100 meter over the years, awesomeness in the 10K, more on the Dynamic Duo, marathon winner, more on Kiprotich and Meb is a stud, what a surge at mile 23, Meb, don't disrespect Meb ever again, "Sir" Mo Farah?, BOLT, and disappointment with the American women marathoners in London.
Took a brief hiatus from blogging with a crazy schedule, but this will allow me to provide my Olympic summary and personal insights. What an amazing 17 days, and saw some mind-blowing racing and some truly "Olympic" moments. The Olympics are one of my favorite things to watch, and definitely caught as much as possible on TV/DVR. So without further adieu, my Olympic summary and top 10 moments:
Top 10 Olympic Moments (for me):
10: Men's Tennis Final - Andy Murray. I'm a Federer guy, but watching Murray finally win a big tourney in his backyard was pretty cool. He bounced back from a Wimbledon thrashing by Roger and won gold.
9: 10 Meter Men's Platform Diving Final - David Boudisha. Comes down to 3 divers within 0.15 points. All hit great dives, but Boudisha was the best. Awesome that he pulled through when the stakes/pressure was the highest.
8: Dream Team - U.S. Men's Basketball. In my opinion, still couldn't beat the Original 1992 Men's Dream Team, but still a formidable presence. Pretty much laid waste to the rest of the world on their way to a gold medal.
7: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh - 3 peat. Lost 1 set in 3 Olympics. Just stunning.
6: Women's 200 Meter Final - Allyson Felix. Gold was all she wanted in the 200 (beat in the last 2 Olympic finals), and gold she got. She kept going too in all the sprint relays, and brought home a lot more.
5: Men's 800 Meter Final - David Rudisha. Holy crap, what a race! World record times, and perhaps the best race of the Olympics (result-wise). Rudisha had the previous world record, but also had the assistance of rabbits - this time, he just took off and went for it all and got it.
4: Men's Marathon - Meb. As in his great 4th place finish. I posted this yesterday on Facebook, and truly meant every word. He has been counted out so many times, yet continues to prove all doubters wrong. A big thumbs down by the Olympic committee not to recognize Meb before the race, but he used this as fuel to help his cause. He is a class act, and a fighter. I respect him as much as any athlete in the world. He should be the shining role model for any current athlete out there - he's all heart.
Really stoked after Meb's 4th place finish in the Men's Olympic Marathon. He was completely out of the race but kept fighting and fighting and clawed his way to a great finish. Just an amazing role model and a wonderful career for one of the best American runners of all time who has taught me never to give up!
3: Michael Phelps. Amazing to watch this dude's career, and an amazing encore by him in London. 4 golds and 2 silvers - not too shabby. Congrats on a legendary career, Michael!
2: Usain Bolt. Does anything else really need to be said? He is truly a living legend, and perhaps the best of all time. Was stunning to watch the 100 and 200 (he seriously needs to run through the finishes!!!), and the end of the 4x100 men's relay was crazy nuts when he and Bailey faced off. Bolt is freaking amazing!
1: Men's 10,000 Meter Final - Mo and Galen. What a race! What heart from Mo and Galen, and an amazing final 400 meters. I love the reactions from both guys at the end, as their friendship is genuine and they worked together for the last couple years to achieve Olympic glory. Hairs are standing on my arm thinking of that final surge by Rupp - just absolutely amazing!
Oh yeah, I guess I need to talk about my own personal running haha. I pieced together as much as I could remember.
Week of July 23rd - July 29th - 33 miles. 113 in July, 1007 for 2012.
Week of July 30th - August 5th - 28 miles. 126 miles in July (eek!), 15 miles in August, 1040 for 2012.
Monday, August 6th - 0! Recovering from golf trip over the weekend. Played golf at Cog Hill (in Lemont, IL a little south of Chi), and TPC at Deer Run. Played like crap, but had a hell of a time.
Tuesday, August 7th - 0! See above
Wednesday, August 8th - 4 miles. 29:39 (15:12/14:27). Felt like poop, but made it through ok. Weather was a lot nicer.
Thursday, August 9th - 6 miles. I don't remember much out of this, quite honestly - just the mileage.
Friday, August 10th - 8 miles. Ran 5 miles at Creve Couer park during lunch - weather was nice, but very sunny. Hit first 2 miles in 6:28, 6:43 then slowed it down to finish it out (7:25, 7:10, slow). My body doesn't remember "fast" at all, but wanted to get a little speed in this week. Ran 3 at home when I got home before heading out to dinner. 2 easy, 1 really easy.
Saturday, August 11th - 5 miles. Ran home from Jared's house after his daughter's birthday party. Just an awesome night to run, albeit it was pretty dark on the trail. Tried the runkeeper app on my phone since I didn't have a watch, and clocked it in. It says I averaged 7:56 per mile, but this is skewed because I picked it up on the trail portion that runs through the woods (really dark and wanted to get through there fast) - in essence, I'm pretty sure I went faster because the distance seemed a bit short. Regardless, felt great out there.
Sunday, August 12th - 9 miles. Ran with a couple of old friends, Mike and Crystal. Been a while since we got this crew together. 80 minutes easy was the workout, and we gabbed the entire way on Old Faithful on a nice morning. I think we clocked 1:19:20 overall with 8:11 and 7:50 as our last 2 miles (didn't wear a watch), so was a good workout. Had breakfast and watched the Men's Olympic Final afterwards - nice way to begin the day! 32 miles this week, 47 miles in August, 1072 for 2012.
Monday night group run tonight, as I begin to ramp my mileage back to the 40's!
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