Saturday was a fairly good day.

Started with a solid run. I ended up running with a group of runners that are super fast and included a former all SEC track star and professional runner and a couple of other former college cross country runners. And they ran fast. Very fast. We started out at a fairly pedestrian pace, but the pace quickened. At that point pride sorta kicks in and you force yourself (or at least I force myself) to stay with them. And I did. Surprisingly I felt pretty good. Almost like I was trying to prove to them I belonged up there.

Fortunately after running this pace for several miles my brain kicked in and I laid off. I ended up running the rest of the route by myself and still kept a pretty decent pace, just not the lightning fast pace that front group had. Got back to the Whites and visited with Mike for a little while but needed to leave early so I didn't stay long.

Considering I haven't run a lot in the last 6-8 weeks, I felt good about the run. Not a long run, but definitely had speed. It felt great to get out there and stretch my legs.

After running I got ready for the basketball game. All three boys said they wanted to go, but predictably front yard football took over and they decided to stay. I went alone and watched an absolute dismantling of St. Bonaventure 105-53. The Bonnies were leading the country in FG% coming into the game at over 55%. On this day they shot around 35%. This was the State team I expected to see this year. Good win.

The afternoon brought with it the SEC Championship game. I really thought Florida had enough to get the job done. Missing Dunlap turned out to be key. The defense was on the field way too long. Tebow never developed a rhythm. Hats off to Bama, they played really well. McElroy managed the game and Ingram showed why he is a Heisman contender. His performance likely at least earned him a trip to New York.

And the night had the Big 12 Championship game. Most people overlooked Nebraska, but Bo Pelini's defense was outstanding. If you like defense this game was outstanding. Both defenses rose to the challenge. It was a fun game to watch with a ton of hitting. The game also had the extra intrigue of if screwing the BCS up if Texas lost. There was still a chance that Florida would sneak back into the title game and play Bama in a rematch. Of course TCU and Cincinnati would also make strong arguments. As it turns out Texas won on a FG as time expired. Interestingly though, the officials had to review the last play and put 1 second back on the clock because time expired when Colt McCoy nonchalantly threw the ball out of bounds. They made the right call and there should've been 1 second, but here's the interesting part: I'm not sure that play is reviewable. I'm not sure the officials are allowed to review a play when the only thing they are looking at is time. Certainly if they reverse a play they can then look at the time to see what should be on the clock, but I don't think they can review and look ONLY at time. In any event, Texas won in unimpressive fashion.

As I said, yesterday was a fairly good day.

2010 Race Plans

Time to start making the 2010 race plans.

I failed to sign up in time for Mountain Mist 50K - one of my favorite races - and it is now full. So, unfortunately that race is out. I really want to run Bel Monte outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Gill, Frannie, and Marty do a great job with races and I think it would be a lot of fun. Not to mention how gorgeous it is over there. I ran the sister race (Great Eastern Endurance Run - GEER) two Septembers ago. It was easily the hardest 50K I had ever done with something north of 10,000 feet of elevation gain alone. Bel Monte is at the end of March.

I would like to do the Carl Touchstone race again. I did the 50 mile race two years ago and the 50K last year. If I'm doing Bel Monte I will likely do the 50K, if I pass on Bel Monte then probably the 50 miler.

I still want to run a 100 miler and I am back looking at the Vermont 100. That would be my goal race for 2010. If Vermont is out, then I may be back to signing up for the Arkansas Traveller in November.

2009 was an up and down race year. I started out strong running Mt. Mist in January and the Carl Touchstone 50K the end of February. Unfortunately I never got completely motivated to train for the 100 miler and the rest of my race year fell off. So, time to gear up for 2010 - should be a fun, good race year.