Nicole and Jess did it!

Just 2 weeks ago Jessica and I raced the Akron Half. Jess had high hopes for getting her first Olympic trials qualifier and it was no surprise when she did! She ran 1:14:21 to win the race! I was a pretty proud teammate. While I can't lie it was hard to know that prior to my injury my goal had been the same. None the less, I was stoked to learn of her and Ryan's PR's when I crossed the line in 2nd in 1:18:35 (see my race recap on Salty Running)!

Then last week I drove to one of my college roommates place in Madison Wisconsin and spent a few days pretending like we were 23 again, complete with early morning runs and staying out too late!  We had a ton of fun!

Carol and I at 'The Library' a Madison bar.

Friday I drove another 4 hours to Minneapolis to cheer on another teammate, Nicole, as she ran the Twin Cities Marathon with dreams of the Olympic Trials 'A' standard.

Beautiful views while driving!

"Minnesota Nice"

The day of the race came and Eric Finan, a good friend and an Ohio member of Team USA Minnesota, and I hopped on our bikes to watch the race unfold. We were all over the course and were able to see Nicole at mile 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21, 24 and the finish. She looked solid the whole race! Smiled every time we saw her, never lost good turn over and slowly moved from 10th-ish  at 2 miles to 7th at the finish! No One passed her during the race! She finished in 2:37:26 just shy of the 2:37:00  Olympic Trials 'A' standard. But top 10 and a new PR made for a lot of smiles after the race.

Nicole making it look easy at half way!

Finan and I rode back to Minneapolis (about 40 miles round trip) and  got in a 10 mile run with one of his teammates, Jonathan Peterson,  who had won the 10 mile that morning in mowhawk/uncommitted duces fashion!
Finally around 2 pm we had some food and water! I was so so so thirsty! Then we headed to the after party for some more fun! This was really a good 4 days of running, being inspired and goofing off for me! I fell in LOVE with Minneapolis in my few short days there.  It is a wonderful, and beautiful city!  I am so excited for Finan to be there and to be surrounded by so many fantastic people, in such a great place!

Watching my teammates get the standard really made me eager to get healthy and back to racing!  I am so proud of them both! I can't wait for my turn in June or the fall of next year! 

But for now, that will have to wait I have some unfinished business on the track!! Jessica, Aubrey, Barb, Mel and I are going to race Peace Race in Youngstown this weekend, and then it is time to get in a good training block and get back to the track, where my love for this sport began.  Then it is back to the roads for me with hopes of getting into my 3rd Olympic Trials!

Eric Finan and I