AM - 10 miles. 3 mi warmup, 6 x 1/2 Mile in 2:29, 2:28, 2:28, 2:28, 2:30, 2:20. Full recovery (1/2 mi back to the start) in between. 1.5 mi cooldown. Just keeping the engine primed. Slightly faster than HM pace on the first 5 (hard to go much slower given the immense amount of recovery), then finished a little quicker on the last rep. PM - 4 miles easy. Getting smoggier outside. There's a giveaway for a free entry to the SLC Winter Series 10K on the USATF-Utah Facebook pace. ***Lance Warning - Don't read if you are sick of this*** I was thinking about the Lance/Oprah interview puppet show that is going to air tonight, and while trying to jot down my thoughts, Rick Reilly posted an article that sums it up best (and who ever agrees with Rick Reilly?!?!). Steve Magness also offers some perspective on what it was like to actually work with Lance. Like Steve, I want to believe that amazing things can happen in athletics without the use of PEDs. I feel embarrassed that I was duped by this guy. Back in the day, I was a Lance fanatic. I painted "GO LANCE" on my car every summer, watched every stage (live in the morning, highlights at night), and spent A LOT of time and energy (especially in college) defending him against doubters and accusers. I fully believed in him. As time went on after the 7 TdFs and more evidence came out over the years, it started to seem a little too good to be true, and I began to think that if anyone was smart enough to beat the system and get away with it, that person was probably Lance. I still wanted to trust him, though... he was a hero to so many people, and while that doesn't justify cheating, there is something to be said for the inspiration / hope he (and the foundation) provided. But that doesn't absolve him. I'm not even talking about the doping. Anyone who knows me understands how passionately anti-cheating I am. I hate it. All the cyclists were cheating then... whatever. And lying about it. Whatever. It happens in other sports too. It would be naive to think otherwise. Lance took the lying to the extreme though - going on the offensive, filing lawsuits against people who were actually telling the truth, using his foundation as a shield, targeting specific people and attacking their finances and character. Examples 1 - 2 - 3... I can go on with these links. He sold out his teammates, friends, and coaches... while making millions and millions of dollars in the process. He didn't just cheat and lie, he was a HUGE jerk about it too (and "jerk" is not the word I want to use there, I'm keeping it family safe). He's coming clean now because he has no choice - the whistleblower suit could potentially bankrupt him, and he wants to keep competing in triathlons. He isn't doing this to clean up athletics. If that was his motive, he could have made an impact a long time ago. I don't know what angle he'll play tonight. Maybe he'll actually show some remorse? I hope that regardless of how this plays out, he is not allowed to compete in sanctioned running events again. I would feel a little cheated if I was standing on the starting line of a race and he was there too, because its been proven (through his own actions) that he simply doesn't have the integrity to be a good role model and ambassador for the sport of running. He can do other things to make a positive difference in the world, but not through athletics anymore. Plus, he dated one of the Olsen twins. Which one? Hopefully we'll never know...
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