Galen Rupp - Perfect 10k?

After reading "That Pre Thing" in the latest "Runner's World", I had the inevitable response - I wanted to race. I wanted to push myself to see what my guts could get me that my training couldn't. With no races on my schedule, I did the next best thing - I watched other people race on YouTube. I started with the David Rudisha 800m world record in London. I wasn't watching Rudisha. I was watching Nick Symmonds. After reading the RW article, I wanted to see him overachieve and PR. I wasn't a fan during the Olympics. The word "douche" was more likely than "idol" to come to mind. After reading the article, though, I have a lot of respect for him and what he is trying to do for competitive running in the US.

So after watching Symmonds come from last to finish fifth against the best in the world, I switched to my favorite race of the Olympics - Mo Farah's win in the 10,000. After watching the last three laps as pure motivation and entertainment, I found another version with the full race and watched about the last 6-7 laps. That's where I noticed something. I might not have noticed, but while I was browsing YouTube I found a video that talked about how slow the Olympic 10,000 was and specifically Galen Rupp's silver medal time. The guy in the video was talking about how the strategy is different when you are racing to win and not necessarily trying to set a world record. So when I was watching more of the 10,000, I found myself watching Rupp and what he was doing. After a few laps it was very obvious - he wasn't racing to win, he was racing to medal. From the time I started watching he was in fourth place - not third, not fifth. He was running as slow as he could without losing a shot at the bronze. Behind him, Mo Farah was racing to win. He was running his own race. With the field bunched up, he could pick his pace and his spot. Clearly he felt he could out kick the field. As Farah started his kick for the last 400m, I think he knew the race was his to lose. It was a 400m race he was going to run from the front. Rupp stayed in fourth. Don't get me wrong, the lead pack was accelerating and so was Rupp. He was still in the shoulder of the third place runner, but he didn't make a move until the last 200m. His tactics obviously paid off, he passed the would-be bronze and silver medalists as the field spread out across the finish.

So why do I think this was a perfect race for Rupp? I am sure he wanted to win as much as anyone and he didn't win. Maybe he thought he could catch Farah in the last 200, but I doubt it. What his tactics said to me is, "Don't come this far and not go home with a medal!" It was possibly the most disciplined race I have ever seen (granted I haven't watched many races that closely). His challenge was also obvious - pass as many of the greatest runners in the world in the last 200m without letting any of them pass you. I'm not sure you can win a race without racing to win. I'm pretty sure you can fail to medal by trying to win. I think Rupp wanted a medal, any medal, and silver was the perfect result.

2013 Disney Half Marathon

This was probably my most "spontaneous" race to date. Ever since my first 5k, almost every race was something I scheduled and trained specifically for. Then my wife and I decided to get Disney annual passes. The next obvious step was to center some Disney trips around races. That led us to looking at doing Coast-to-Coast. Before we knew it, I was signed up for the Disney World Half, (thanks to my running club's guaranteed spot) Julie was signed up for the Princess Half, and we were arranging for babysitting for the Disneyland Half together.

Having just come off of a great performance for Wine and Dine, I was feeling great about my running and the fall weather was almost perfect here in Orlando. I figured that between Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, kids being home from school, and family obligations, I wouldn't be able to train consistently. So my plan when I signed up was to take it easy, enjoy the event, and get some pictures with the characters.

Of course plans change. Thanksgiving came and went and I didn't miss a run. Same with Christmas and New Years. On top of that, my training was going very well. I was hitting all my paces with a target pace of 8:30. Since I was within about 3 seconds of my 8:45 target pace for Wine and Dine, I felt pretty good. So In spite of a cold that made its way around my family around New Years, I was shooting for 1:52 with a secret goal of 1:50.

We were able to stumble on a really good rate at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and, after dinner with my parents at the house on Friday, we headed out to Disney to check in. The staff (as always with Disney properties) was extremely nice and helpful. The girl at the check-in counter was going to be running the half as well and was impressed when I told her I would be done by about 7:30 AM (always an ego boost when people are impressed by your time). About ten minutes from the house, I had realized I had forgotten to pack my gels. So after checking in, I went to a (somewhat) nearby store to grab some gels and picked up a new shirt for the race. Then we checked out some animals with the night vision goggles they have at one of the "savanah" overlooks (quite cool for sure). Back at the room, I laid out all of my gear and we managed to get the super-excited 5 year old to bed and I did everything I could to try to get some sleep before my 3:30AM wake up call.

I'm sure I slept, but not sure I slept much. The hotel phone was the first of my 3 devices to go off so I jumped out of bed and turned off the alarm clock (my phone went off about 10 min later while I was brushing my teeth). I geared up and popped a cough drop due to my lingering cold symptoms, threw my gEar bag over my shoulder, and headed to the bus.


I listened to some music on my phone on the relatively short ride from Animal Kingdom Lodge to Epcot and snapped some pictures on the way into the staging area. Unlike the Wine and Dine, the bag check is a pass-through situation so I checked my bag and rendezvoused with my Dailymile friend Craig C. for what ended up being a very long walk to the start. I had some good conversation with Craig who was doing the first leg of the Goofy Challenge (half Saturday and full Sunday) and said we our "good lucks" as we headed to our assigned corrals. There was some room to the side of the start so I did about a half mile warmup to get a feel for my pace and loosen up a bit before heading into my corral.

The problem with being in corral A is that there is a huge gap between the elite runners in the front and the rest of us mere mortals. That makes it hard to judge where to start within the corral. Luckily I found the 1:50 pacer and stuck around him while we waited for the start. He started off pretty slow due to the traffic and I couldn't stand giving those seconds up. I figured I would run on ahead and hope to never see him again.

The first 5k went well. I never felt too fast but managed just a few seconds behind my horribly-hot 5k race at the beginning of the summer. I skipped the first water stop but grabbed some water at the second one. I have gotten better at drinking on the run, but it still slows me down a bit. After mile 4 I took a gel and grabbed some more water. The first few miles are uneventful other than running through the entrance to the parking area where I high-fived a volunteer who was wearing giant Mickey hands. The course is pretty flat and open on the roads leading to the Magic Kingdom.

Next came the Contemporary Hotel and its underpass which goes under part of the lake. At the point where I wanted to attack the downhill, it got really congested and just couldn't cut loose the way I wanted. It probably only cost a second or two, but added some temporary frustration as I headed back up the other side.

As we headed into the Magic Kingdom, I started searching out photographers. Since I seemed to not get many pictures at the last Wine and Dine, I wanted as many as I could get. I took a good look at the castle and enjoyed the pre-dawn view with all the lights and high-fived the Mayor of Main Street. As we headed through the castle, photographers were lining the path and as I stuck out my hand to get ones attention, I heard an "are you kidding me" from behind as someone chose that second to pass. The video of me running out of Cinderella's Castle includes what was evidently quite the tussle as he was trying to pass me. It looks like I was trying to block him out but I had no idea he was there.

Just past Magic Kingdom came the 10k and the halfway point. Still feeling great, I thought about picking up the pace. After some prolonged self-negotiation, I decided to hold off for the last five. I popped my second gel somewhere after mile 8 and then got some more fluids at the mile 9 water stop. Somewhere around that point (I think it was after mile 9), I passed an amputee who had clearly outpaced me significantly. It sounded like he and his running partner decided to slow down so my guess is that he could have beaten me with one leg (for all I know he passed me later and I didn't notice). It was definitely inspirational. Also about mile 9 or so there was a really weird cold spot. I think it was maybe just a low spot that was a little foggy and cool. It has happened quite often on one of my normal running routes but this time it lasted so long I started to think something was wrong with me and I was having some kind of stress response. My breathing was OK and I didn't feel tired or like I was overexerting so I just kept going and eventually it warmed back up.

The last 5 miles, I decided to treat like a 5-mile tempo run. I figured if I could get down to my 8:15 tempo pace I could get in under 1:50. Up to that point I had been averaging about 8:25 but with a growing margin of error in my Garmin for every mile. I had seen the 1:50 pacer a few times but he was definitely pretty far ahead. My 5-mile tempo effort did manage to yield an 8:18, but then only 8:23. So then I decided I needed a 5k effort for the last 5k to have any hope of catching the pacer. Then came the overpasses. Mile 11 wasn't too bad, but mile 12 was brutal. After a relatively flat course, there were two large overpasses heading back to the Epcot parking lot. That meant 8:28 with a lot of effort. I'm pretty sure my form fell apart in mile 13 as I lumbered through Epcot. The route through Epcot is kind of an out-and-back with a little loop near the lake. I saw the pacer run by and had a last glimmer of hope of catching him. As my watch ticked 13 I knew I had about a quarter mile left due to the accumulated error of my less-than-optimal path. I accelerated through the 13-mile marker and checked my watch a little after to see that it had flipped from 1:49 to 1:50 just yards from the finish. Already running a 7-somehthing pace, I went into full-on kick mode when I hit the final stretch. There was a "kid" in front of me (ends up he was 14) and I passed him just before the finish line. Chip time - 1:50:50.

I'm not sure why I wasn't as excited this time as last time. I think I surprised myself before. I thought I could run 8:45s back then, but my training had been so tough and I spent so long running so slowly in comparison that I just didn't believe what the pace charts were telling me. This time, I was pretty sure I could do 8:30 so 8:27 wasn't so much of a surprise.

After crossing the finish line, I got my medal, grabbed my water and Powerade, and found a photographer for a "candid" picture of me with my new bling. Then I got my "offical" photo, pointing to my bib where my daughter had written "DAD" in crayon (I registered too late to get my name on it). I grabbed my snack box and a banana and headed to get my bag. I was hoping to come back and maybe get a massage since for once I wasn't in a hurry (wife and kid were possibly still asleep) but as I mentioned before, bag check was a one-way affair. As I walked toward the bag check tent, a volunteer called out my number to the volunteers inside (actually she was off by a digit somehow and had to call it out again). It was all very efficient and I think that is why I was so surprised that as soon as they handed me my bag, everyone in the tent started cheering. I was the only one in that tent at that time so they were all cheering for me. That was definitely pretty cool. I did not, however, fell cool when I tried to walk out the entrance of the tent and everyone started telling me I couldn't go back that way (no massage for me).

Since I was in the first few hundred finishers, the line wasn't too long for pictures, beer, or food, so I got my picture taken with Donald Duck (race director of the half marathon) and grabbed a $7 beer and a "breakfast bowl" from the food truck (eggs, peppers, onions, bacon, and hashbrowns).

Another little personal cheering session occurred when I got off the bus back at the hotel. I was sitting in the front of the bus and I was the first one off. When I got off the bus, all of the hotel workers and guests burst into applause. It was totally unnecessary and totally awesome at the same time.

I picked up my older daughter from home, met my wife and little one for lunch at Sanaa, and spent the rest of the day at the Magic Kingdom. Then dropped the family off at home and returned to the Disney area for some grub and a beer with a couple folks who had done their first leg of Goofy that morning. Finally collapsed around 8:30 at the end of a great day.

Statistics:
Chip Time 1:50:50
Clock Time: 1:52:09
5k: 26:32
10k: 52:21
15k: 1:19:02

1,241 of 23,126 finishers
179 of 1,608 men 35-39
977 of 9,998 men

Splits:
8:32
8:22
8:28
8:26
8:13
8:24
8:20
8:29
8:18
8:23
8:22
8:28
8:10
7:21

Have I Arrived?

When I ran my first 5k, the winner ran it in 19:xx. I remember thinking, "I could do that!" Almost 4 years later and I realize two things: that time won't win a lot of 5ks, and it is pretty fast for a guy my age. Now, after two excellent rounds of half marathon training with increasing pace, breaking 20:00 might be possible. "Might."

I'm still a running newbie. I only have a handful of races under my belt. The two most notable are my two half marathons. Before the first one, I don't think I ever ran 13.1 without stopping for a walk break. The only full I ran I walked through all the water stops. Now as I near my third half, I have broken 2:00, came close to 1:55, and now I'm targeting 1:52.

Most importantly, I feel like I've turned a corner. My goal when I started training last summer was to get faster but easier (if that makes sense). Up to that point I had gotten all of my pace through guts. Every mile was like a tempo run or harder. Speed work was at a blistering pace. Injuries of course followed. I got faster, but never felt like I could really hold onto that speed. After I ran the Wine and Dine in 2011, I thought I could hold onto that 9:00 pace for long runs and build from there. I was very disappointed when I found out that was the peak of my training and not a permanent change.

So what is different this time? Part experience and part attitude. The two go hand-in-hand. Experience tells me there is a difference between peaking for a race and long-term improvement. That led to an attitude this time to shoot for long-term improvement. The bottom line is, instead of sticking to my training plan to try to get to my target pace, I went after every run as an opportunity to build my pace. I wasn't following someone else's schedule hoping to reach my goal. I was running every run with a purpose.

So when I ran this last Wine and Dine in 1:55:40, I wasn't at all disappointed that I missed 1:55 by 40 seconds. Quite the opposite - I crossed the finish line pumping my fists and whooping and hollering because I knew the results weren't a peak, but a permanent change.

I still had my doubts though. When I signed up for the upcoming Disney half, I thought I would probably just hang on. I thought 1:55 was possible but probably not any significant improvement. I thought, "Maybe I'll get some good pictures with the characters this time." After all, most of my training would be interrupted by Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.

That wasn't the case. The "interruptions" turned into great weather and extra time. My training philosophy continued and so did my improvement. The measuring stick I used for my last round of training (pace in speed work and tempo runs) confirmed my improvement. This all culminated in what is probably a perfect workout this morning.

My plan called for a six-mile tempo run and while my new philosophy may not be driven by the plan, the plan still works. So I set out for a two-mile warmup, three hard miles, and then one mile recovery. My goal for my warmup was race pace (8:30). I managed that for the first mile then dropped down to around 9:00 to save gas for the tempo section. The next three miles were like so many before - just the "right" pace. A pace I could hold for that distance but not much more. I managed the run while running, making sure to stay relaxed and not over exert even at a "faster" pace. I knew the last mile would be tough and had to push a bit at the end to get under 8:00, but was not completely gassed either. Another workout in the bag. Another measurement of my progress. Another positive reinforcement of my training.

So will I break 20:00 for a 5k this year? Who knows? I'd be happy with 20:40 for sure. Will I break 1:52 a week from tomorrow? Possibly. The bottom line is, I don't care. I love running again and not just running faster. I love running with my wife and my new friends from my running groups. I love long runs by myself, speed work in miserable heat, and tempo runs on cold misty mornings.

I think about the quote from John F. Kennedy a lot when I run: "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." I definitely run because it is hard, but I enjoy it so much when it is easy. After the 2011 Disney full, my wife got me "Run Less, Run Faster". I have loved (mostly) using the Furman FIRST plan. I've loved running 3 days a week and still improving. Now maybe it's time for me to write a book: "Run Faster, Easier."

Wine and Dine 2012

I have to keep reminding myself it was just last year I ran the Disney full. It seems so long ago. So many runs and races have passed since then including now two Wine and Dines.

My goal when I started training for this race was simple: run faster more easily. I know that sounds obvious but up to that point I had been gutting out too many runs. My long runs were never as easy as they should have been. That goal proved harder than expected. This summer was brutally hot and my pace paid accordingly. The workouts paid off though and things did get better.

My wife refuses to run the Wine and Dine because she has too much fun at Epcot while I'm running. We had po boys from our local Cajun joint for lunch and headed to the Port Orleans French Quarter resort to check in. As I was walking to our room, I realized I had left my Garmin at home. Julie got to take a nap while went back to the house to get it. By the time my buddy Don who was running with me got there, Julie had a pretty nasty migraine. I was really bummed for her and fully expected her to miss out on the race and the party, but by the time Don and I got back from dinner at the underwhelming on-site restaurant, she was feeling better. So Don drove us to Epcot and Julie headed into the park and Don and I caught the bus to the start at the Wide World of Sports.

The starting line area was like a deck party on a Carnival cruise but with about 14,000 people: lots of cheesy dance music. It was fun though. Hit the port-o-let's a few times while we waited and then checked our bags a few minutes before we moved to the corrals.

I don't remember what I put as my anticipated time but I was in Corral A. Don (who had been battling injuries, registered late, and didn't have a "valid" qualifying time) is way faster than me but was supposed to be in F. After some serious cloak and dagger to get by 3 different checkpoints, he managed to get into A with me. Good news is he was able to start with me. Bad news is something weird happened (most likely because he started 25 min early) and he might not get an official finishing time.

Disney races are always a spectacle and there were a lot of fun costumes. I saw a few female Buzz Lightyears, lots of lederhosen and dirndls in support of the food and wine festival, and even a couple with him in suit with a fedora (with shorts) and her in a silver and black full-length gown. Standing in the corral, the emcee kept the party going playing all kinds of dance music and showing how people would run to techno, Latin, gangster rap, etc. I caught myself bouncing a little too much sometimes and worried about wearing out my calves before he race. They eventually had the National anthem, started the wheelchair race, then counted down to the start.

It was really cool to actually start at the start of this race with so many people behind me. They do shoot off fireworks for each corral so you never feel like a second-class citizen, but it was still fun to be towards the front. At first I was nervous about being in the first corral and thought I might end up going out too fast trying to keep up. That fear disappeared quickly after the start when traffic was at about a 10:00 pace. Things picked up and we picked our way through to about a 9:00 pace for the first mile. Got the pleasure of witnessing a vomiting Disney princess around mile 1 (guess she went out too fast or maybe just had digestive issues). Then Don and I did about 8:30 for the second mile which averaged out the first mile to hit my 8:45 target pace. A little later, Don found his stride and I decided to back off so I didn't see Don for the rest of the race.

All of my training seemed to point at 8:45 and that pace felt almost too easy. I took some water at the second water stop and headed into Animal Kingdom. I was concentrating on taking a good line through the winding paths of the park but tried to look good for the photographers and took note of the Tree of Life and Mt. Everest as I ran by.

At mile 5, my Garmin filled up. In the confusion of trying to run and clear the history I managed to stop my watch for about a quarter mile so the rest of my splits were off. That wasn't too big of a deal because I was a bit ahead of the mile markers from the start so then I was just a little behind. The only problem was I didn't know how far off I was from the clock time and didn't have an accurate personal time. It wasn't a catastrophe, but it was a lesson learned.

Last year there was a relay with a 5/8 split so his was he point where I started being past by people heading out for their 8 mile leg. I didn't think about it at the time but I'm glad that didn't happen his year.

Everything was still feeling really good and I hit the 10k at 54:37 (8:47 pace) which was a PR for me (I've never run a 10k so all my 10k times are for longer races). I felt like I could go faster and thought I would hold off until mile 7 and then see if I could pick it up. I had a few splits in the 8:30s so I thought that might be in reach. That feeling quickly passed as the stretch heading into Hollywood Studios was the longest of the race for me. I took my Gu at about 7.5 then headed into Hollywood Studios. I alternated water and Powerade for the race and probably only hit about half of the stops. I used the squeeze-the-top-of-the-cup technique and never broke stride.

Hollywood Studios lasted much longer than I remembered. There were several times that I thought I had left just to turn the corner and see more stuff. Seeing Darth Vader was a pleasant surprise since I had completely forgotten about Star Tours. The Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights was...well...a bunch of lights. Somewhere in there I hit the 15k at 1:22:01 which was an 8:48 pace and another PR besting my performance from Miracle Miles in September.

I finally escaped Hollywood Studios and got to mile 10 with the hopes of a push for the last 5k. Since it was a nice round number, I could do the math and knew that I was well on my way to a PR. I would push a bit and get close to 8:30 only to recover a bit and end up splitting around 8:45.

I headed up the brutal little hill over the bridge heading to the boardwalk and accelerated down like last year. I don't think I held my pace like I did then though and a around mile 12 it really started to get tough. I concentrated on my turnover, arm swing, and tried to keep my legs moving. Once again I held hopes of picking up the pace and once again just didn't have it in me.

I headed into Epcot and spotted Julie around Spaceship Earth and her cheering really gave me the boost I needed. It was the first time I ever had anyone cheer for me in this kind of race. The only other time Julie was able to cheer was for a 5k.

Heading up to the 13 mile mark they had a cool laser setup with fog that made it look like a ceiling over the path. I remembered from last year that the finish came up quickly so when I hit the 13 mark I took off. I turned the corner and went into a full sprint. I saw the clock say 1:56 something and knew I would finish at 1:55 something. I pointed to the bleachers and let out a "WOOOOOO!" like Rick Flair and sprinted across the finish line with my fist in the air woooo-ing all the way and belted out a couple more woos as I got my medal. People looked at me like I was crazy which I just don't understand. I don't know how you can finish that type of race and not be excited. I know some people were probably disappointed with their performance but I'm sure I wasn't the only person who was that happy.

As easy as my final sprint was, I keep thinking I could have gone faster but as tough as those last few miles were I think my pace was just about perfect.

I took a long time to stretch and found Don. He had finished about 5 min ahead of me. I changed, we grabbed our free beer, and headed in to meet Julie. She had grabbed some foods and beer for us so we had that and then headed for Germany and beer and brats. We rode the Maelstrom in Norway and Spaceship Earth and that pretty much was enough for the night.

I don't race often and I race long even less. My half plan takes me through 18 really tough weeks but I'm two for two in being happy with my results. This was another great Disney race experience.

Splits: 9:20, 8:26, 8:47, 8:42, 8:37 (then watch filled up), 8:43, 8:50, 8:40, 8:50, 8:45, 8:44, 8:50, 8:38

Disaster Averted

As I sat at the kitchen table this morning getting ready for my run, I picked up my phone and surfed the Internet. I quickly realized that I was delaying my run, not because I didn't want it to start but because I didn't want it to end. This was my last workout at the end of 18 weeks of training for this year's Wine and Dine half. It was 18 grouling weeks through a typical hot and humid FL summer. I ran through injury and heat and came out stronger.

The weather was perfect. 50 degrees with a slight breeze. I walked to the front of my neighborhood, stretched, and found my favorite Indie Soup Runner podcast. I started running before I started my watch. My legs just started going before my brain kicked in.

I was cruising along at quick but comfortable pace thinking about how perfectly every was going on this last run before my race. Then SMACK! Reality hit me in the face in the form of a crack in the sidewalk. My toe hit in just the perfect spot (perfectly WRONG!). Before I knew what happened my palms were hitting the ground. I quickly spotted the grass next to me, tucked my left shoulder, and rolled onto the ground. As I fell, 18 weeks of running flashed before my eyes. I imagined a broken wrist, torn ACLU, broken leg, skinned knees, but escaped them all, finished my roll, bounced up, and resumed my run.

I had run the same stretch of pavement at least a hundred times without incident. I haven't even almost tripped while running in over a year. I have run through stretches of near total darkness and done trail runs through rough terrain and didn't have a significant stumble. Then my toe meets one crack and it could have been disaster.

Thank God! Disaster averted!

Great run. Easy 8:38 pace. Dialed in my race pace for Saturday. I'm going to stick with 8:45 for as long as I can and if I speed up, so be it.

Racing for Me

As I was reading about all of my friends' races this weekend on http://www.dailymile.com, I started thinking about how I race and what it means. I've really only been in a handful of races, but I've been in enough to know what I am looking for in a race experience.

Racing for me I very personal. It is a solo activity. That doesn't mean it isn't somewhat social. I will talk to people during long races. I will find "pace partners" to run with. But the experience is ultimately all about me.

I don't race with headphones. At first I did it because I heard some races don't allow them and didn't want to be thrown off if I planned on having them and couldn't. Now, however, it is part of the experience. I want to hear my breathing and compare it to the people around me. I want to hear the entertainment at big races. I definitely don't want to be distracted from the experience.

Except for about 1.5 races, I race alone. My first 5k, I ran the first half with my wife. A recent one, I ran with her the whole way (which was awesome!). Racing is definitely about doing the best I can on that day, but don't be fooled - I'm racing against other people too. At multiple times during the race, I will say to myself, "I am NOT letting that person beat me!". Reeling people in at the end of the race always gives me great pleasure.

All that being said, I think I'm ready to race with other people. I loved pacing my wife and can only imagine how much it would help to have someone pace me and how much more fun it would be to run with someone.

That will have to wait though, because I have a 5k in a month and, even though I am out of shape, I'm looking for a PR. So watch out! I'm going to be reeling you in!

What Caballo Blanco Means to Me

I am an engineer. There is no denying that. I was an engineer back when I thought that was someone who drove a train. I was an engineer before I understood what my dad (a chemical engineer) did. I have 2 degrees in engineering.  Yet, I have never worked as an engineer.

Maybe that is why Born to Run struck a chord with me.  I study things to increase my understanding, to make myself more well rounded, to become a better person. Born to Run taught me things about running and about myself that I believe made me a better person. The story of Micah True or "Caballo Blanco" was a key part if that journey. It may be a truly great story or just a cheap literary device.  Either way, for many of us who read the book, it was what sucked us in - the tale of this intriguing mystery man who disappeared into the desert to run with the greatest running people in the world.  The science in the book facinated me, but the people in the book are what helped cement my love for running.

Caballo Blanco was, I believe, every runner. Everyone who runs will eventually have those moments when they are one with the world. Their minds empty and they think of nothing - not work, not family, not friends, not breathing, not pace, not turnover, not PRing or BQing - nothing. There is only their body, in that place, at that time, moving through the world like the crawling ants, the falling leaves, the flowing streams. It doesn't matter if you are on a secluded trail in the middle of nowhere or in the middle of the lower Manhattan financial district during rush hour, you can still find those moments. I like to believe that is what Caballo was looking for and found in the Copper Canyons: a connection to himself and to the planet through running and those peaceful, loving people who made it the center of their culture.

This may be a grandios interpretation of someones poetic license of a really bad situation, but that isn't important. Regardless of how much of Born to Run is fact and how much is fiction, it is full of truth.  It is a story about things as runners we all already know. Because it surrounds these things with history and scientific studies and intriguing personalities makes it entertaining and believable, but it is telling us things we already know because we feel them.

Because of this, I know one thing: we should not morn the death of Caballo Blanco for long. When he left on that 12 mile run last week, I believe he knew it could be his last. I believe if you told him there was a good chance he would die in the woods that day, even if you told him he would certainly die that day, he still would have run. I think deep down we all know that every time we hit the trail or the road, it could be the last time. People who don't run mock the runners who drop dead of heart attacks in the middle of their runs. I know. I used to be one of the mockers. Now I understand. They could have had that heart attack on their couch or in their office. They could have been hit by a car or struck by lightning.  When their time came, they could not escape. What they could do in the mean time is run.

I believe Micah True knew that more than anyone. I believe he understood what running means to everyone who runs. I also believe he understood how running unites people. When is the last time you saw a marathon winner turn around and taunt the second place finisher? How many times have you seen them embrace? I think that is what we should think of when we think of Micah True or Caballo Blanco - that he has crossed the finish line and now is there to cheer us all on.