If I stumble, They’re gonna eat me alive

I’m off to Japan tomorrow for the Chiba Ekiden.  START LISTS  just came out.  If the start list order is correct it looks like I’ll be racing Craig Mottram and Stefano Baldini in the 5km lead-off leg.  I was hoping to race Yuichiro Ueno from Japan.  The last time I raced him I was .04 back, which was also my last 5000m, back in July 2007!  The Japanese team looks to be very strong as they have employed all their studs.  The Kenyan team looks strong but it could be a LOT better, similar to the US team.

I brought down my mileage last week to 165km and I’ve been feeling the pop back in my legs already.  This week is a huge front-end load (2/3 of my weekly mileage in the first 3 days) with the travel tomorrow and race on Monday I won’t be doing much after this afternoon’s workout.  Looks like the weather is going to be great for a track workout on November 18 (11C and sunny)!

Congrats to the University of Guelph Gryphons XC team who captured both the Women’s and Men’s national university titles.  That’s Five in a row for the women and Four for the men!  Matt Brunsting had a brilliant race to win and set a course record at Fort Henry and will be looking on extending his season at National XC in Guelph on Nov. 28th.  Once again our Speed River squad looks very strong for the national title.

Sore dewa (goodbye)

It is possible to watch the Chiba Ekiden live over the internet.  I’m not sure how easy it is but the instructions are HERE.