My racing seasons fall into two distinct categories, in season and out of season.  Come to think of it, most of my life could be described like that.  For those that don’t know I coach cross country and track at Lincoln North Star.  My mid-August through late October and March through May are committed to this endeavor.  While not impossible, the balancing of these commitments and my family with personal training usually does not let me commit 100% to a training plan.  At the very least, training takes a backseat to coaching and I squeeze in workouts where I can.

On the upside, running is very literally a part of my daily life for a good chunk of the year.  I get to work with runners of all abilities and desires.  I am inspired by them in my own training and racing.  But the off-season is where I get to commit training and racing without much worry about sweats checkout or results or riding a school bus somewhere.

Fall of 2016 was no exception.  State cross country was the 23rd of October, on the 25th I was painfully going through a rust-busting 16:52 5k at Lincoln’s Governor’s Cup.  From there my race schedule broke down like this

-Lincoln Halfsy on November 1st

-Nike Cross Regional 5k in Sioux Falls, SD on November 8th

-Living History Farms Off Road Race in Des Moines, IA on November 21st

-Lincoln Track Holiday Run on December 6th

-USATF Club Cross Country Championships in San Francisco, CA on December 12th

Some of my favorite photos are below and I hope to have some commentary over my vacation coming up here in a few days.  But in case I don’t get around to it, here are the highlights.

HALFSY- Struggled on a tougher than expected day weather wise.  But had a group late that included my buddies Ryan Regnier and Jason Zakaras.  Kept me motivated to 3rd place AG.

Nike Regional- My second best race of the season.  A course that is fast usually does not benefit me competitively.  Just not that speedy.  But decided to get out and mix it up best as I could.  If it went badly, well it was only a 5k and wouldn’t hurt THAT long.  Surprised myself with a 16:32, fastest 5k in quite some time.  3rd O/A

LHF- generally one of my favorite races of the year.  For not being a certified course and typically slow as heck, I still try to include it as a peak race.  This year the course was shortened by at least 2 miles due to night before snow.  Made the water crossings even more treacherous than they usually are.  Combined with ice and shin deep snow, there was no messing around.  Fought my way to a 12th OA, 1st Age Group, 4th Team (with an age average well over the top 3 teams though they don’t measure that. . .)

Holiday Run- Always fun, but way slower than I would have liked.  Pioneers is my home for cross country. I have been running there for 20 years now.  Would have loved to run a lifetime best there, and I was in shape to do it, but the stars did not align.

USATF Club Cross– When I was presented with the opportunity to run club cross for LRC-Racing  I jumped at it.  I don’t get this chance very often and what a way to cap off a year of running.  Sadly it did not go well for me.  Hard to take away even a highlight, but here goes.  Ran a 5:01 first mile, which is only slightly slower than an all out mile I ran earlier this year.  This might explain why the rest of my race did not go well.  Able to run with Olympian and World Championship Silver Medallist Nick Symmonds for the middle part of the race.  Hang out with a group of guys that provide me with an experience that never got in college.