Dallas Bowden: running through the swamplands

 Grand Rapids was definitely the most fun i have ever had on a cross country course. It was also the slowest course i've run on but considering the conditions the Michigan boys ran very well. First place was Peter Christmas (Michigan) in 25.07 min. Our next three guys weren't too far behind which gave us the overall win. So things are looking good for big tens. My race was alright. It was comfortable but nowhere near as fast as i wanted. Finished 2nd in 26.40ish which is a massive PB so i can't complain!

We had our second "Michigan" workout today. A "Michigan" is a workout where we do 1600m 1200m 800m 400m on the track and in between each rep we jog 200m and do a 2 km loop up around the stadium ( mostly flat with one 400m hill in it). I must admit i was a bit nervous before hand when Ron came into the showers at morning training and said " i hope you boys are ready to cry and vomit this afternoon.... it's gonna be a fast one". Turns out it wasn't actually that bad and for the first time I was able to lead the group on the track reps and some of the 2 km's tempos. Happy days! So the next race is a 5 km out at Eastern Michigan and there are some fast Ohio guys in it. This race will determine whether or not i red shirt this cross-country season.

For the rest of the team the next race is Big Tens at Penn State. Im not sure how we sit in terms of points with qualifying for nats but i know Big Tens is crucial race. So this next three weeks will be interesting and if we qualify for nats then it's going to be even more intense. i love running! there is always room to improve!