Orient wrote:
CM, congrats on your race. Being sick and finish 6th at the national is really outstanding! Looking at the results it's clear that in normal conditions you would easily outperform guys No. 2 thru 5 (don't know about Dan King). Was the course tough (hilly, dirty, etc.)? I assume that since the winner - a 40 y.o. guy - showed 16:35, it was quite uneasy.
BigMango, good to hear from you. How do you survive in such hard environmental conditions? Best of luck with getting back to training and reaching your goals for upcoming races.
Allen1959, really pleased to know you are getting better after all your trials and tribulations. 4-4.5 miles 3 times a week is a good progress. Hold on!
Thanks Orient. I'm usually pretty with my teammates who were 2nd and 3rd. Last year at club XC I was 3rd, Tim 2nd, and Mark 7th. It just depends on who is having a better day. I wish we could race together more frequently--usually it's only just XC a couple times a year. Dan King is the real deal, former WR holder in the mile (4:50, but also ran 4:49 in an unsanctioned event) and ran sub 5 this year. He was 2nd at the 8K XC in Finland.
The course is deceptively tough and slow. Dan ran 17:42 in Tampere, and he's actually much faster on a good day, more like sub 17:10 shape. Tim has run 2:46 for the marathon and 59 high for 10 mile this year.