USATF Club XC Nationals 2006

We had a very busy weekend. Scott went to Munich for a research conference on molecular imaging and Bruce and I went to San Francisco for the USATF XC Club Nationals.

Scott had a great time in Germany. He gave a 15-minute talk, rubbed elbows with a bunch of scientists, and bought me some wicked good dark chocolate.

Bruce did pretty well over the weekend considering all the traveling and change. He was good on the flight there. He played peek-a-boo with one of my teammates and I was thrilled to get a new snack about every 20 minutes (we flew Jet Blue). We stayed with former teammates that had moved to California; they were excited to have a baby in the house and didn't seem to mind that Bruce redecorated the bottom of their Christmas tree.

We flew in Friday night. Bruce was still on Eastern Standard Time because he woke up at 3:45 a.m. and was ready to party. I couldn't get him back to sleep, and he even wandered out of bed and jumped on one of my teammates before I realized what was going on and got up with him.

Saturday was a long day, but very good. After getting up super early, we headed over to Golden Gate Park where the course was. It was raining off and on, so we took cover in a tent by the start line. Bruce was passed along all day. Brad (GBTC guy) watched him for my warmup, Kristen (former BYU teammate) had a playgroup with her kids during the race, and Sloan (GBTC girl) chased Bruce during my cooldown.

The race went very well. To sum it up, I stared at the ground until the last half-mile or so for fear I'd trip and totally eat it. The course covered a lot of terrain: grassy fields with pot holes, skinny dirt trails with huge mud puddles, short steep hills with roots sticking out everywhere, and a gravel horse track also covered in puddles. It was a 6k course and I finished in 21:58.

Here are a few more running pictures...
http://www.zinsli.com/pictures/06_1209_xc_ow/imagepages/image77.htm
http://trackandfieldphoto.com/DisplayJpg.php?061209_2105_4144_MMG

After the race we went to Chinatown for the most amazing food I've ever eaten, then Bruce and I went to bed. Whew. We took a red-eye home; luckily, Bruce slept almost the entire time. I had a hard time sleeping with Bruce on my lap squirming every few minutes, the guy next to me snoring, and the movie "Flight Plan" on my mind. I have since gotten a few hours of sleep and even a few miles run.