Re-introduction

Boy, that weekend in Charlotte sure threw me off the once-a-week blogging schedule. Anyway, I'm back. I figure I'll do some quick hitters somewhat chronologically to get up to date and hopefully get back to the blog this weekend.

- Lots of good workouts last week with the XC team, including a 6x800m workout where I went from 2:50 down to 2:35 before a frustrating bonk (2:50) on the 6th. The Great Race is coming up in a week and a half (Sep 28). Goals to be announced in the upcoming week....

- XC's going well. We had an individual champ at the invite last weekend in the soggy mess. The boys cruised yesterday, while the girls had an awesome comeback in the last half mile. Down 28-27 by my count, a pack of three of our girls surged to the finish and all passed a girl from the other team. Both are undefeated halfway through the dual meet season and well on their way to section titles.

- Beth had an awesome race down in Charlotte where she won the race. We were also very impressed with the Charlotte area--it's growing and seems like a lot of new housing and buildings downtown. The houses are cheap and there's good triathlon training area. I don't know if we'll ever move from Western PA, but it sure is appealing. Plus, we'd be right by my dad's alma mater Davidson College, and you may remember the awesome run they had in the NCAA men's basketball last March. The other thing was how the gas prices went up to almost $5 a gallon in that area over the weekend--it's like what came first, the concerned people filling up on gas before the hurricane hit Texas or the gas stations hiking up the prices?

- PSU won big again--I can't wait to see how they do against the Big Ten. It's going to be tough with their thin depth on the D-Line, but boy is their offense explosive. Also, I'll be curious to see how Pitt does against Iowa--it could get ugly. Ohio State sure laid an egg out at USC. And, the Steelers are looking a lot better than most thought (ESPN has them ranked as the #2 NFL team). No comment on the Pirates and their miserable finish to the year. These young guys need to grow up and start playing better ball.

- Finally, a "Get Well Soon" shout-out to Beth's triathlete friend from Chicago Jen Harrison with her really scary vehicle accident. It gave me chills reading about how the car hit her SUV on her side.

- No invitational or travelling this weekend, so hopefully more time for blogging. I am going to the Pirate game Saturday night with some of the other track coaches, so that should be neat. There's a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert after the game--I'm not a fan of them, but I appreciate good rock and musicians who can jam.