The last few weeks have been pretty wild. My kids' state track meet was the 14th and 15th and then I ran the Inside Out Sports Classic Half Marathon on the 16th, then shipped off to work with the NC State BAE folks for a week on the 17th.

The track meet was really exciting. I think it's really good for me to work with people who are relatively new to the sport, to help them grow into it, and to get to watch track meets, because I really like to watch track meets.

The race the next day dawned cool and humid. The course was about 75% in Umstead, so I figured I had a pretty good home field advantage. An evening rain had left the trails perfectly damp and soft, but not squishy. We started out mostly downhill for the first 4-5 miles, until we started heading up Reedy Creek trail towards Reedy Creek Road. By then it was down to me and two guys. I decided to make the race happen. I surged hard all the way up (about a mile) and thought I had built a good lead. The guys at the top told me I had about five seconds on them, which I didn't think was enough. We turned and headed right back down the hill, so I turned on the jets and cranked back down. Then the real hills started. I fought hard up the switchbacky ones to Cedar Ridge, then the last few before the airport, and apparently the guys behind me had given up chase. I finished without much left in 1:10:55 (course record by 15 minutes!) which I was pleased with, it was a really tough one. The race turned out to be the RRCA State Championship for North Carolina, so I guess I'm State Champ! Finally.

I spent the next week out in Hickory, NC working for NCSU. I got to run from our hotel into town at about 5:15 every morning and found the track at Lenoir-Rhyne University for a workout on Friday. It was a really nice facility. I'll probably be back out around the lakes there in Mooresville and Charlotte in the next few weeks, and then the journey back to Kansas begins in mid-June.