Ball So Hard U.

Pete was ordering singlets the other day and it needed a team name.  And not like a "TWSS" team name, a team belonging to a school.  I said why not use Ball So Hard University, they play in the Hip Hop North Conference.  With the BSHU mantra on the forefront of Baltimore's mind this weekend, let's hope they cause New England to have a long winter!

We ordered some singlets.  We should have them in time for Club Challenge.  Speaking of Club Challenge...

This is me officially reminding Conrad, Nate, and Tristram, to sign up!  We are almost full with our whopping 23 guys and 18 girls.  Even Chrissie signed up!  PS, I love that you signed up as Christy.

This is also a reminder about our workout scheduled for Sunday.  This workout will take place regardless of the conditions, which I'm hearing may be less than stellar.  Come prepared, dry clothes for post-run, towel, etc.  Bring water bottles and I'll carry them in the car for you.  In order to get the day moving, please be there prior to 9am, and warmed up and ready to run right at 9. 

In addition to the challenge of Club Challenge, I challenge you to another challenge:

How many guys can we get under 60 minutes?  And how many girls can we get under 70 minutes?

Howard County, as usual, is fielding a very strong team for both men and women, and Westminster RRC's women's team is always solid.  Last year, our women's team was very strong and expects to be competitive again, while our men were outraced by HCS.  In order to avoid that from happening again, I think we'll need to have all of our scorers (12) under 58:30.  For the women (only 4 scorers, a truly unfavorable setup) we'll need to have them under 1:06, if not faster.

No matter the outcome, I am positive we'll have some great performances that will set the bar for the rest of the season!  So let's get things started with Sunday's workout, and then a Ravens victory!

Houston: We Have A Problem

By now we've all read Chrissie's recap of her Olympic Trials race, which was a great read, and created some of the highest volume of traffic to the blog in our history.  Meg McNew was on hand and was able to grab a couple of photos, here's a good one:

Chrissie lettin' 'em know: I want that award this year!

Of course, Chrissie's race wasn't the only one going on, as 5 of us traveled down to haunted Charleston, SC, for the 2nd Annual Charleston Marathon and Shrimp & Grits 5k.  The marathon went off at 8am, starting downtown and heading north into Terribletown.  Conrad Laskowski and I started together, but it was quite evident that he was on good legs.  And even though he could have easily walked away with the win there, he kept turning around and looping back to check in on me.  So thoughtful, that C-Bag.  He probably ran 30 miles on the day, but his official time was 3:00:01 for 10th place.  I fell apart less bad than I usually do to run a 3:03:43 and finish 15th.

In the Shrimp and Grits 5k, which started up at the marathon finish line at 8:30, it was a clinic on How-To-Win, led by Ed Aramayo and Alyssa Godesky, featuring special guest, Andy Sovonick.  Ed cruised to the win in 15:12, and Alyssa won in 19:05.  Andy ran with Alyssa for 2 miles before dropping the hammer to run a 5 minute last mile (17:27, 7th).  We assumed, correctly, that the course was short, and we confirmed it to be 3 miles.  Even tacking on the extra 0.1, it was a great early season time for Ed, and a new PR, easily, by Alyssa. 

Post-Crushing Butts, pre-Shrimp and Grits

As previously discussed, we will be holding the first of two Club Challenge course runs THIS Sunday, January 22nd, at Howard County Community College.  Here is the pertinent information:

Sunday, January 22
HCCC, off of Little Patuxent River Parkway
RUNNING BY 9AM

What I mean by this is, on the starting line, ready to run, by 9am.  If you need additional miles or warm up, arrive earlier.  There is no guarantee that the Phys Ed building will be open, meaning no guarantee we will have bathrooms available, although last year I remember there being some port-o-pots around. 

There are many people attending, and likely many different ideas for workouts.  In merely offering a suggestion, last year for our first workout we did 3-4x2mi on the course, using the first 2 miles as a warmup, and then starting the workout at mile 2.  Doing the suggested workout will either take you to mile 8 or the finish.  A 2 mile cooldown puts you at 14.  Dustin and Nate are going to be running longer, in the 17-18 range.  Some may be running shorter.  Whatever your flavor is, have at it.  I will be going down as a course marshal, driving along the workout to make sure nobody gets lost.  This also means I can carry water bottles and nutrition for those who would like to bring it along. 

If you have any questions, just ask.  For directions and course information, and also to REGISTER if you have not, I refer you to www.striders.net/races/rrca/2012