Sleepless Since Seattle

THURSDAY, March 12
OFF

FRIDAY
6:40 AM - Seattle - 8 mi, 1:00:00.

SATURDAY
7:00 AM - Seattle - 8 mi, 1:00:00.

SUNDAY
7:40 AM - Seattle - 9 miles.
23:00 warmup, 17:00 cooldown
St. Pat's Dash (10th place, 20:41 - 3.9 miles)

MONDAY
1:30 PM - Worcester - 15 miles, 1:45:00.
10 x 1:00 pickups w/4:00 float in between.

TUESDAY
8:20 AM - Westboro - 6 miles, 45:00.

WEDNESDAY
8:30 AM - BSC - Bike, 30:00.
Avg HR: 130

Seattle was, in a word, fun. Of course, there was also a bit of work involved but even that had its share of fun moments. Each day was a little different, but you could count on two things: it started with a run and ended with some fun. To fill the gaps in between there was a tour of Brooks headquarters on one day and a five-and-a-half hour exchange of ideas amongst the 25 different dealers in attendance on another. Lots of coffee was sipped, many beers were drank and more than a few friendships were forged. It was a great weekend. Professionally, I met folks from all around the country with a vast array of experience and insight on the ins and outs of our industry, and I took home with me a wealth of information and ideas that I hope to implement at the store in an effort to improve what is already a pretty efficient operation. It was also pretty wild to see where the behind-the-scenes business goes down at Brooks headquarters. Think heaven for a Shoe Guy. Personally, I made a lot of new friends who share a peculiar passion for running shoes, and good times were had by all when the day's duties were fulfilled.

On the training side of things, I feel like I've been going through the motions for the past week or so. Traveling across two time zones, combined with a lack of sleep and piss-poor recovery will have that effect, I guess. While in Seattle I ran in the St. Patrick's Day Dash on Sunday morning, and given the conditions -- my own, as well as the wacky weather -- I'm not all that upset with the result. I finished 10th in an announced field of 15,000, a total tally that seems more than a little bit high to me. There was neither an official distance posted nor mile markers on the course, but a few guys from our group had 3.9 miles on their Garmins so that's what I'm going with, not that it matters. I ran hard and got in a good effort, and I can live with that.