We LOVE Memphis!!

Just got back from our trip to Memphis to run in the Brooks' Twilight Meet last night. It was a beautiful night - just a hint of coolness after an afternoon rain shower. The course was in great shape - the rain helped keep the dust down and the grass was short and people were running fast! Even if we weren't running, what a treat to watch Ben Cheruiyot from Auburn win a wire to wire battle with Soufiane Bouchiki from Eastern Kentucky. They were neck and neck the whole way with Cheruiyot managing a 2" win - 23;15 to 23:17. Cheruiyot averaged 4:39 per mile for this run which is CRAZY!

Our men had a great run - the best overall race since I came to UWA in 2006. It was great to see all of their hard work pay off. Here are our times:

Austin 25:43
Craig 26:25
Jonathan 26:38
David 26:45
Peter 27:07
Brandon 27:27
Josh 28:02
Cody 28:08
Miles 28:38
Evan 29:10
Adam 29:30
Cam DNF - he got a severe side stitch and had to drop out of the race.

Austin's run was remarkable. He hadn't done any real training for at least 10 days - we have been working him out hard in the pool each afternoon. He seemed strong and did not appear to miss a beat.

Craig is having a great season. This is his 3rd PR in 3 races this year. He spent the summer training at altitude and it has helped him early in our season. As a 5th year senior who missed last cc season with mono, it is great to see all of his hard work for the past 4 1/2 years starting to pay off.

Jonathan had a bit of an off race for him but still turned in his 2nd fastest 5 mile race ever. He has been on a higher milage program since the summer and I am sure his legs are a bit dead right now - I look for him to rebound when we start dropping some mileage.

David had the race of the night for us - he set a UWA freshman record for 5 miles at
26:45.10 - breaking Austin's freshman record of 26:45.94 set on the same course in 2007. He is poised to have a breakout season in this, his first year of collegiate running.

Peter set a goal of 27:00 for this race and came very close - 27:07. He rebounded well after a disappointing race at Alabama last weekend. He is rounding into good shape and could be a major factor for us at the GSC meet in November.

Brandon had a great race as well. He set a big time PR for himself in this his initial collegiate season. He finished in 27:27, which beat his goal time of 27:30 for the season. We'll have to see how far he can take it in the remaining races.

Josh ran a strong race - finishing in 28:02. He was so close and was left wondering where he could have made up those 2 seconds. I look for him to break 28:00 in either or both of our next 2 races. The weather seems to be cooling and both courses are pretty quick, although not like the soccer fields at Mike Rose Soccer Complex where we ran last night.

Cody had a PR finishing in 28:08. He also rebounded well from a disappointing race at Alabama last week. Once he can even out his miles he'll be a much more formidable runner and be able to help us at conference.

Miles had a wonderful race - he followed his race plan almost to a "T". It was good to see him thinking out there and executing his plan. He also needs to even out his miles and he'll be right up where he can help us.

Evan ran a great race - a PR for him as well. H ran a smart race and evened out his miles. This enabled him to pass 29 runners after the first mile, including 5 different runners in the last 800m.

Adam struggled a bit in this race - he didn't seem as "peppy" as the other guys, but he still met his goal of 29:30. I told him that any time you can meet your goal you should take some satisfaction away from the race. He wanted to run even faster but it didn't happen....this time. I look for him to train hard the next couple of weeks and run well at Jax St. on Oct 9th.

The women's race wasn't quite as filled with PR's but we had several solid performances.

Carolyn ran 19:10, just 2" off of her PR. She struggled a bit in mile # 2 and that is what ultimately cost her a new PR as she picked the pace up again in the last 1.1 miles. She is definitely looking for a new PR and to break 19 in her next race or two.

Polina had a "bad" race....for her. She ran 19:32 - 12" slower than last week at Alabama. She was hoping the fast course and cool evening weather would lead to a new PR but it didn't happen. Knowing her, she'll train like a maniac the next 2 weeks and go after the new PR at Jax State.

Kirstie raced a solid race. She hadn't trained in almost 2 weeks until this past week when we got some basic distance runs and one tempo run completed in training. She seems healthy now and with a couple of weeks of additional training should be able to get below 20:00 which she has done on several previous occasions. She ran 20:56 last night.

Amy ran a strong race...finishing in 21:08 and closing in on sub 21 territory. She worked hard to keep her pace from falling off in mile # 2 and had some success. We'll look to keep that process going even further in the next 2 weeks before we return to JSU for our meet on 10-9

Anne ran a PR last night - 20:54 - and seems to have developed some consistency around this pace, having run a PR of 22:01 last week at Alabama.

I'll post some additional analysis tomorrow once I get a bit of rest. All in all a very nice trip to Memphis.