Progress

Progress on two fronts:

1) Running: Workouts have been going very well. Over the last few weeks I've done a couple of 10K specific pace workouts on the track and tempo workouts on grass. Two weeks ago I did 20 x 400 w/ 100 jogs and averaged 87/88 like clockwork. The following week I did 10 x 800 w/ 200 jogs and stayed at the same pace for twice the length, hitting 2:55/2:56 for my average. Before club nationals I'll do 5 x mile with 400 jogs at hopefully 5:50 give or take. If I can do this, I should hopefully be able to break 38 on the hilly Lexington, KY cross country course. My cross country workouts have been either 3 x 2 mile on a marked grass path at Lakewood Park (when I was in Portland I did 2 x 3 mile on some trails). I'm feeling comfortable with off road running and also feeling smooth at 10K effort work on the track. My next races will be a 5K tomorrow in Avon and another 5K in Lakewood on Dec. 1 as a final rustbuster for nationals on Dec. 8.

2) Writing: 2 weeks ago I started a fiction writing project that is turning into a full-blown novel. I've already written 15,000 words and feel like I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through. Working title is Velocity Boy, a play on the Primal Scream B-side, not the mediocre 90s band who took their name from the same song. The story is set in the mid-80s and chronicles the adventures of a mildly immature music-obsessed 20-year old who goes to England for his junior year abroad.  Will he find peace, love and understanding in a haze of soft drugs, hard alcohol, loud rock 'n' roll and not always safe sex?