Le Blog du Rob #101

I ran the Toronto ZooRun this past weekend. These are the thoughts going through my head during the race;

1^st km: *Gun goes off* “Alright, let’s get out nice and hard and then settle in with the group… Boy oh boy, Dylan is getting at it! Man, these other guys are flying too! This is insane, everyone is sprinting!… alright ya bastards, guess I’ll just keep sprinting as well.”

2^nd km: “That first kilometre was silly, I wonder how fast we went? Shoulda worn a watch… Man, we are still going really fast, and we’re going uphill! Sure hope we settle in soon because this is already kinda hard… Oh look, we dropped everyone else already. Sweet. might as well just keep up with these dudes as long as I can.”

3^rd km: “Ok, let’s just keep contact, relax…relax…relax…Oh man, it burrrrnnnnsss.”

4^th km: “What is going on here? Why are we running on a dirt road? Oh man, I just stepped in a puddle up to my shin! What the hell!? Oh crap, they’re getting away again… eff these guys. I’m gonna chill out a bit, just gotta keep it close enough so if one of those dudes falters you can run them down.”

5^th km: “Dear god, this is uncomfortable… I wonder how fast I’m going… I don’t think I’m going very fast…”

6^th km: “Where’d the guys go? I can’t see them anymore… *looks behind* There is no one back there either! Did I take a wrong turn? Am I even on the course anymore…this course is weird.”

7^th km: “I have a big workout Tuesday, maybe I should just coast it on in… Umm, you’re in a friggin‘ race right now, idiot! Keep pushing! Besides, you’ve been coasting since like 4K anyways ya wimp.”

8^th km: “arghhh…. Oh look, a Zebra!…arghhhh….”

9^th Km: “Can’t believe I gotta run a marathon in four weeks…”

10^th km: “Alright, let’s kick it on in, here we go! *40 metres later* “Seriously? That’s all ya got? Weak Rob, so damn weak…”

Yeah, so needless to say, this was not my finest performance. But that’s ok, It was a fun weekend in Toronto. Got to see some of my buddies, got in a good workout and saw an elephant. Can’t really complain. I’ll be ready when it matters.

Congrats to Reid on the win. Great to see him back in form. Also big congrats to Kip Kangogo on his 2^nd place finish. Kip is one of the best runners on the scene, I don’t think he gets enough respect. He is always solid and he always runs tough as hell. He is running the Victoria Marathon in a couple weeks. I sure hope he nails it, good luck Kip!

I have been racing against Kip since my university days. We were in the same conference, he was at TCU while I was at Colorado State. Kip plays a pretty big part in one of my favourite/most shameful races:

Mountain West Conference indoor championships, 2006 – the Men’s 3000m. This is one of the last events of the meet. I had won the 5000m the day before and I’m looking to double back for more points in the 3K. The race starts – this is the old days folks, this is when FFTF Rob is in full effect. I was a brash and cocky son of a gun. I get off the line hard, looking to punish fools. By halfway it is a two man race. Myself and Kip.

It should be noted that BYU is also in our conference. BYU is a Mormon school; very conservative, very straight laced. BYU were a bunch of angels. I couldn’t stand them! They were also the dominant team in the Conference, winning every damn meet. It drove me bonkers.

The race between Kip and I is heating up. We are just hammering each other around that 200m track. With about 1000m to go I come around the top bend and I hear a faint chanting. Next lap the chanting is louder. The entire BYU men’s team has gathered on the bend, they are pounding the track, chanting “Kip, Kip, Kip” in unison. What the hell?!

Maybe I completely forgot the fact that Kip had actually attended BYU for a year. Maybe I forgot that those were his friends simply cheering him on. And maybe I thought BYU was cheering against me, as much as they were cheering for Kip. You see, BYU and I didn’t get along very well. We’ll call it a rivalry, but this wasn’t just a sport rivalry. Also a lifestyle rivalry – the sinner vs. the angels.

As the race progressed the chanting grew louder. I was working my hardest to drop Kip. I now wanted to win more than ever. 400m to go. Time to kick, but first… I swing wide on the bend out to lane four and in front of the whole BYU squad. I proceed to flip off the entire BYU team as I run by them. There is an audible gasp from the crowd as I unleash a furious kick on Kip… and he covers easily and destroys me over the last lap.

As soon as I finished I knew that maybe I overreacted a bit. My coach comes over, “Nice race Watson, now let’s see if you get disqualified, ya bonehead.”

I managed to avoid disqualification, but as punishment for my crude actions I had to go face the entire BYU team and apologize. It was brutal. They immediately accepted the apology with handshakes and smiles. Those Mormons, man they are so damn nice!

Hey, so back to the marathon stuff. I bounced back from the ZooRun and rolled my best workout in a long time on Tuesday: 3×6 miles, 1×2 miles with 5 minute recovery jogs. Nailed it. Onward to STWM. A little more than three weeks to go! Happy training everyone!

-rob-