Dedicated to Karen Williams

I headed to the track with a bit of apprehension tonight. I told Menekse that I wanted to share my story about my personal honoree Karen Williams. And while I did want to share because I think it is important to remember why we are all here, I knew it was going to be very hard for me to get through it. Though public speaking never usually frightens me (stop laughing), I was a bit scared. It is tough to show that side of yourself to 60 people, you know we are all supposed to be so strong. Just remembering good times with Karen should make me smile, but I am still getting a bit choked up. Still I am blessed that I knew here for over 5 years. I am lucky I can go out and do a tough track workout. I am proud to be part of an organization who is really doing something about cancer and giving its sufferers a fighting chance. I miss you already Karen, and tonight you had a team of triathletes pulling for your family! Thank you to the whole team for your kind words, for the moment of silence for Karen and so many others who are no longer with us, and thank you Mark for your comforting shoulder. We are fighting the good fight every day, Go Team!

So onto the workout. I hope I didn’t bring anybody down, but offered a reminder of why we are all here, to complete “uber” Coach Steve’s workout. It was 3 warm up laps up top, some stretching, our 2 laps of striding and slow sections, then onto the meat. 25 minutes continuous of fast (L5) 200 followed by EZ 200. It didn’t sound too bad, 25 minutes compared to the 80 we did on Sun. But if you really went all out on the fast, which I tried to do, boy it kicked your booty! I did stay pretty consistent at 2 min per lap so completed 12 ½. And if that weren’t enough as we were just about to drop after our 25 min, we headed off to 2 man mile relays. Menekse and I got our signals crossed and both went first, so we had kind of a retarded relay. But that is Ok, it was fun! We capped off the evening with 3 cool down laps up top and some stretching (great way to enjoy the stars).

Run = 5.5 miles (with warm up and cool down)