Winter has arrived in North Carolina, to wailing and gnashing of teeth from frozen southerners. It's been down in the 20s, which is completely insane here. Honestly, I've gotten soft since living here. The Kansan in me feels the need to make fun of their version of the winter, but I'm freezing too right now.

Anyway, as far as running goes, I'm currently preparing for the USATF Club XC championships in Charlotte. I'm running for my team and with my bros of the KC Smoke. There was a lot of Letsrun complaining about this, but I've been a member of the team for long enough that a southern hiatus shoudn't (and doesn't according to officials) matter. I'm glad to get to run for a team, especially a team that I care about.

As far as training, my last solid workout was two weeks ago:

5xmile - 4:38/4:35/4:38/4:38/4:38 w/ 2 mins rest in between.

Since then, I've been doing the regular stuff, making the runs shorter and resting a lot. I've noticed my body feeling tired and sore, and generally sluggish, so I know I've probably only got one good effort in me before I take a little break.

The race is Saturday, on what I hear is a really fast course. It would be awesome to go out there and break 30, since it only sort of qualifies as an XC course, I think it's entirely possible. The field seems much deeper than last year, so hopefully I can place higher in addition to running a better time.
The intersection of Reedy Creek Trail and Reedy Creek Lake Road. There's a little snow leftover too.