11.19.09 & 11.20.09

I e-mailed the Erie Review and they let me know that they'll be publishing my letter re: the Eerie Erie in next week's issue.  I did have a couple of additional thoughts about the issue - so far JL hasn't gotten tired of this one, so she seems to have taken at least a little interest in the topic. 

• One way to solve this "issue" is to do something that I believe all races, or at least all "local" races (I guess all races are local, though, really) should do: offer a prize to the top male and female Erie runner.  While I've never won such an award, it's a nice "claim to fame" for those runners, nice recognition of the hometown runners, and a nice motivator for next year.  Even without the reward, I remember some informal competition between GZ and I as we were just getting to know one another.  I seem to recall one year when we both showed up for the Eerie Erie, and I didn't know which race he was running until he turned right at the first turn (5K) and I turned left (10K).  That was probably 1999, and I seem to recall that we were both 1st Erie in our respective races.  Good thing Adam Goucher never ran the Eerie Erie...Anyway, the Top Erie Runner category should be added (I know - "everyone's a winner" all over again - but we're talking about 2 additional prizes. 
• The 2nd point, and I've danced all around this one, but the Eerie Erie is a race.  Despite the fact that some of us may criticize a good runner for "cherry picking" a race that we think is "beneath them," I've found "cherry picking" is not always as easy as it sounds.  One can look at last year's results and say "man, there's a race I could win" and show up on race day to find out that a few other good runners thought the same thing.  The bottom line is that no one should have to apologize for running too fast, for being too good, or for racing too welll.  That's the point - IT'S A RACE!

Today's Training (11.19.09)
AM Running 15M treadmill (1:39:59), i=1, AHR121/MHR126
PM Rowing 8K (30:13.2), 32 spm, AHR124/MHR129

It was nice to a) get in a nice longish run this morning at a nice clip, and b) to see my rowing times dropping over 8K.  I'm getting close to 30:00 while maintaining my MAF HR. 

Today's Training (11.20.09)
AM Rowing 8K (30:15.7), 33 spm, AHR125/MHR129...
...Running 5M treadmill (43:07), i=6, Climb=1583', AHR116/MHR123
PM Running 7M treadmill (1:01:37), i=7, Climb=2586', AHR120/MHR127

My left hamstring had been bothering me since my return to running (tightness/soreness), and my left groin had started getting sore the last couple of days.  So I decided to slow it down a bit, but climb instead to keep the HR up. 

Running Totals: 70M week (103M/L7) / 161M month
Rowing Totals: 48K week / 269K month
Elliptical Totals: 23M month