A drinking town with a football problem

Lots to talk about in this post....as Pete Murthum would say, Lots of pressure! Feel the heat!

First off, how's my running going? Seems great actually...Monday I was only planning on doing 6 or 7 miles, but I ended up doing 8 because I felt so good. Tuesday I biked for 40 minutes and then this evening I did an "easy" 4 miles. I say easy because I turned it into a fartlek at the end....I wanted to see how my legs would react to a little speed and they seemed to react favorably. It's also been cooooooold here lately...Sunday it was 38 degrees when I ran and today it was 35, and both times were in the evening in the dark. I've become a firm believer in Smartwool. I wore a midweight zip-tee and then a safety green shirt from the Run Thru Hell over that so drivers would see me, and I was perfectly toasty after about half a mile. The fabric doesn't seem that thick so I was skeptical about how warm it would keep me, but wow...it's amazing.

Staying on the running topic, but I'm sure everybody heard about the passing of Ryan Shay this past weekend at the Olympic Marathon Trials. It's something you never hope happens, but sometimes it does and it's terrible to hear about it. He was originally from Central Lake, a town in the northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, and one of my co-workers (Tony) actually ran against him in high school. Ryan was known as a real workhorse and Tony could definitely attest to that. Congrats to the top three at the trials though - Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, and Brian Sell....we'll definitely be rooting them on in Beijing next summer.

Ryan Shay was also the first runner in Michigan high school history to win four straight individual state titles....which is a nice transition to this year's state finals. Maverick Darling (a senior) claimed his third straight individual title (he finished 8th as a freshman) with a time of 14:52 - the third fastest time at Michigan International Speedway since the state meet moved there in 1996, behind the aforementioned Dathan Ritzenhein's 14:10 in 2000 and Jason Hartman's 14:50 in 1998, who also coincidentally finished 10th at Saturday's Olympic Trials. Maverick verbally committed to Wisconsin after the race, so look for him to make some noise in the college ranks. Also....not really a big surprise but the Williamston boys team took home a state title, which is really uplifting after all that they went through a couple weeks ago with that tornado....congrats to them.

And finally......football. I promised myself I wouldn't say much about the game, so here we go: It's arguably the biggest game of the year for MSU, against an always talented Michigan squad. The first half was a bit boring, neither team could really get anything going, but Michigan went into the locker room at halftime with a 14-3 lead. The second half, however, was amazing....the MSU defense was jacked up and the offense could not be stopped. The stadium was roaring and MSU scored three touchdowns to take a 24-14 lead with a few minutes left in the 4th quarter.....and then MSU went into the dreaded prevent defense, allowing sideline passes galore that allowed UofM to come back and win it 28-24. I don't understand why you have a defense play soft all of a sudden after they attacked for the past quarter and a half and rattled the other team's offense. I never will understand it, and it seems like MSU always does that when they have a late lead. Well...what can you do, that's life. After the game when I finally went back to my car, I thought I had dropped something so I turned around to get it but realized I actually had it with me. As I turned around again, a guy who was walking with his parents said "Hey man, I'm sorry." I was sort of confused so I said "what's that?" and again he said he was sorry. As I looked back, I noticed a BIG football player was talking to me and that I was wearing my band jacket. I told him that it'll be alright and that they played their hearts out, and he replied by saying that he felt like they let everybody down, especially the band, and that the team really does appreciate all that the band does to support them. As he walked away, I told him to keep his head up and we'll get them next week.....but I was floored because this kid could have walked right by me without saying a thing and I wouldn't have known the difference. The team is 5-5 now with two games left....Purdue and Penn State....let's hope for a happy ending.

The weekend was a good one for reasons other than the football game though :) Let's hope it continues.

"I remember Ryan going out when it was 20 or 30 degrees below zero, because he didn't want to miss a training day. I would argue with him after he'd come in coated in snow and icicles, looking like the Abominable Snowman. People would call and say, 'Do you know your son is out there running in this?' I'd say, 'It's called dedication.'" --Joe Shay, father of the late Ryan Shay

"That we were talented was without question, but you still have to come down and run against kids that really want to take your hopes of a title away....It's great for the community of Williamston, because things have been pretty weird after the tornado." --Williamston boys CC coach Paul Nilsson

"I find a lot of things they do amusing. They need to check themselves sometimes. Remember, pride comes before the fall." -- MSU coach Mark Dantonio, in response to verbal taunts in the media by Michigan football players