track this weekend I was as loose as could be,laughing,joking,relaxing but it was all business once I stepped on the blue six lane banked track at the Reggie Lewis Center.
Sure I had a decent 3,000m and 2 mile race to my credit in recent weeks but I hadn't ran an open 800m all season and my last mile was only a 4.48 hardly awe inspiring?? and yet I came away w/ a silver and a pair of bronze medals to take my tally of Masters Nationals medals to 6 Gold,3 Silver and 5 Bronze since Charlotte 06.

Today post blog I was able to dodge the raindrops long enough to get a six miler in along the out and back on Cobbs Creek Parkway,I know a 6 miler,what a slacker!!but since I had the day off work I could sleep in a little,write my blog,check in w/ my #1 fan{my mother Eileen} and go out for an easy shake out run,rather than burn my rest day today.
A good friend of mine who knows something about running the 5,000m{15.14.6. at Worlds last summer earnt him 4th in the M40 but would now win him the M45 which was ran in 15.14.9.!!!}advised me to do no speed work this week leading upto the 5,000m at the UPenn meet at Franklin Field on Saturday so it was 6 today,9 tomorrow,9 Wednesday,6 on Thursday,a rest day Friday,the race Saturday and a 10 miler Sunday and I'll have 45 miles for the week,yes folks the outdoor season is upon us,let us embrace it.