AM: Met up at 7AM at the Northern Arizona University track. We did a mile warm-up, and then learned some cool drills (some A-skips, side skips, etc.) - Andrew Lemmoncello (2008 olympian in the steeple for Great Britain and coached by Greg) showed us how to do these - ha, I looked nothing like him. At one point, we were doing these sideways things with some arm movement and Andrew said, "yikes Bonnie" (I really have some shoulder issues right now ;-) ). Then we did some quicker strides, and then did 8 straights-and-curves (sprint the straights, jog the curves). These were a little different though because Greg and Ben were filming our stride. They shot us front, back and side in sprint, and then also side view running easy... so we had to go in groups of 2 or 3, and sometimes we ended stopping and lining up while the group in front finished. Then, Ben Rosario, Becky (woman from Houston who runs faster than me in training, but our races are pretty equivalent, I think my 1/2 marathon PR is faster than her) ran another couple of miles. We went back to the hotel and we analyzed our form -- it was pretty cool. My right shoulder is much higher than my left and it is throwing off my stride - this is because of the surgery, I have had severe shoulder/neck/scapular pain since the surgery (it is very common after breast surgery) and it is apparent I am favoring that side; good news is it is easily treated -- by doing some simple stretches and yoga/pilates moves. It is obvious that my orthotics are working because I am not shuffling, it was really surprising. Dean has spectacular form, as did Mary (my new friend from Toronto). Dean and I met up with Stephanie R. for lunch -- talked about her soon to be husband (Ben Bruce) who is hoping to make the Steeple final at the Olympic Trials, her wedding, and saw pictures of their house that is being built. So good to see her, and see how happy she is! In the afternoon Greg talked to us about making a training plan. All of the information is on his website, so I already knew this stuff, but it was interesting hearing him describe it in person -- plus, he has some new information that he is including in his book. PM: Ben, Becky and I went for an easy 4 mile run. Dean and I went over to Greg and Tracy's house for dinner - it was super nice. We sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful Flagstaff evening.
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