Entry #44
Week of July 14, 2008
by Becky Guyette

7am last week I was loading up my car for my move out of the Treasure Valley (Boise) in hopes of finding legitimate riches in Flagstaff. My mom took my picture as I jammed my body in the only remaining crevasse of my car, and bid me good luck.

As I drove away it occurred to me how close to dying my dreams had become. I started to realize the stages I had gone through. First there was denial of the fact that I was giving up running for a career. Next came anger: I had gotten to the point that I was so angry I was not running that I could no longer even look at running information or talk about running without getting upset. Then I started to bargain with myself and tell myself that soon I would have time enough away from work to get back into training and competitions. I knew the depression had sunk in when I sat on my couch one morning at 9am eating clam chowder with crushed pretzels sprinkled on top, drinking a cold Corona. I was overweight and without a care for my body, almost in acceptance. It was the final stage of dying, acceptance that was inundated with a feeling of regret that tormented me.

It's July 19th at 10PM and I should be asleep but I'm not. I'm still reeling from today. Saturdays are our long run days and today was a particularly fine one. We ran our old standby A-1 Mountain Road and several of the new athletes had very good runs. They are starting to get acclimated to the altitude and are all excited for the upcoming year with the expanded group we have. The marathon group also ran particularly well and are building steadily toward the fall. But before we even got to the start of the long run, I received the call I had hoped for. It was Lemon on the other end of the line. He was calling from France where he just raced a PR the night prior to let me know he had been selected for the UK Olympic Team. What a thrill! We are so proud of Lemon. He deserves it. Good luck in Beijing!

Speaking of a Beijing-bound athlete, I also received a text from our other Olympian, Martin Fagan, who had flown to Dublin to run the Irish National Championships. Though in the middle of marathon training, he won handily in less than ideal conditions, even letting someone else lead (which hardly ever happens with Martin). The goal was to win as easily as possible as to limit the disruption in his Olympic preparation and that mission was accomplished. He'll do one more training run/race before Beijing and I look forward to heading to Japan in a couple of weeks to help him with his final marathon prep for the Games.

We are also excited to have our latest athlete arrive in town. Giliat Ghebray arrived last night and it's great to see him again. We've been excited for his arrival since his recruiting visit three weeks ago. Giliat is a great person and also fast runner (13:42 for 5,000m) and he's a great addition to our track-focused group. Welcome Giliat.

He's pumped and we're pumped and now I must hit the hay. Angus likes to wake between 3 and 4AM so I better get some precious sleep before then.

There's a buzz growing in our group. Something is in the air. Stay tuned as we work toward continued success in year 2.

G-Mc

PS: If you have a kilt, wear it tomorrow to celebrate Lemon's success. The Celtic Festival is going on in Flagstaff right now so I may just go and get one myself!