After running so well to close out 2006, I was really looking forward to running even faster in 2007.  Deena was also looking forward to 2007, having started the year in mid-November.  I arrived back in Mammoth Lakes in early January.  Early on, Deena looked much better than during the previous fall’s training.  I was feeling pretty good as well, hammering out long runs and tempos throughout a fairly mild winter on the mountain.

Deena was preparing for the Boston Marathon, but I had no plans to join her on the line.  I wanted to use the marathon training as a base for some late spring track meets and road races.  Deena and Terrence had other ideas, concocting scheme after scheme to force me into running Boston, including one where they sent in an entry with all my information.

I had never watched Deena run cross country in person before, so it was great to see her win the U.S. cross country championships in Boulder.  About a month later we traveled to Jacksonville for the U.S. 15k championships.  My training had been going well and I was confident I could run a good time and beat some good runners.  But instead I ran like crap.  It was a bad race.  I wish I could blame it on the fact that the Maxwell House coffee factory makes the whole town, particularly our downwind hotel, smell like stale coffee grounds, but I can’t.

After a few more weeks of training in Mammoth, we ventured down to San Diego for some runs at sea level.  We rented this big house which looked even bigger because it was unfurnished except for a large ping pong table in the dining room.  I had a good time in southern California, other than the day when Deena and Terrence tricked me into a 25 mile long run.  There wasn’t a lot of happiness that day.

Finally we made it to Boston for the marathon.  Deena had a rough day but still did win the U.S. championship.  I definitely like being in the race more than watching on TV.  I thought running the 2006 London Marathon was stressful, but when I’m in the race I’m closer to the action and I can tell how things are going.  Watching on TV you don’t have too much of a feeling for whether someone is having a good day or a bad day.  Plus, Deena’s Mom gets really stressed out and then transfers her stress to you.  I think it’s some kind of super power.

Having survived marathon training, I had a few weeks to work on some speed before setting my sights on a steeplechase at the Penn Relays and then the Broad Street 10 Mile race.  Both went terribly.  The whole season just seemed to come crashing down pretty quickly so I just took a break.  Looking back on it, I should’ve just run the marathon.  I think once my body went through the training leading up to Boston it thought I was going to run the marathon.  And when your body thinks you’re supposed to be running a marathon then it also expects to get a break afterwards.  So once we got through Boston my body just said “that’s it.  I’m done,” and went on vacation without me.

After taking a break for a few weeks, I started back running.  It was hard at first because I felt really out of shape.  I was also completely unmotivated for some reason.  I felt like my next marathon was so far off that I had no direction.

And so, lacking motivation, I did what any perfectly sane person would do…I got on a plane without having any idea where I was going.  You probably think that’s impossible and that only an idiot could get on a plane without knowing where the plane was going.  And you may be right.  But on the other hand I have one question to ask…do you know where Knock is?

When I checked in, the destination printed on my ticket and boarding pass was “Knock.”  I didn’t know whether it was an airport abbreviation, country, city, island, person, dog, or sound.  I didn’t even know which direction we were flying.  It wasn’t until we landed in Iceland to refuel and they said it would only be another 45 minutes that I figured out that our destination was Ireland.

This was great news.  I’m Irish, I like to drive by endless rows of sheep, and I’d packed my only green t-shirt.  On the other hand, I’d also packed my baseball glove, thinking we were going to a baseball game in Milwaukee.  And with that bit of information we have probably reached the part of the story where I should back up.

My friends who planned the trip and refused to tell me where we were going had “accidentally” slipped and mentioned that one of our destinations on a multiple destination trip was Milwaukee.  Figuring that they had no reason to lie, I prepared for baseball.  And so wearing a Brewers t-shirt and holding my glove, I landed in Ireland.  My first thought upon getting off the plane…”it’s going to be a long trip back to Milwaukee for the weekend.”

Six days later I was still in Ireland, but it had only taken me 3 days to figure out we weren’t going back to Milwaukee.  We then boarded a plane for Edinburgh, Scotland, where we ran in Holyrood Park, site of the 2008 World Cross Country championships.  If you love cross country and you love old cities, I would definitely recommend taking a trip to Edinburgh around the time of the big meet.

And so after returning from my non-Milwaukee journey, it was time to get serious.  Time to start training.  Time to get back to Mammoth Lakes.