Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

How you feeling lately? Running on all cylinders?

Running as well as I could hope for right now, been mostly on cruise control since Boston. My main goal is to not burn myself out before October, when I have to start "really" training, yet keep myself in decent shape so that I can hit the ground running (so to speak). Been focusing more on intervals than on long, brutal tempos, which is a bit of a change-up for me, but hopefully I can get to the late fall with fresh legs and a fresh mind. I can't train hard all year, else I'll lose my love for the sport.

I lost it when it hit 95°F. lol!

What's your goal for the Trials?

Yeah, we've barely cracked 90 degrees all summer; it's been absolutely gorgeous here, cooler than average, I think.

I suppose a good goal would be 2:16 or so, top 25. I haven't thought about it a ton. Frankly, my main goal was just to get there. The trials itself will just be about competing, mixing it up, and having fun. It's the ends and not the means, so in a lot of ways it doesn't matter how I do, as long as I just go out, race hard, and have a good experience again.

Do you have any sponsors to help get you there? Maybe some bloggers can help you out. I just did a little fund raiser for Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona, and raised over $500 in less than a week. Half of that came from the blog.

Qualifiers have their food and travel expenses paid by the Houston Marathon. But for the record, St George Running Center is my sponsor, and they are AWESOME!

Oh, I that's right. You got the A standard. They still doing A and B standards? That's a pretty sweet deal.

Men only have the A standard. Women still have the B.

Some folks (probably none of which have an OTQ) on Letsrun are all up in arms about the fact the USATF is charging $50 (only payable via Visa) to enter the trials. At first that seemed kinda ridiculous to me, but it seems like its actually their standard practice. Did you have to pay to run in 2008?

I saw that. Those people on letsrun need to get jobs. 50 bucks, who cares, it's like a couple pizzas. And who doesn't have a Visa?

Yes, last time I recall paying an entry fee even though I had an A standard, although I don't recall the cost. And I had to become a USATF member. So nothing has really changed.

OK thank you for being a voice of reason. They are paying for everything else... and jeez, $50 is really nothing when you think about the amount of time and energy that gets invested into the whole process.

It was funny to read guys comparing USATF to the NBA. Not quite the same ballpark, maybe even galaxy (in the $$$ department).

No, $50 is nothing. Most people probably spend more than that on Starbucks each month, so they should just get over it. Plus 95% of the qualifiers truly are amateurs, so why do we need to be treated like pros? I'm happy just to be there. Even if someone is training 4 hours/day (which is 2x the time I train), they still have time to hold down a real job. Brian Sell did it.

I think your response is probably typical of the guys who have actually qualified, and supports my theory that 99.99% of the Letsrun "critics" will not be lining up in Houston :-)

$50 is a lot of money to a high school student.

Paul, don't get me wrong, I understand what your saying but 50 dollars is a lot of money to a lot of hard working people nowadays:)

I hear ya Steve. My comments aren't meant to undermine anyone, but rather, point out that $50 isn't much is the grand scheme of life, and EVERYONE blows that much money all the time on stupid stuff. Like beer, eating out, entertainment, the zoo, whatever. We all spend money on race entry fees, so you pick and choose which race is worth it. $50 for the Trials is a pretty good bargain.

Not many marathons are $50 anymore. Especially ones that get you entry to the Olympics if you do well.

I'd pay $50.00 just to see the race and I'd certainly pay a lot more to run if I had to. These little things are just small reminders of how distance running is remaining fairly pure.