Cross Country on my mind

I have never run a cross country race. If I run the Buffalo Wallow 6k next weekend, I won't be able to state that again. The omens appear to be telling me to run it. I had a reasonable workout today, 3.2 miles in 27 minutes in the sunny, unseasonably warm afternoon at Memorial Park. Yesterday's yoga and Friday's Nordic track workouts both went well. Today, I read about a cross country race in Boulder as elite runners in that area are gearing up for the 2006 USATF national cross country championships in Van Courtland Park in New York next month.

If I was in Boulder over the weekend, I could have joined that race on Saturday, the second annual "Best Cross Country Race on the Planet", with a strong and relatively small field. The women's 6.26k race was won in 22:49 by Colleen De Reuck, four time marathon Olympian, defending USATF national cross country champion, and 2004 Houston Half Marathon winner (1:10:55). The men's 6.26k was won by Luke Watson in 19:45. Luke was an eight time All American at Notre Dame and has a 3:57.83 mile under his belt. 41 of the 151 men ran a pace under 6:00/mile. But there were 29 runners at a pace of over 8:00/mile so I could have been number 30. The course was three loops, like Buffalo Wallow, so I would have been lapped. But what other sport could I compete in the same event as Olympians and All Americans? How cool is that.

So Buffalo Wallow is calling me next Saturday.