SP5+airport add-on+the "D"

Today's run was a 7-miler along the route given in the title of this post. SP (Scott Peterson, I believe) was a former SDSU runner who liked this particular boring 5-mile route in town (actually 4.67 miles). It is the standard morning run done by the guys team during the track season at 6:30am from the HPER (athletic building). The airport is not important to explain, the "D" however, HA! That is our indoor track. Stowed away on the second level of the HPER building overlooking our basketball arena, the "D" garners it's name from its shape. On the south side two soft 90-degree turns are surrounded by wooden bleachers that pull out for home basketball games. As you make the second turn and head north you run 50-meters before entering a tunnel underneath the permanent seats and make a sharp left turn and run under the seats to the next full sharp 90-degree turn...its a D. This is our indoor track, the 7 minutes of running on it I did today doesn't compare to the 70 I did yesterday, YIKES! You see the city of Brookings hardly plows and doesn't salt its streets at all. So with the large amount of snowfall followed by a warm-up followed by a FREEZING period leads to a bunch of icy, snowed over, nearly un-runnable roads and a 10-mile indoor run, yuck! But I am in the midst of 26 days of consecutive running, a streak that I have not matched since last year at this time, so nothing short of a Canadian invasion of eastern South Dakota is going to stop me from running. Frankly, I am becoming more and more of a wuss when it comes to running outdoors in this winter weather, but I just keep telling myself I am staying injury free :)

3k race on the undercover oval at USD (Univ. of South Dakota) tomorrow, should be interesting; I got my doors blown off last week by a bunch of second rate college runners in the Mile at Mankato...so I am hoping for better this week. I really am not concerned too much about the outcomes of my races right now except to use them as an indication of my current fitness and to get in some high quality training for my racing later this season.

One last item, I made the plunge! That's right I made a huge commitment. We've been together through thick and thin, we've parted ways at times and I've ignored her and she broken my heart a time or two...but running and I have decided its time for the big commitment; THE MARATHON. Twin Cities, October 3, we are all signed up, and I think this commitment will really solidify our relationship for some time to come.

Vampire Weekend is playing here at the Cottonwood Cafe..."Look outside the rain clouds comin' say oh." A-A-A-A A-A-A-A