Sunday, July 6, 2008

Packing Up and Shipping Out!

The end of my time in Boulder is near... only 3 more days and my European adventure begins...

Instead of leaving things to last minute, as I usually do, I started organizing and planning for my Europe departure a good five days in advance. I'm sure that I will still be running around come Wednesday, but hopefully this will keep some of the impending travel stress to a minimum. There is a lot to do, more than usual, as I won't be returning to Boulder after my five week European tour. There isn't ample time to reacclimatize here before I have to race again so I will fly right on through Denver back to LA. That means, everything I have here in Boulder has to be accounted for before I leave. Unfortunately, and yes, lesson learned, we drove out here from LA back in April. I brought way too much with me and will therefore end up shipping a lot of it back via UPS. Who knew, they actually ship suitcases!? I'll have to remember all of this next summer and try to pack a little lighter.

I have continued to watch the Olympic Trials coverage on TV. I find it particularly inspirational. I have to admit that I am a bit sad that the track and swimming events are done, and I can't wait for the Games to start! As I was watching the Men's 10k final the other night, I realized that Jorge, the runner who finished 3rd and secured his place on the team for Beijing, not only trains out of Boulder but was actually on the track with me about 10 days ago. We were in the middle of our session when a coach and a few male athletes showed up. As we were packing up to leave they were just beginning their session. Someone in our group made mention of the two brothers and said that they thought they were running at trials. I didn't think much of it as we watched them run a few laps. I figured if they were racing they would have already headed to Eugene. Apparently, I was wrong! Small world!

Training has gone quite smoothly the last few days. I've put in all the hard sessions and now the pre-race prep begins. It's funny how I feel more fatigue now than I did when I was putting in 3 or 4 a days. I guess, my body has finally caught up with itself and is taking this time to really recover and rest. The sessions haven't really felt too great, but I'm going well, better than I feel, so hopefully that will bode well for how the opening race in Ireland will go. I fly out Wednesday evening for a Thursday arrival in Ireland. It will be a bit closer to the race than I would normally arrive, as it is a Saturday race, but I have confidence that if I do everything right with my travel it won't affect my racing at all.

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