May 29

AM: 10 x 1'on/1'off, 11 miles

PM: weights, core, stretching

Got in a light workout in the morning. After longer warmup, I ran the fartlek around the Meadowbrook Stables loop, picking up 5:55 and 5:40 splits at the beginning and end.

After work, I went to the gym with Valerie and got in a good lift and some quality stretching.

May 28

AM: 4 miles easy

PM: 10 miles easy

Quick shake-out on the CCT in the morning, and then Rock Creek Park with P. Murphy after work.

May 27

PM: 10 miles moderate

After we drove back from the beach, I got in a run with Fleg just before sunset. We were moving along pretty well. I'm guessing the second half of the run was at or under 6:00 pace, though I felt good, like I could run all night if I'd wanted to.

May 26

AM: 10 x 2'on/1'off, 10 miles

I warmed up to downtown Bethany Beach and back, changed into flats, and then ran the workout in the bike lane/shoulder along the Coastal Highway. I felt crisp and fresh.

I had thought about racing this morning at a little 5k in the next town over, but in addition to no one else wanting to run it, and the awful feeling in my legs the past couple of weeks, I engaged in too much revelry late into Sunday night/Monday morning to get up early and put in a decent effort. So instead, I slept in and had a solid workout. *patting self on own back*

May 25 (80 miles/week)

AM: 12 miles easy

Ran with James and Max in Bethany Beach for an "easy 6 or 7." I got us juuuussst a little lost. When James and I finally asked for directions, thinking we were running back toward our beach house, we were told we weren't even running toward the f***ing ocean.
Not my brightest moment, but a good run nonetheless. The legs are starting to feel better.

May 24

AM: 14 miles easy

I ran in Bethany Beach, running the first 5 miles easy with Valerie and some friends from college. After that, I did an out-and-back along Route 1 from South Bethany to Ocean City.

May 23

AM: weights, core, stretching

Let me first say that I don't like taking days off from running. They usually make me feel listless, and there's the issue that I really like to run. It's something that's so routine for me at this point, I just get an uncomfortable "off" feeling.

That is, of course, unless I really need a day off, and I'm 99% sure that today is one of those days.

Excluding the days after Boston and my October stress fracture, today is the first voluntary day off I've taken in more than a year (4/25/07 was the last one...I had to go back and check the log). My legs have just been toast all week, and I'm concerned at this point that I might be overtraining/overtrained. 70-80 miles/week shouldn't be a taxing load for me by any means.

I got a good piece of advice from Klim yesterday:

"What you don't want to do (again IMO) is to run half-ass, grind through and feel like poopy for the next 2 months as you try and "shake" the legs free. This might work...but it also might not. Time is on your side...now."

And he's totally right about this. The occassional day off now will, I hope, mean lots of days "on" later. With the way the last few weeks have gone, I'm starting to get pretty concerned about the downward spiral of overtraining.

Fortunately, I feel like I'm only a few good weeks from being race sharp, so the 5k Monday and the 8k next weekend should be good rust-busters for me. I have to treat them that way at this point, or else I risk getting overly discouraged, which would just mean playing more head games with myself. Been there, done that already.

I desperately need to show some patience right now, or else I risk taking my running over the line from "healthy, fun, competitive hobby" to "grinding, frustrating necessity." For the time being, until training ramps up later this summer, less may actually be more.



I'm headed to Bethany Beach this afternoon until Tuesday for a much needed vacation and R&R. I literally dreamt about electric reliability statistics last night...how very sad.

May 22

AM: 9 miles easy

PM: 5 miles easy, core, stretching, pull-ups, dips

The legs were still heavy and tight today on both runs, though I felt a little better after the second run. It's pretty obvious to me that running back-to-back hard days last weekend was a pretty stupid idea, even though it wasn't intentional.

After the second run, I went the the gym for some extra work and a good stretch.

The plan now is to take the day off tomorrow, run an easy long run Saturday, easy on Sunday, and then use the 5k as a benchmark to see how my fitness has improved from last year at the same race, with the same effort. I'm also going to bite the bullet and get a massage next week...with possibly a couple more in the subsequent weeks. Using the foam roller at the gym, my quads had so many knots in them they felt like strands of pearls.

May 21

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: 3 x mile w/ 400 jog recovery, 4 x 200m w/ 200 jog recovery, 10 miles

Easy shake-out on the Capital Crescent in the morning.

After work, I met Bain, Klim, and Christiam at B-CC for a quick track workout. My legs felt tired and heavy during the warmup, and were only so-so for the workout. This was definitely a rust-buster, and I seem to have a lot of rust when it comes to speed. We went out faster than pace on the first and last, which made the last 600m a bit of a fight. I'm not really wild about the effort, but I guess it's good to take it as it is, knowing that the faster stuff will come in the weeks and months ahead after some much-needed adaptation. Bowel issues weren't bad but weren't great; I could feel it, but I didn't have to make any emergency stops until before and after the cooldown. Splits: 4:56, 4:59, 4:55.

My legs have felt tight, tired and heavy since the marathon, which makes me worry that I've done too much, too soon. The trouble is, I already seem to be getting back into training again, and now want to train again, so I'm not sure if I should 1.) take a few days off to see if the feeling passes, or 2.) keep going as planned, putting myself into the fire. For those of you that know me well, you won't I'm more likely to pick the latter.

I'm worried about running myself into the ground at this point, but I also want to run fast this summer. I guess that's why it's called "an experiment of one." After Marine Corps, I will probably take more time off to cross train and save my legs, but I feel like that ship has sailed for me at this point. It'll be interesting to see how the next few weeks unfold. I have a few races planned, and I'm hoping for the best. The races will be the indicators for me; if I bomb, then the red flags will go up. Until then, full speed ahead [Editor's note: insert another cliche here if possible].

May 20

AM: 10 miles easy

PM: 5 miles easy

Slow in unseasonably cold rain through a very messy Rock Creek Park. At one point near the Line, I stepped onto a pile of mud, only to find out the hard way that it was totally soft as it instantly devoured half of my right leg. I felt the tweak in my hamstring during the run after work, but it shouldn't be too bad.

Even with that and a run in the cold mud, my day was still better than the day this guy had at a track meet last week.

The most impressive part is that he took his own photo, though I bet that'll be the last time the photographer ever says, "I know he's the state champ and all, but no WAY Miles can throw the jav this far..."

May 19

AM: 8 miles easy

PM: weights, core, stretching

Rock Creek Park trails in the morning, and I hit the gym after work. It was obvious that summer was approaching; I've never seen it so busy.

May 19 (75 miles/week)

AM: 15 miles moderate

Met Klim, Peter, Dylan and Billy out at Riley's Lock for a long run. The first half was pretty relaxed, but we picked it up around the halfway mark (at the Scooby Doo banner). For about a 30 minute stretch post-Scooby, we gradually picked up the pace from ~6:10 until we hit 5:20 for the last mile. We backed off after that and jogged the last 20 minutes of the run. No need to get too excited just yet.

May 17

AM: 3 x 6:30on/:90off plus 6 x :10 hill sprints, 10 miles

I slept in a little bit this morning, which I desperately needed to do. I felt good enough to attempt a short workout, and I'm glad I did because it went fairly well.

Since I was doing this solo, and I'm still easing back into workouts, I wore the heartrate monitor. After a 25 minute warmup on the trails, I ran the fartlek on Beach Drive, getting up to 180-185 on the intervals, which was just about perfect. It felt terrifc to run fast and controlled again.

After the short workout, I ran some short hill sprints: something I hope to regularly incorporate this summer.

May 16

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: core, stretching, pull-ups

After yesterday's blow-up, I took today really easy in the morning, and then just loosened up in the apartment after work.

May 15

AM: 6 miles easy

PM: 9 miles easy (...sort of...awful run)

During my morning run, everything seemed fine. Other than a four-foot black rat snake scaring the bejesus out of me, nothing seemed abnormal.

But the evening run proved to be my worst run in months.

My first mistake was trying to run with any chili in my stomach. Our company's annual chili cook-off was on Friday, so I worked from home today, spending the afternoon preparing what I thought was damn good chili. This involved a lot of sampling to get the taste right, since this was only the second time I'd ever attempted chili. (In case you're wondering, my chili got high marks yet didn't win, after some verrrrry sketchy label-switching by some people at the office. Yes, the cliches about the cutthroat corporate world are true!).

However, with great chili comes great consequences. For the first half of the run (with Klim, Christiam, and Fleg), I had awful gas coming out of both ends, and rather than the typical lower-intestinal pain, the discomfort was higher, leaving me feeling like I had sulfuric acid in my stomach. Literally borrowing the shirt off of Klim's back, I rushed off of the Capital Crescent and into Gifford's in Bethesda for an emergency stop. When I started again--or tried to start again--finishing the last 3.5 miles home, I couldn't get going.

Even though the pain in my stomach was gone, I couldn't lift my quads anymore, forcing me to watch my running partners drift away. My running slowed to a shuffle, and I realized I was bonking. Shuffling gave way to walking with about 2 miles to go. The last two miles were a Galloway-style combination of run-walk-repeat. Even though I was shuffle-jogging, I had to pump my arms furiously just to maintain any sort of cadence. I my legs felt too heavy to lift, and I moved forward awkwardly.

I made it home, however, just as Fleg was getting in his car to look for me. Yikes. I was able to crawl back to my apartment (though just scaling the stairs were a challenge) and salvage what was left of my dignity.

Needless to say, if I run tomorrow, it will be really easy.

May 14

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: weights, core, stretching

Took today really easy to try to freshen up my legs a little bit. Out-and-back on the Capital Crescent in the morning, and then the gym after work. I left the gym a little early, finishing core and stretching at home since the Braves were playing on ESPN.

May 13

AM: 4 miles easy

PM: 6x800m hills w/ 2:00 jog rest, 10 miles

I got in a quick shakeout in the morning before work, and after work, I met Klim at Cabin John for a workout. Stretched out on a gravel road, the first 400m is a false flat before the hill gradually increases in steepness until about 50m from the end, when it levels off again.

This was a tough one for me; I just tried to hang on to Klim, who's pretty tough on hills, as long as I could. I also haven't done anything this anaerobic in quite a while, so the workout induced that bile-churning, I-want-to-vomit feeling on the last few. I probably started off too quick, but I was able to do some damage control midway through when my splits leveled off (2:22, 2:25, 2:29, 2:29, 2:29, 2:28).

This was a rough one, but I needed it to get some of the staleness out of my legs. The first four were shockers, but I felt more in control toward the end.

May 12

AM: weights, core

PM: 10 miles easy

When I woke up in the morning, it was 45 degrees and raining. I didn't feel like running in that, so I just went to the gym. After work, I met P. Murphy for an easy out-and-back on the Capital Crescent.

I've been feeling tired and numb for more than a week now. For the rest of the week, I'm going to back off a little bit from the volume of the last two weeks. I'll keep the workouts, but I don't like the stale feeling that's been persisting in my legs. Granted, it could just be the lingering effects of seasonal allergies, but I'm worried I've done too much, too soon post-Boston. Therefore, this is going to be a recovery week as far as mileage goes (hoping for ~75).

I have something like 21 weeks until Marine Corps in October--no need to get carried away and burnt out at this point.

May 11 (90 miles/week)

PM: 16 miles long/progression

I had to save the run for the afternoon because Josh had to catch a flight home in the morning. I just missed the rain, fortunately.

I ran through Rock Creek Park and up Tilden, but instead on running down the zoo, I checked out one of the trails from Connecticut Ave that follows one of the creek tributaries. I ended up back at the mill at the base of the Tilden hill, and made a quick pit stop. Right about here, I started to pick up the pace, running up the Ross Drive hill. I took Beach Drive to the Meadowbrook stables loop, where I took my last two splits (5:34 and 5:22) before throwing on a couple of miles as a coolodwn at the end.

The run felt good; other than Boston, it's been a while since I've run uptempo on a long run. Today was certainly better than last week's long run/death march with Patrick and Billy.

As I write this, I'm cooking my first spaghetti and meatballs. It looks promising--and I'm hungry so I'll stop writing here.

May 10

AM: 9.5 miles easy

Ran with the GRC crew from the store in Georgetown. We headed up the muddy slopes of Glover Park before streaking down Mass. Ave. and finishing on the Capital Crescent.

May 9

AM: 10 miles easy

Rock Creek Park in the rain and mud. I picked up Josh from the airport after work, and I had dinner with Valerie and some coworkers, so no PM session today.

May 8

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: 8 x (3'on/1'off), 12 miles

After a morning shake-out, I ran my first solid effort since the marathon with P. Murphy and Klim in Rock Creek Park. I felt good in places where I could hit my rhythm, but the short, steep hills were brutal. I had to cut the last one short on account of Murphy's Law (which states that, if running a workout with Patrick Murphy after work, I will have to take a painful pitstop in the middle of it).

May 7

AM: 6 miles easy

PM: 8.5 miles easy/moderate

Ran in Rock Creek Park both before and after work. For the PM run, I met up with Fleg, hitting the deli afterward with Valerie, too.

May 6

AM: 7 miles @ MP, 9 miles

PM: weights, core, stretching

I didn't sleep much last night because of allergies and Miles, who licks himself louder than any dog I've ever seen and woke me up at least four times in the middle of the night.

My legs felt like bricks. I had nothing, and my attempted tempo run never got going. I started at 5:50, drifting slowly down to 5:40, but that was it. I felt like garbage. So, instead of running after work, I just went to the gym, taking my frustrations out on someone playing Mario Kart at 2:30 in the morning in the UK, as expressed by a animated, rocket-powered bullets (in the game, you can play people live anywhere around the world via an Internet connection).

This has brought new levels of entertainment for Valerie and I lately. So far, the Brits have proven to be pushovers at Mario Kart.

May 5

AM: 10 miles easy

PM: 4 miles easy

Rock Creek Park in the morning, followed by CCT briefly in the evening.

After work, after meeting the photographer at Pike's Peek a few weeks ago, I went to a photo shoot in Rockville, where I was under the impression that Nike was casting area runners to be in a photo shoot with Alan Webb. "Could be cool," I had told myself, "and an interesting footnote in my running career."

But when I got there, there were a bunch of male models hanging around, most of whom weren't runners, didn't really like running, and were way too diesel to be runners. As far as I could tell, I had the least modeling experience, and the most running experience--not exactly what I was expecting. Thus, they took a few shots of me showing "quiet confidence" in clothes I literally took off the rack at the Sports Authority where it was shot (the photographer just told me Nike was meeting candidates--I assumed this just meant talking and handshakes).

Needless to say, I didn't get the part, and I had to endure a few awkward moments. Shame on me, anyway, for pursuing something that at best I didn't have enough information on and at worst could have been someone trying to scam me out of a commission. I'm not sure; soooo many things about this were setting off red flags. I can definitely say that I haven't endured that many awkward moments in quite a while.

C'est la vie--looks like my male modeling career never got wheels.

May 4 (88 miles/week)

AM: 15 miles easy

Ran with P. Murphy, Billy, and Peter through Rock Creek Park and the Zoo loop. After all that happened yesterday, I was totally exhausted. This run felt like a death march. We stopped a few times for water, bathroom, etc.

May 3 - One odd day, two weird races

PM: Last Man Standing, lasted through 3k, 7 miles



PM #2: "Survive DC," 1st place for team Patrick^2, 9 miles



This was unequivocally the most unconventional running day of my life, which included the two "races" above...



Last Man Standing 5k



The first race was "Last Man Standing," taking place in the middle of a large high school track invitational in Alexandria. Chris Farley from Pacers put this event on, gathering 13 competitive guys from around the area for the 5k. (Many thanks again Peter for filming the race).



This was not your conventional 5k, however. After each lap, the runner in last place would be eliminated (thus the name). Runners leading the first and sixth laps would also get $50 bonuses, in addition to the money going to the top-three finishers.



While getting some elite-like introductions from the announcer ("Reaves ran a 2:31 at the Boston Marathon two weeks ago, and ran cross country and track at the University of Maryland, where he was kind of a big deal..."), we found out that the first runner would be eliminated after the first 200 and every subsequent lap.



This, of course, meant that the race went out like a pack of rabid pit bulls were chasing the field: anything not to be last through the first 200. I was in lane 8, so I was able to cut a lot of people off to compensate for a lack of speed, relative to the field. Aside from GRC teammates Munro, Klim, and Dwyer, who have all run faster than me at 5k, there were guys in the race who had run 50-flat for 10 miles, a sub-4:00 mile (AND a 5:51 beer mile...perhaps more impressive?). Without getting any more loquacious, I'll just say that I sprinted my ass off at the gun.



I didn't think I had a shot at winning, especially since I hadn't run a hard effort since Boston going into this, so my goal was to make it past halfway. I made it to the 3k mark and I was the last GRC guy after Klim sprinted ahead after the lap #6 bonus and jogged off. Job well done. [Editor's note: my favorite part of the video is when the guy standing next to Peter can't figure out if he's supposed to cheer for #9 or #6].



I'm not thinking too much about it, honestly. The goal of this race was just to get the legs moving and have some fun. We definitely accomplished that much.



Just having a good time was also the goal of the second "race," which is why I didn't think twice about slurping down a milkshake 2.5 hours before it started...



Survive DC



This wasn't a "race" so much as an epic. The event involved 7 checkpoints around Washington DC, starting at Dupont Circle and ending at a house on Florida Ave in Northeast. I teamed with P. Murphy (thus the name, Patrick^2), to make the journey. Valerie, her sister Brittany and her friend formed another team.



For a full rundown of the rules, check out the event website, but participants could opt for traveling by feet or Metro. We worn blue armbands and had to reach every checkpoint, deemed as "safe zones" from the "chasers." If a chaser, indentified by an orange armband, tagged you en route to each safe zone, you were out, forced to surrender your. Patrick and I made it very clear ahead of the start that we had no intention of chasing anyone. We were in this to win, putting on our fiercest, not-serious game faces respectively.



At the start, we played it very conservatively. Even though only half of the people participating bothered to wear athletic clothing, we made a reserved start, taking a sidestreet to shed our street clothes for our running attire. We then took a very indirect route to the first stop, just northwest of the Mall. The first three stops proved to be relatively quiet, even as we ran directly down the center of the National Mall. After talking to chasers after the event/race/hunt/epic, several mistook us for "just runners," which was a part of our cleverly orchestrated strategy (i.e. Patrick's idea).



Our next checkpoint took us back across the Mall, where we spied our first chaser, picking up the pace of our run. Soon thereafter, Patrick muttered, "We have a stalker." Sure enough, while we ran along the gravel dust on the Mall, a guy with an orange armband ran parallel to us on Madison Drive. Soon thereafter, we ran past some construction fencing and trailer, where we immediately stopped, waited a few moments, and dashed across Madison, barreling down 12th Street. Fortunately, we'd lost him.



However, just one block later on the corner at Constitution Ave, we passed a guy on the corner, who suddenly yelled "Oh SHIT!" right as we noticed his orange armband. This was the first of three all-out sprints we'd face. Patrick and I hammered up 12th Street before racing across the middle of it to the other side near the Federal Triangle Metro, at which point we lost the chaser henceforth known as "The Oh Shit Guy."



Now weary that chasers were on the prowl, we ran more cautiously, checking around every corner and scanning for orange armbands on every passerby. We took an extra block north up to F Street before heading down to Pershing Park, site of the fourth checkpoint. There, a man dressed as a pirate made us make an origami and tape it to his tree. We procured some quick paper airplanes, at which point the swashbuckler told us there were just two people ahead of us, one of whom left as we arrived.



After pausing a moment to chart our course, we resumed our normal pace, heading north on 15th Street, until...surprise!...another chaser. She was sprinting hard after us, so we immediately went from a cautious run to an all-out uphill sprint. The chaser, a girl carrying a messenger bag in plainclothes, persevered, dashing across the street after us, even afterb we got the jump on her. Patrick and I sprinted across F and made a hard right at G Street. We slowed, looking behind us, thinking we'd left our pursuer in our dust, but no! Rounding the corner, she pushed onward after us, so we picked up the pace again, finally losing her as we turned again up 14th Street. It was here that I came closest to vomiting from mile-pace running and sheer nerves. Her persistence undoubtedly made her the MVC of the night in our view.



Knowing that we had just three scant stops to catch the leaders, Patrick and I started to run less conservatively. We ran mostly in the street to avoid getting cornered by chasers, and this also meant some close calls in traffic and unnumerable cases of jaywalking in our part. If we needed to check the map, Patrick would consult it while I played lookout--a team effort that ultimately would improve our chances.



Running now to Mt. Vernon Square, looking for people having a picnic, we danced around main arteries and Metro Stations, fearing a chaser lion's den awaiting us around every turn.



This time, we made it to the fifth checkpoint without incident, where some nice folks having a picnic signed our sheets and offered us iced tea. But, there was no time for tea! The second-place runner was also at this stop, so we got our move on (we also politely declined brownies at checkpoint #2 and the Jello shots at checkpoint #1). We had to now travel the roughly two miles to U Street, and the leader was still a full minute ahead.



Though night fell on us, we correctly assumed that most people would opt to take the Metro between these stops, so there would not be a large chaser presence. This proved true, and we passed the second person, who had to wait for the Metro.



But when we got to the point on the map, we realized there wasn't a table set out like there had been for all of the other checkpoints. We scrambled, looking for chasers while searching desperately for the checkpoint. "Where could it be?!" I worried aloud, scaring the people of U Street dressed infinitely sharper than I was. We even went into the bowels of the Metro Station, but still had no luck.



Just as panic sunk into the two of us, we consulted the map...an address! Yes! It had been there all the time. We soon found our way inside of Ben's Chili Bowl. Normally, I love Ben's Chili Bowl, but not when I'm running, and definitely not when I'm being chased, I soon found out. Anxiety was high, especially because the leader, who looked like a runner, walked into Ben's with us. The smell of the greasy spoon's half smokes was overpowering, yes, but not so much that I was unable to notice a man in a suit and sunglasses, who spoke with a thick Eastern European accent. He signed our sheets, and gave each an individual Lego piece (I hate the ones with odd-numbered bumps--thanks a lot--how useless!), trying to tell us some lesson about building something together. I wasn't listening; the purpose of the Lego piece remains a mystery still to this day. Even at the finish line, the event organizers had no real explanation: a mystery from a mysterious man.



As Patrick and I charted our course, speculating about potential chasers along the way to the finishing checkpoint, the leader (and I've already forgotten his name, sorry) pressed onward. It was here that Patrick and I decided to go all-out. We would have to risk getting caught if we had any chance of winning.



We immediately ran at a blistering pace, surging through traffic lights through the final mile. We hugged the slim shoulder on Florida Ave., avoiding cars, looking for chasers, and trying to hawk down the last runner. I remembered a scene in "Fight Club," where Edward Norton sprinted frantically down a similarly dark avenue:



"I ran. I ran until my muscles burned and my veins pumped battery acid. Then I ran some more."



Then, finally, with just blocks to spare, we passed him without looking back, finishing just seconds ahead.



The total run was somewhere just over an hour, so we were definitely running a fast average time. Marathon pace? Maybe? I can't be sure.



The final greeter, Thomas, who sent us off in the beginning, presented the three of us with victory chalices. I thought about drinking out of it, but as Patrick noted, "it smelled like nickels."



Instead, due partially to my ramped up heartrate and partially due to the fact that I'm inherently a chump, I immediately got hopped up on a cup and a half of everclear-laced jungle juice while eating basil rolls provided by the generous hosts. We picked up Valerie's team, and I had another cup and a half. At this point, I was pretty useless. I slept soundly on the Metro home, driving back from the Metro, and the instant I hit the pillow.

The end of the Journey to the End of the Night, your champions, Team Patrick^2:

May 2

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 5 miles easy

Ran an out-and-back on the Capital Crescent in the morning, picking it up some on the way back. Easy shake-out after work.

May 1

AM: 10 miles easy/moderate

PM: weights, core

The run in the morning was the best I've felt since Boston. I explored some new trails in Rock Creek Park near the Oregon Ave. side, passing the group of Ethiopians that I've been seeing periodically (definitely African...I think Ethipoian?).

Once I got out of the hills, I picked it up and "ran to the barn." After work, I hit the gym, but felt tired and groggy. I hadn't really thought about it until now, but I assumed all of this week I'd been feeling bad because of the lingering effects of the marathon.

But, after waking up with a face full of green goo this morning, I realize that it's been seasonal allergies all this time. My head is in a fog as I write this, and my eyes feel so puffy you'd think I'd stuck my face in a wasp nest.

April 30

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 9 miles easy

I wanted to run more in the morning, but I left without the key to my front door to my apartment building and, after realizing this in the middle of my run, went back to wait for 35 minutes for someone to walk out of the front. I spied Valerie opening a window, who let me back in after hearing my helpless cries.

After work, I met Klim at his place, but had some GI issues throughout the run. Maybe I should have tried a summersault? Jake, who once did this in the middle of the NCAA Regional XC race before hawking people down in the last 1000m, says that this works on cramps and swears by it.