I’m sitting at DIA with some extra time on my hands (partly thanks to United Airlines who feel they should be compensated $75 if I am going to fill a vacant seat trying to get home on an earlier connecting flight), so I figured this would be a good time to update the blog. I’m returning home after competing in my third straight Bix 7 mile this morning in Davenport, Iowa. Bix is probably the toughest road race I have run. (see course at http://www.bix7.com/2011/bix.php) The course is extremely hilly, but it’s the heat and humidity that really put it over the top. I’m not exactly sure what the temp and humidity levels were – all I can really say was that it was hot as hell out there. Despite the conditions, I was pleased with the result today. I went out fairly conservative just off the second pack for the first 2.5 miles. Familiarity with the course definitely helps, and I knew the predominantly downhill first third of the race turns into grinding uphills real quick. It was around the second big uphill (mile 2.5-3) that I surged into 6th place and tried to make a move to catch a couple Kenyans falling off the lead pack. I was slowly closing the gap through miles 3 and 4, but then started hitting the wall myself. The last 2 miles turned into a death march that I’m sure we’re all familiar with. I was hanging on to the 1st American position as best I could, but when Abdi passed me around mile 5.5, I couldn’t muster any response. I ended up 7th overall and 2nd American. I felt it was a pretty solid effort but not a great race.
I actually wasn’t planning on running Bix this year. My wife is 8.5 months pregnant with our first child, and it took some lawyer-like arguing to convince her that it was a good idea to run. I ended up spending about 18 hours total in Davenport and was calling every hour to make sure Courtney wasn’t going into labor. Looks like I’ll catch the birth of my first child after all.
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