So it has been a while since I have posted anything on here and let me tell you, it is not due to lack of excitement. I will try to cram the last week in here. Also, I am going to have to preemptively appologize for any typing errors. The Dutch keyboard is quite a puzzle getting used to.

23 July, 2008:
Another cloudy, humid day here in Leuven. On a brighter side it is also race day! although I have yet to decide exactly what I am going to be racing... not the best way to mentally prepare. You see, there are a few options out there. a.) I race in the 1500m b.) I race in the 800m c.) I do nothing.

After Heusden I was pretty excited about my new PR. Then the reality set in that other than lowering my PR the race did nothing for me since I did not run the 'A' standard. The race in Braaschaat tonight should be a relatively loaded field (Rob Myers, Kurt Benninger, John Jefferson, etc.) but if it doesn't end up going really fast then running it will be kind of a wash. A wasted effort. And on top of that I am racing a full mile in Dublin in two days where the payout is pretty big and I would like to get in on some of those Euro.

I also want to lower my PR in the 800m. Tonights race would be a good opportunity to do that but it also might cost me a bit in terms of being ready to run fast less than 48 hours later.

The third option might be the safest but it certainly isn't why I am here.

On top of this mental debate I showed up at the bus to ride to the meet and it was full. So full in fact that a full dozen athletes could not get on. Alan Webb, the sweetheart that he is, manned up and drove us all the way there in his rental car. This just piled on the stress and I decided that racing a 1500m with the chance of blowing up just wasn't worth it. So the 800m it was then.

Turns out I made the right decision. First off, the 800m start was around 8:20 pm. The 1500m was not scheduled to run until almost 10:30 pm. Yes the weather was perfect during their race but I had other things on my mind. Secondly, this meet was freaking crazy. They packed 22 guys plus a rabbit onto the line on a 6-lane track. This just looked rediculous to me. The starting line was between 2 and 3 guys deep and looked to be a disaster.

If you are interested in the outcome of that race, please visit flotrack.org and search for the Braaschaat 1500m. (Disclaimer: if you are a person who does not like blood, be careful.) There was a huge pile-up with 350m to go and the winner only ended up running 3:38-high.

I on the other hand had a nice relaxed 800m race. I got smoked, of course, but didn't feel to bad about running 1:48.06 feeling relatively easy the whole time. The travel debacle and not being mentally prepared for a hard race took its toll as I had a lot of difficulty getting competitive with 300m to go, but that is life.

And now I am being kicked out of the computer lab so I will either finish this later on someone's computer or come back tomorrow. Cheers!