AM: Watched the Big 10 Cross Country Championships today. I met my friends Jim and Brandon (former D1 track and cross runner). I hobbled my old man body over some mud after paying $10 to park (way to host Purdue). I had never seen a cross country race, so I was glad to go.
Watched some of the lads doing strides near the start line, with a particular attention to arm carriage. I think if I ever figure out how to move these big dumb arms of mine I could get a few more seconds per mile.
4 mile split was ~19:40 and finish was 24:16 I think, so 4:42-4:45 pace for the final mile. The winner and the top Purdue guy were shoulder to shoulder. In the video below ~2:22 you can see the Purdue guy gets outkicked decisively.
The final runner was hunched over, apparently having vomitted, and he looked super out of it. Brandon said, "That's is we call a death march." I told him "We use the same term in distance running and I have never seen anything like that." Several of the ladies flopped at the finish line. Guess I need to rethink my "all I had" recaps.
PM: Chatted with my personal physical therapist (my future father-in-law) and he thinks iliopsoa, which makes sense. Pretty big downhill at mile 5 and a short downhill finish, which probably was what did it given that I stopped fairly quickly going into the finish to avoid crushing the volunteers. Likely a combination of many things, but I noticed some soreness in the quads which hasn't happened since my first marathon in 2011. I'm sure I haven't been doing well with my recovery (other than not running, ice, pain reliever), but I should get some more feedback tomorrow.
Big 10 XC Championship
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