Hello again

Don't worry, I'm still alive and kicking. Three words: med school apps.

Sooooooo what has happened since I last posted almost a month ago? Not much and a lot at the same time....you know how it is.

Let's start with the MSU football team. Something funny happened after the heartbreaking loss to Michigan....they became a stronger team. They beat Purdue in that next week and in the final game faced a stiff test from Penn State. MSU was already bowl eligible at 6-5 but needed one last win to make it solid. I didn't have high hopes, and when Penn State took a 24-7 lead shortly after halftime, I was starting to lose any optimistic thoughts I had been hanging onto. But as Yogi Berra once said, it ain't over til it's over. MSU came back and then held on (and I mean, HELD ON) to win 35-31. I don't think I had ever heard Spartan Stadium that loud before, it was just amazing. Now at 7-5, it was announced last weekend that the team is going to the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando on December 28 to play Boston College. And I'm gonna be there :)

How's the running going? Well the hamstring/butt are finally better. A couple of weeks ago I hit 30 miles for the first time since September, but I noticed I was beginning to get shin splints. They always seem to come and go with me, but you know there's always a reason for something like that and I think I figured it out. In last month's issue of Runner's World they had a page about nutrients that runners tend not to get enough of - and one of them was calcium. As I took a look at my daily calcium intake, I realized I was really only drinking one glass of milk a day and maybe one thing of yogurt, and that's not nearly enough. The bones get broken down when we run and they need the calcium to rebuild, just in the same way that muscles need protein to rebuild and get stronger. So I bought a big jug of Tropicana OJ with calcium since Vitamin C helps the body absorb calcium....one serving of that is 35% of the recommended daily value. Add in one serving of lowfat milk (30%) and a light Yoplait yogurt (20%) and there's a quick 85% of what you need. It almost seems like common sense that runners need protein and calcium but it's so easy to overlook those things...heck, I've overlooked it all these years. Needless to say I took all of last week off and swam/biked/ellipticaled all week instead, just to make sure I wasn't stressing my shin more than I should. I went 4 miles last night and things felt good, so I'm happy with that.

I also ran a race in the past month - the Lansing Turkeyman Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I wasn't planning on doing it....I told my buddy Greg I'd do it if he did it and I really wasn't expecting him to man up. But on that Monday he gave me the go ahead and it was all systems go for me. Funny story about the race is that I did it two years ago for the first time...it snowed 4 inches overnight and the temp on race day was 15 degrees with a wind chill of 0....brrrrr! Last year I didn't run it but Greg did for the first time and it was (relatively) nice with temps in the 40s. This year of course it snowed again overnight, leaving an inch or two on the course for me, but this time the temps were in the mid to upper 20s.

I really wasn't expecting anything with the race either because I hadn't done much speedwork in previous weeks, but it's amazing what can happen when you don't have any pressure. I started off on my pace and just went with it. The first mile and a half were on roads while the last mile and a half were on the river trail...and the wooden bridges on the trail were a bit slick. Also the wind was with us for the first half and totally against us in the last half of the race. That said, the roads were all clear of snow and I did the first mile in 5:38 which REALLY surprised me because of the temperature and because I didn't think I had that in me. But whatever....I kept at it because I felt good. My buddy Steve caught up to me shortly after the 1st mile and I made it a goal to stay with him. We surged back and forth and eventually I left him in my dust around the end of the 2nd mile. I really don't know where the 2nd mile ended either, they didn't have a mile marker down there. I knew we were about a mile from the finish so I looked at my watch and read 6:15...I was sure I hadn't slowed down on the 2nd mile so I figured I just didn't see the mile marker or something so I kept trucking. The 3rd mile was the most slick. I had set my sights on the kid in front of me but I couldn't make up any ground because I started being tentative with my stride. (The picture is from the 3rd mile...you can see how snowy it was and you can see Steve's leg next to my left leg) Eventually I finished though....in 17:35! That's 5:42 pace, so I stayed very consistent after my first mile, which is something I've really been trying to work on in the past couple of years. Also it made me think....17:18 is my PR, could I have beat that if it wasn't for the snow?? Who knows...it makes me excited to see what can happen with quality training.

I also registered for Boston this morning. It's not official until they approve my qualifying time, but for all intensive purposes it's official. So there's no turning back now.

"You've been broken too many times...it's time for something to go right for you. Running can't be frustrating forever." --My friend Nancy

"You could see in our kids' eyes that they were gonna will themselves to victory." --MSU offensive coordinator Don Treadwell