Distance runners Abdi Abdirahman and Meb Keflezighi talk about their preparations for the 2008 Olympics.

http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=ebbacd2abc5eaa15e7cde256b10efcfc55623b74

My thoughts and prayers go out to Ryan Shay and his family! What a tragedy! He seemed like a terrific human being and a real model for the sport! It is strange how much learning about his death has effected me. I didn't even know him but as a passionate runner it effects me in a way that's hard to express. He will be missed! This news has most certainly shocked the running community.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/sports/othersports/04marathon.html?ref=othersports

Richards Run for life 5k and Breast Cancer Walk

Making strides aganst breast cancer walk, Tampa Fl Saturday October 27th. OK so it was not a race!!Although it took every ounce of restraint I had not too!!! ;) But for a good cause. Really there to support Kristin!

http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MS07_FL_eventinformation_Hillsborough

Richards run for life 5k. Great race. This is my second year participating. This is put on by the owner of the Columbia restraunt. What a sweetheart of a guy (Richard) and the proceeds go to support cancer research and the Moffit Cancer Center. Not my best performance but it was beautiful weather for racing!

http://www.richardsrunforlife.com/

results

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/07/fl/Nov2_Richar_set1.shtml

John Holmes 50K Oct 13th

Fun Race!! Great weather and I had the best support crew ever!!! Kristin ( and Jack) were awesome. Kristin made her way around the course to watch me and was there just when I needed her with a cold water bottle and a gue pack! Jack made a few laps around the course as well with one of the runners who did the 15 mile. I am still extremely out of shape but it's a start. I will be back next year!! I have a 5k next weekend Saturday. Not by choice!!!;) Kristiin is a huge Chick- fil -A fan. The winner's 3 deep in age group win free Chick-fil-A for a year! Just a little pressure! :) I am also doing a triathlon on Sunday. The Long Leaf Triathlon. So it should be a fun weekend! Here is a race report from Matt Mahoney's website on the 50k this past weekend...great recap!!!

OK...I just thought this was weird. So the race was on October the 13th, My race number was 13 and guess what place I finished overall...yup...13!! Freaky! ;)

Here are the offical results!

http://coolrunning.com/results/07/fl/Oct13_JohnHo_set1.shtml

original with edit

The John Holmes (Croom Trail) 50K (Brooksville FL) unofficial results
are
posted to http://mahoney4. home.netcom. com/scr/races/ 07croom50k. txt

.... The results are unofficial because I
copied them from the scoresheet at the race and left when there was
7:51 on
the clock and 23 out of 78 runners had either dropped or were still
running.
I heard from the RD that it might take awhile to get official results
because
he had to leave at 3PM today to fly to London. So that is why I am
posting
them.

The 50K is on sandy trails with roots and hills (but no rocks) in the
Withlacoochee forest about 50 miles west of Orlando. It started at
7AM when
it was barely light enough to run without a flashlight. It has a
main loop of
7.3 miles with 3 aid stations, repeated 4 times, with and extra 1.5
miles of
downhill dirt roads to the start and 0.3 miles of gnarly uphill trail
to the
finish. The main loop had several climbs up to about 50 vertical
feet at
10-15% grade, plus a 20 foot deep sinkhole called "Bundy's Pit" with
a 50%
uphill grade. There was also a 15 mile fun run at 9 AM that does
only 2 loops
(so actually about 16 miles). We had great weather due to the first
cold
front of the fall, low and dewpoint in the low 60's F and highs about
85 F and
sunny.

The 50K had awards for overall, masters, and first place in 10 year
age
groups, consisting of a shirt and LED maglite. The fun run had no
awards.
The aid stations had the usual ultra foods like water, Gatorade,
M&Ms, potato
chips, Coke, etc. Post race food was hamburgers, beans, chips, and
fudge.

Each race had reached its 75 runner limit, but then they allowed race
day
registration at a reduced rate of $1/mile with no shirt, about half
of the
preregistration fee.

I didn't list complete fun run results, but local runners included
Jonathan
Dea, 29, of Rockledge FL in 2:21:15 (2nd 20-29) and Steve Szabo, 32,
of
Melbourne FL in 3:26:59 (11th 30-39). The winning time was 1:58:22.

Local runners in the 50K were:

Joe Ninke, 38, Sebastian FL, 4:25:01, 3rd overall. He is one of only
2 people
to finish the Wickham Park 100.

Me, 6th overall in 4:40:35. I only managed an age group award
because Ray
Bell (4:28:28) turned 60. (In the 1990's he was second in the Run
across
America where you have to run an average 45 miles per day for 64
consecutive
days and make every cutoff.) My marathon split today of 3:51 was
about a
minute per mile slower than on roads. I dunno. I started off in the
lead
pack with 3 other runners on the downhill dirt road at a 6:45/mile
pace, but
after about 1/2 mile I decided that was too fast for 31 miles and
backed off.
By the end of the race a 10 minute pace was hard enough.

Scott Maxwell, 57, Indialantic FL, 5:25:06, 4th in my age group. He
has run a
bunch of 100 mile races and is race director of the LOST 118 mile
race around
Lake Okeechobee.

-- Matt Mahoney, matmahoney@yahoo. com

Kayaking at Wheaton Island

Montana!!!

Here is a video of my first and last skydive:)

It's been a crazy month!!

I forgot I had this blog! With my training thrown out of the window I haven't thought to keep it up;) I landed my new job with Johnson & Johnson and took about a month off prior. I had a chance to do a bit of traveling. I went out to Boulder, CO (Where I will move to one day!!! ) It was awesome. I did some amazing trail running with my buddy Grant. I had a week long hunting/ fly fishing trip in the Catskills mountains of New York State with my Pop. I finally had a chance to catch up with chores/ projects left unfinished around my house. I even did something I swore I would never do...I went skydiving!! As Ernest Hemingway said "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut" After a few beers I made this mistake of agreeing to go skydiving with my buddy Aubrey who has over 4000 jumps. He held me to it and woke me out of bed at 9 a.m. the next morning with parachut in hand! I adopted a new dog. His name is Jack and he is a cool dude. I dropped out of Ironman CDA this June. With my lack of preparation and my upcoming flyfishing trip to Montana in July, I cannot afford that much time away from the new job:( Currently sitting in the Tampa airport waiting for my delayed flight to Newark, NJ. I hope to use these next two weeks in Jersey to get back in shape. Then maybe I can actully blog about my training:)