Femezy Round 2

Wow, it seems the name game has really vaulted to new heights since my latest post. I'll update you with a few that I've deemed worthy momentarily. But first, an update on the season as we approach the US Champs.

We're 10 days out from the first day of the meet of the year and everyone is getting their ducks in a row. The spring has brought us several great performances, none of which were mine personally but nevertheless, they were great. Heidi, being Australian, will unfortunately miss out on the opportunity to compete at our nation's biggest race, so I'll get her "progress" out of the way so we can then focus on the Red White and Blue.

Heidi came to Furman looking for a change and a chance to really hone her focus on training, and it's shown. She's set 3 PRs and an Australian national record in 4 of her 5 races this spring. She will be focusing her efforts toward this Wednesdays' meet in Indianapolis to cap off a great block of races and then its a long summer of kitty-cuddling before she re-emerges in August for the Falmouth Mile.

So anyway, back to us, or US (elbow nudge). We have 4 athletes qualified for the US Championships that take place next week in Des Moines, Iowa. We have two steeplechasers, Nicole and Cory, and two in the 1500m, myself and the Jack.

Nicole's progress since January has been equivalent to that of the butterfly. It started out slow, like ridiculously slow and lethargic in the worst way. But as the weather warmed and the sun shined the Bag Lady emerged as a deadly and poisonous threat in the women's steeplechase (butterflies are venomous right?). Nicole is one of only a handful of women who've shown the capacity to dip under 9:40, look for her to be in the mix with 6 other women for the top 3 on Saturday the 22nd at 4:20 pm.

Jack's been here before, a 7th place finisher in 2010, Jack knows the ropes of championship races and has, in this writer's opinion, never been one to count out. One thing I've learned from training with Jack is that in his preparations he's very particular. His anxiety is soothed by efficient planning so Jack likes things his way. We will make every effort to accommodate "Princess Jacqueline" (That's from Heidi) so that we can assure a strong performance next week. The men's 1500m is a strong field as usual, but Jack's been progressing nicely, he'll be in the mix. Round 1 is Thursday at 5 pm with the final on Saturday at 5:50 pm.

Cory heads in to the Championships with the number 2 time in the country. Showing huge improvements last year, Cory worked his way into the final at the Olympic Trials, finishing 9th. Having graduated from The Ohio State University last spring, Leslie is no longer bound by the rigorous curriculum of a state-school communications major. This has translated to an estimated 100,000 hours of extra nap time, which in turn has translated to a new level of fitness. Cory's shown no sign of slowing down and has been crushing his latest workouts. His final will be on Sunday the 23rd at 3:55 pm where he'll be one of only 3 men with the A-standard.

And as for me.... Game of Thrones season finale is about to start so you'll have to tune in to NBC Sports at 5:40 pm on Saturday the 22nd to see what happens. Editor's Note: Can you believe what happened in the last GoT episode??? OMG.

And now, back to the nicknames given to me over the last couple of weeks:
The Librarian - From Nicole after having moved roughly half of her 10,000 lb. book collection up 4 flights of stairs.
Sledgehammer - From Cory after burying him in mile repeats last week.
Perfect Angel Bunny-Dove - <Private>
Captain - From everyone, always.
Big Thunder - From Coach after I ripped through a filthy quarter workout.

Femezy

I've been told that I'm a man who needs no introduction, and am only recently realizing that's just what people say when they can't remember my name. I've also come up against a barrage of horrid nicknames which I can only assume are a feeble attempt at making me more memorable in the minds of others. They most often consist of a last-name pun or a take on my terribly short femurs, but no matter what, they don't seem to stick. In this Game of Names I've decided to take on a new name for every post, this weeks obviously referring to my limb discrepancy, but hopefully as the weeks wear on someone stumbles across a name as ingenious as Bag Lady.

It's that time again, another week, another blog,  two days late, don't hate. Nevertheless, I digress. Without further ado, here's what we're up to...

Heidi broke a national record at the Penn Relays, Jack lost to his sister in cribbage, Nicole ran faster than she has in 2 years and also drove me somewhere for the first time ever, I got crushed in the 5K but also had a huge PR, Lee read Wikipedia all weekend, and Cory is likely sleeping. Now lets talk more about me...

So about this 5K... the experience was not one of the more inspirational memories of my track career despite an 11-second improvement to my PR. Having only a slight idea of what my goal should have been, I told myself that I'd be ok with anything under 13:30 and very happy with a 13:20. I made a Jeff See Guarantee to coach that I'd roll through 3k at around 13:25 pace and "go from there". Phase 1 of the plan went smoothly, but to quote Lee who once quoted the great Mike Tyson in saying, "Everybody's got a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth", I got punched in the mouth as I entered Phase 2 and there was no "going from there". Things got ugly, I fell off the pace and just barely rallied on the last lap to make the race good enough. Nevertheless, the conclusion of this weekend meant that it was time to narrow the focus for the 1500m and concentrate on being ready for the US Championships in June, so no matter what it was a good weekend.

I love the weeks leading up to the US Championships because it's the culmination of all that we've done to this point. We get to spend more time on the track and see the fruits of our labor a little bit at a time. The hope is that in a little over 7 weeks we will all be toeing the line for our respective events in the best shape of our lives (save for the Aussie). So much can happen from now until then and its pretty amazing how quickly it will all be over. BUT WAIT, what if you could see what happens every step of the way as if you were a fly on the wall here at Furman Elite?! Read on little birds, and see why you're in for a wild ride...

This first year in Greenville has been an amazing opportunity and we owe so many people our thanks for the privilege of being able to train at Furman University. We've all come here because we think it has something special that the world of elite running isn't typically privy to, and we'd like to do our best to show what exactly that entails. So without further ado (two ado's in one post - sorry), I'd like to announce that we will be documenting our progress towards what is hopefully a special showing at the US Championships in Des Moines. Here's what you can count on from the future Greenville Film Festival Documentary of the Year:

Riveting interviews
Some beautiful Carolina scenery
Gut-busting workouts
Tan bodies
Frail bodies
A trip to Japan
Shoe-tying 101
LeeLee Lemon Factoids
And full disclosure: There will be an inordinate amount of kitty-cat footage included in this documentary, it will be posted to YouTube after all.

So in case you didn't already have enough reasons to stay up on the happenings here at RunFurman, there's another one for you. See you in 5 and 1/2 weeks (Follow me on Twitter @JCSee for an equally sporadic posting schedule).