Osc's and Ends

Catchy, isn't it? Borrowed from a Central PA newspaper writer/blogger who covered Penn State and labelled his items "Todds and Ends"

I suppose a recap of the last week or so is in order since last writing about the Triathlon.

*Beth gave a nutrition talk to the boys and girls XC teams. It's fun having her come in as a guest speaker. Makes me feel like I've got connections. By the way, The Athlete's Eutrophia is now on Facebook.

*XC Practice is now in full swing with two-a-days. We've got the annual Corrigan Drive 4 mile time trial Friday and our first meet next Wednesday. I'm abstaining from the Corrigan Dr because I'm subjecting myself to the entertainment of running against high schoolers on Saturday at my high school's alumni XC meet. My goal the past few years is to "make varsity" meaning to have 6 or less high schoolers in front of me. We'll see how that goes. The legs have been somewhat uncooperative since the half IM. I'm sure I've got 3 miles in them though (boy will that feel short compared to the triathlon!)

*I wanted to throw out a congrats to former PSU runner Steve Walsh as he was named the head XC and track coach at William and Mary College. It's kind of a small world because I had run into him a few times over the past few years. Once at a track conference in Atlantic City and then at our State XC Meet this past November (when he was an assistant at Providence). At the state meet, I introduced him to one of the high-schoolers on my team. Well, the high-schooler ended up going to W&M. So, he'll get to run for Steve there. He's going to do a great job. My favorite memory of Steve from Penn State was when I would meet Beth for dinner and other members of the men's and women's teams would join us. Steve would do some Coach Groves impressions that were pretty funny.

*My dad and I went to an Altoona Curve last Sunday. This was an interesting trip. The previous Wednesday, the Curve held a "Wacky Wednesday promotion called Sponsors in Wonderland where pretty much anything could be sponsored that night--home plate, the infield dirt, the foul pole, the rosin bag. You name it, it could be sponsored. I was checking out some Curve player stats when I stumbled across this promotion that stated it was a "great opportunity for small businesses."

Well, I figured why not call up and see how much it cost to sponsor and maybe get some exposure for The Athlete's Eutrophia (and maybe give me an excuse to go up to a Curve game). So, I talk to the really great and friendly advertising person with the Curve and determined it's a solid deal that may be within our budget. However, the graphic, 10-second blurb, payment and all the other stuff needed to be done by the next morning at the latest and it was just too rushed. But, I hope that they do the promotion again next year because it seemed like a neat opportunity.

So anyway, just by talking with the guy, he offered me seats to the game last weekend. I was really appreciative and thanked him a bunch of times. And, my dad and I were big-timing it, picking up our tickets at the VIP Will-Call. When my dad and I got there, I had mistakenly gone to the "commoners" will-call. That was so below us! :)

Rudy Owens was on the bump for the Curve. He's one of four promising young starting pitchers for Altoona (also Morris, Locke, and Wilson).

Owens did great. He went 5 innings without giving up a run. They took him out then because they're limiting his innings for the season and want to make sure they budget enough for the playoffs. Here's my attempt at a scouting report on his night:

Owens' fastball sat in the 86-88 mph range, hitting 90 mph twice. His offspeed pitches produced a lot of swing-and-miss by the opponents. A good comp would be Maholm or Duke with the Pirates.

Also, while at the game, I got my revenge on a funnel cake by cosuming it all within two innings. It didn't stand a chance.

*Beth's heading out to Colorado this weekend. The Curve are out of town, so I'll have to find something else to do to kill the time.

*My racing schedule (or at least what there is of it) is coming into shape. I'm going to do the Pittsburgh Marathon in the spring instead of Philly this fall. There are a handful of factors that go into it. First, I need a break after training all summer for my first half IM. If I was going to do Philly, I would have to start ramping up again right now and I'm just not ready to get back into weekend long runs.

Another reason is that I've moved into an official XC coaching position from just being a volunteer. What this means is that I don't have the freedom to just run with the guys everyday this year. There's that whole responsibility thing of working with both the boys and girls and help with getting splits and papers and stuff. I proved to myself last winter/spring that I could successfully train during those months and am confident I can get in the mileage and intervals to set my up for that sub-3:00 marathon.

Also, that means one less trip in a fall that includes a little trip out to Hawaii. Now, I'll just sleep in my bed the night before the marathon and drive down to it.

So, this fall I'm thinking of the Great Race 10k and maybe a half marathon (Buffalo Creek or Spirit of Pittsburgh).

*The first teacher day is Monday and the kiddos come back the 30th. Where did the summer go? It should be a fun year. I'm teaching the same classes as last year, but just in different amounts--Calculus, Algebra 2, and Algebra.

That's all for now. I'll have to report back on the weekend of flying solo and the alumni XC race.