August 29

AM/PM: 22+ miles easy/moderate

I worked from home today, so after getting up earlier to get some things done, I headed out. I kept it simple, running the zoo loop and finishing the rest of the run as an out-and-back on the Capital Crescent. I didn't push too much and was comfortably down toward 6:15 by the end. Since this was just long and steady, I also didn't take any Gatorade, gels, etc. I didn't take any water, either, not that I needed it as it rained off an on the entire time.

The entire run was around 2:30 even, though I lost about 10 minutes in there somewhere playing with my watch.

Definitely felt a million times stronger today than the last two days. The next two days will be more organic/exploratory running while Valerie and I go camping. Later next week, I'll chase a 5k PR in Atlanta when I'm there for a conference for work.

August 28

AM: 9 miles sloooooooow

PM: weights, core

In Rock Creek Park in the rain. Toward the end of the run, my legs had the same empty feeling that they did last night...the pity party of one continues.

My legs and quads don't feel dead as much as they do soulless. My brain is saying, "GO," but it's like my legs are on strike. Conseuqently, no double for me today. This should have been the day I took Monday.

I've more or less settled on the idea that I'm not going to hit my target mileage this week, but hitting the key workouts and feeling strong again are a lot more important at this point. I'm hoping to hit a new high for mileage high next week...we shall see how it develops and if I can actually pull it off. With work, I'm realizing just how hard it's going to be to get in anything over 110 miles/week while trying to get the necessary sleep, etc. that comes with it.

I needed to get to the gym and got in a decent session after work before Valerie, Kyle and I watched Obama deliver one of the best speeches I've ever heard, or at least the best speech I've ever heard him give, which says a lot because he almost always gives great speeches (supposedly one of his "flaws," right?). I got emotional; the guy can definitely motivate more than any politician I've ever known.

August 27

AM: 6 miles easy

PM: 3 miles @ 5:30, 5:00 rec, 3 miles @ 5:30, 4:00 rec, 2 miles @ 5:20, 12 miles

Morning run was in Rock Creek Park. Nothing much to report except that I saw a hawk alongside me at eye level.

The afternoon workout was...absolutely horrid. And things started so well.

I met Jake, Jason, and Billy at B-CC to do this workout on the Capital Crescent. For the first rep, slightly downhill, I felt great and totally in control: 5:28, 5:25, 5:25.

But when the next rep started, I could tell immediately that something wasn't there. The half-mile splits that were ticking by suddenly seemed to take forever. Shortly thereafter, Dwyer and Klim dropped me, and I was struggling. My pace crumbled: 5:30, 5:35...(sound of pulling grenade pin)...6:00. My quads had no life in them, and to top it off, my stomach wasn't "cooperating." If it had been one or the other, then I should have been feeling better, but it's like the two forces were scheming against me.

I should have called it a day here, but thought, "Hey, maybe you were just being a p**** in that last mile. Get it together."

So off I went with Klim and Dwyer for the last 2-mile rep, running half splits of 2:34, 2:42...(sound of aforementioned grenade exploding in my hand)...2:50. I was decelerating, despite running slightly downhill. I then got pissed, turning off my watch. I murmured, "F***!" and started walking bitterly, feeling angry with myself.

To rub salt in my wounds, I then had to make a stop in the woods. After that, I realized how totally depleted I felt. My legs were lifeless and daring me to run faster. I couldn't run in a straight line. My 3-mile "cooldown" took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-40 minutes to complete. When you're down, you're down.

I went home, got some dinner, and sat in an ice bath while listening to Bill Clinton. Hearing his speeches are always a reminder why he was elected in the first place way back in '92: he's one of the most charismatic people on the planet.

It wasn't that I ran like an asshole today. Nay, it was Monday when I ran like an asshole, when I broke my cardinal rule of no doubles the days after long races. Personal history has shown that this never ends well, yet I didn't listen to my own advice. It's fairly obvious why my legs felt so beat up (see Exhibit A: Sunday's race).

Consequently, when I went to the well to day, the well had run dry. This workout should have been easy money for me, playing to my strengths, but instead, a lack of recovery sabotaged my workout. I will live, however: I just have to pick myself back up.

Exhibit A

August 26

AM: 13 miles easy/moderate

Rock Creek Park through the back stables loop. Added the hill at Tilden running up and down...lots of hills on this route.

August 25

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 7 miles easy

Recovery day. Morning on the Capital Crescent; evening run was through the neighborhoods with Valerie, followed by a couple of miles solo.

Also, here's another story about yesterday's race from The Washington Running Report.

The report includes this gem of a caption about Bain in the photo here:

"Repeat age group winner Christopher Bain (31) of North Bethesda, MD is going too fast and going to get a ticket. "

August 24 - Annapolis 10-Mile (101 miles/week)

AM: Annapolis 10-Mile, 55:28, 1st overall, 17 miles

I had to shake out the cobwebs this morning on account of the 5 AM wakeup call. I took me a while to get going, but spirits were high.

I drove out with Patrick (who was also running), Valerie and John. We met both Valerie's parents and Bain there as well (Valerie's mom ran it as well). During the warmup, I could already tell the break from last year's humidity was not to be, since I was pouring with sweat by the time we finished. Oh well.

At the start, I did not jump out in front by any means. I deliberately took it out faster (than last year, anyway....5:11, 5:17, 5:25), because after about 4 miles, there are some hellacious hills, including the Severn River Bridge. I wanted some time in the bank. Last year, when I won this same race, I took the lead at a half mile and never looked back. This time, I tried the same move, only to hear footsteps right behind me, making me nervous.

Through about 2.5 miles, there was still a pack of guys breathing down my neck (I got a good spot on them running down Main Street in Annapolis, glancing at their reflections in the storefront windows). Aside from Bain, one guy in that pack was Kent Werner, a guy we race against fairly regularly; he has beaten me before and finished right behind me last year at the A-10. I was starting to suspect that this could be an all-out battle over every single hill until the finish.

If I had any chance to put it away early, I needed some breathing room by the time I crossed the bridge for the first time, because once the course goes into the back neighborhoods of Annapolis, there are a lot of ups and downs and twists and turns. So, using "cross country-style tactics," I tried to drop everyone to the point where I'd disappear behind the turns: it's hard to catch what you can't see. At 3-3.5 miles, I couldn't hear footsteps anymore, and glancing up the bridge at the right-hand turn at the bottom, I could see that I had a comfortable but by no means insurmountable 75-meter lead. At this point, I just took one hill at a time and ran the tangents, checking behind me at the sharper turns. Mile 5 must have been short, because I saw a 5:09 (quicker than my opening mile), and while it includes the downhill portion of the bridge, it has a challenging uphill as well. Either way, I could already tell that I was running faster than last year.

Between mile 6 and 7, there is a 180-degree turn where you run down a long hill, turn around, and immediately climb back up. This is also a good place to see where your competitors are, and to my surprise, I saw a lot more people coming down the hill than I anticipated...a group of at least five. Sure, this was the first time in a while that any of those guys had seen me or I had seen them, but they were only 20+ seconds back, meaning that if I f***ed up in the last miles, it was my race to lose.

It was not to be. I told myself that everyone was probably equally as uncomfortable, especially if they didn't hang with me earlier going over the Severn River bridge the first time. I relaxed an tried to hold pace. It's hard to say exactly how well because I'm sure some mile markers were off...or maybe I just wasn't consistent at all. As I climbed the ascent of the bridge again, runners crossing it the first time were cheering for me, so I listened for them to cheer on the runners behind me. I heard nothing, so right at about 8.5 miles, I felt safer. When I started to hear comments like, "lots of room...you almost have it," that was more reassuring.

I finished in 55:28, which was more than 1:15 better than last year. It was good that I ran faster today because had I run last year's time, I would have only been 5th. My margin of ~30 seconds was the same as last year, though the field was definitely deeper this year.

The only casualty today was Murphy, whose stomach was bothering him. He got caught in the line at the bathroom as the race started, so he got a late start and was never given a fighting chance: that was a tough and unfortunate break. Bain looked good, running a course PR and coming in 5th. He was also only in his trainers, not racing flats, because he said his foot had been acting up. I had some GI issues after the race, but I've more or less accepted that condition as a permanent drawback of warm-weather racing for me, since it's been happening all summer.

After brunch with Patrick and John in Annapolis, we came back home and took an out-cold 90-minute nap. Credit also to Valerie for the photo of the finish.

• Full Race Results.

• Story from the Annapolis Capital

August 23

AM: 10 miles easy, strides

Valerie and I made it down to the store for the first time in a few weeks, and I jumped in a relaxed team run around Hains Point. Bain, Patrick and I finished up with strides afterward on Water Street.

After an afternoon nap, I spent a lot of the afternoon cooking for some friends who stopped by to watch the men's Olympic marathon. Flexing my culinary muscle, I went with baked ziti, which is easy to do for a lot of people. As usual in the kitchen, I talked a big game.

"It takes a real man to wear an apron. GRRRR. Got tickets...?"

"...to the gun show?"

August 22

AM: 12 x 1'on/1'off, 9 miles

PM: 5 miles easy

I put in just a light workout this morning in Rock Creek Park with the race coming up on Sunday. I wanted to go a little bit longer for the second run, but my legs felt like cinderblocks, so I cut it a little short.

August 21

AM: weights, core

PM: 15 miles easy

I dragged myself out of bed in the morning and walked down to the gym for a respectable session.

I got home from work a little early, and so did P. Murphy, who I met at Pierce Mill after running down the Rock Creek Park trails. We then zipped up the zoo hill and headed back up Conntecticut, down Tilden, and back home through the trails. We had to take a side entrance to the zoo because of some party near the lions and tigers at the bottom of entrance (The bears, however, did not comment).

August 20

AM: 6 miles easy

PM: 3 x 2-mile @ 10k-HM pace w/ 400 jog recovery, 12 miles

The morning run was on the Rock Creek Park trails. Nothing to report except that I scared the crap out of a raccoon when I was coming down a hill, which promptly fled by scaling a tree.

I met a few on the GRC team after work for the track workout. I decided to keep it on the track, and Timm and P. Murphy joined me, jumping in and out some to help with the pacing. That was a major help since 2-mile reps on the track can get fairly monotonous. Overall, I felt relaxed. I wish I would have negative split the last one, but I still feel good about the effort. This is certainly a major improvement over the dead-feeling I had all of last week when I was sick.

Splits: 10:36 (5:18, 5:18), 10:32 (5:16, 5:16), 10:28 (5:13, 5:15).

August 19

AM: 11 miles moderate


PM: 7 miles easy


Rock Creek Park to the back stables loop in the morning. Pleasantly cool weather for August, though it's more humid than the last few days.


In the evening, I tagged along with Valerie for a couple of miles, and then I finished up on the Capital Crescent.


This was an interesting read...and it gives me hope for obvious reasons: even though I am "smaller" by conventional standards, I sometimes feel like a linebacker compared to the guys I race against.


Sports / Olympics
In Sea of Similar Body Types, Nonconformists Can Succeed
By GINA KOLATA
Published: August 20, 2008
The success of Olympic athletes whose bodies are seemingly unsuited to the sports in which they excel challenges the expectations of exercise science.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/sports/olympics/20bodies.html?ex=1376971200&en=c6bba163f6b11042&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

August 18

AM: 9 miles easy


PM: weights, core, stretching


I took it pretty easy in Rock Creek Park, trying to make it a real recovery day. After work, I hit the gym with Valerie for a decent session. Feeling better.

Today's matchup: Kite Surfer vs. Tropical Storm Fay.



Your winner...by Tech. Fall (0:07)...Tropical Storm Fay.

August 17 (69 miles/week)

AM: 20 miles easy/moderate


Drove out to Edward's Ferry "Dual Ferries Loop" with Valerie and a solid GRC crew. I felt fair through the first 10, and after we stopped for Gatorade, etc., I started picking it up, and before I knew it, Bain and I were moving well, at least 6:00 pace and maybe down to MP. The trouble is, especially after this week and yesterday's run, this was probably way too early. As a result of my impatience, at about 1:45, I was starting to go into the red. Right at that point, Klim caught back up to us, and I begrudgingly backed off, taking the last 3.5 easy.


I got home, took and nap, and watched Bekele make the rest of the field look foolish in the 10,000 (again), with a disgusting last lap (:53...again), and an Olympic record (again). He makes it look so easy!


Thank god this week is over; it's been a rough one for running.

August 16

AM/PM: 11 miles moderate/progression, strides, weights, core

Slept in and got out around 11:00. I took the trails down to Beach Drive, and gradually picked up the pace as I moved north. I opened up my stride and hit the Meadowbrook loop mile in 5:30. I backed off after that (around 65 minutes in) and used the rest as a cooldown.

I finished up with strides in the parking lot and the gym. Felt good today.

August 15

AM: 8 miles easy

PM: 7 miles easy

Rock Creek Park in the morning, and then easy with Samy in Columbia after work.

August 14

Rest - did not run

I stayed conservative and took a rare day totally off from running in an effort to really try to kick whatever I've had this week. I just went for a walk with Valerie to the produce stand, did some core work, and got in a good stretching session.

I'm starting to feel better and probably could have run today, but today isn't the focus. There are definitely some things I want to accomplish in the months to come, and I want to make sure I'm 100% for them instead of digging myself into a deeper hole. I hate taking days of total inactivity, but I'm trying to do a better job of listening to my body...and my friends, for that matter...in an effort to come on strong again next week and not repeat any mistakes when recovering from illness.

August 13

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 800 @ :20/mile faster than 5k pace, 400 jog, 800 @ :10/mile faster than 5k pace, 400 jog, aborted 2 miles @ 10k pace, 6 miles

I still haven't kicked whatever bug that knocked me out on Monday. I felt OK during my morning run in Rock Creek Park, but pretty weak for a track workout with Murphy, Bain, Nate, and Melissa. The workout was supposed to be 2x800/2 miles/2x800, but I could tell going into it that the odds of me finishing this weren't good.

The ugly positive splits on all three intervals give me the heads up that I needed to back down. I hit the first two intervals right on pace (2:20, 2:25), but I just felt weak and "off." Thus, after coming through the mile in 5:13 and feeling myself starting to slow, I pulled the plug at about 2.5k. I then watched with helpless envy as my training partners crushed the rest of the workout. I was too drained to run much of a cooldown, so I stayed conservative and called it a day. I feel like, if I'd really wanted to, I could have run this workout, turned in some shitty splits, but probably would have buried myself further in the process. I can think of times in the past where I would have been naive enough to try and do this.

Cutting this short was the best course of action, even though I'm not sure I should have been working out at all. I've resigned myself to a reduced schedule for the next few days because I want to get back to full strength before Sunday (planned 20+ miles) and next week's Annapolis 10-Mile, which are the key efforts this week and next. At this point, I need to be in damage control mode because there isn't anything I can do about getting sick now: lots of sleep and lots of rest are on tap in the next few days.

Today I tested the waters, and though I'm not 100%, there is hope. I did hit my splits, after all. Tomorrow will be really light...the goal now is to feel "back to normal" by the weekend.

August 12

PM: 8 miles easy, stretching

My fever and stomach ache were gone this morning, so I slept in and made it to work.

When I got home, I took a very easy run on the Rock Creek Park trails to test out the wheels. I felt drained after not eating much yesterday, but I certainly survived it, getting in a good stretching session afterward. I tried not to push whatsoever, especially since I want to work out tomorrow. It's going to be one step at a time coming back from a bed-strickening illness.

August 11 - home sick

AM: 2 miles, aborted run...

I woke up this morning feeling woefully sick to my stomach and slightly weak all over.  I get sick enough to stay home about once every year, and when it happens, I know.

I stayed home from work and slept as much as I could, but I ate no more than a pre-run piece of toast and a few crackers throughout the day. I'm trying my best to put down fluids, but that's proving difficult when my stomach has put up flares, concrete roadblocks, and a flag man telling everything that approaches, "road closed."

Some of the worst possible mistakes I've ever made were running when ill, especially with a fever:

1. My freshman year of college. I felt so sick that I could barely walk to class. I stayed in bed for a day before picking up a friend from the airport. At the airport, I was so sick that Valerie and Samy had to push me around in a wheelchair. I ran the next day, anyway, before promptly going into remission over dinner that night when I broke out into a fever at the restaurant. This all could have really hurt me, so I took the wisely took the next day completely off. This worked well, since I ran what in 2004 was a PR for me (at the St. Patrick's Day 10k).
2. My junior year of college - outdoor track. This was going to be my only outdoor season of track in college, so I wanted to make it a good one. During a long run, I fell off pace so badly that I had to walk the last mile of the Greenbelt Park loop.  I tried that week to resume hard training, and I just dug myself into a deeper and deeper hole. My workouts times got slower and slower, yet I dug deeper and deeper still, climaxing at the ACC Outdoor 10,000, which to this day is hands-down the most humiliating race of  my life. Because I tried to hammer away at running while my body was begging for recovery, I ran the last lap as the only person on the track got the motherf***ing pity clap for the first time in my life. This is the only race that I can say definitively that I wish I had DNF'd. 

Lesson learned: when I think for feel that I'm running a fever (as I am right now, sitting limp of the couch typing on my laptop), I am uncharacteristically conservative with my training. Bert jokingly calls me "superman," and if that's the case, common diseases like the flu (or whatever intestinal jihadist is in my system right now...) are my "kryptonite."

August 10 (110 miles/week)

AM: 10 miles easy/moderate

I trudged up the long hill on Cove Point Rd from Valerie's parent's place and headed into Calvert Cliffs State Park. This is the place I want to run next time we're down here. I ran on a seemingly endless dirt service road, which had tons of trails branching off of it just waiting to be explored. Alas, I was in a bit of a time crunch, because I was supposed to meet Valerie and her family to head to the airport.

Once there, we dove into a time warp. With World War II music playing in the hangar, we met Valerie's family friend, Ricardo and his 1943 British World War II plane. Though I unquestionably left the takeoffs and landing to him, when we got up there, he actually let me fly the thing. CRAZY.

I've flown in the co-pilot chair before in small planes, where other pilots have let me "fly," especially when I was a kid. This doesn't entail too much since, once the plane is in the air, all you have to do is lightly touch the steering to make sure it stays level on the horizon. But when we were up there today, I received a mini-flying lesson, making sharp turns in this perfectly preserved antique aircraft while we went sightseeing over Calvert County. Too. Freakin'. Cool. See the photo below for my best G.I. Joe impression...

And when we got back to Valerie's family's house, the blast from the past continued: this time in her dad's 1951 Studebaker pickup. Though meeting a guy for the first time and flying his plane that flew WWII missions in  didn't phase me, the thought of stalling out John's award-winning classic car was mortifying, so I left any driving to him and Valerie. See more photos below, including one of us cruising with my "chaw," old-school style.

Patrick? Or "Slipstream"?

"Stud"ebaker

August 9

AM: 19 miles easy

In Calvert County, I ran from Valerie's family's house to Solomons Island, adding on a few miles on a side road. Valerie biked with me, making the time go by a lot faster than it would have otherwise. The weather was still pleasant in the 70s, unlike a similar run that we did last year, where I was staggering afterward from the heat.

I had planned on going a little more today, but the entire run was on asphalt, so I kept it conservative. 

August 8

AM: 8 miles progression run, 13 miles

PM: 4 miles easy

We got a break in the weather this morning; when I went out it was only 69 degrees and just 74 when I finished. That cooler air felt spectacular. 

I could tell the relief from the heat and humidity breathed some life into my legs because I felt smooth and strong during the morning workout on the Meadowbrook Stables loop. I tried to dip under 5:20 for the last mile, but I caught a stiff headwind that I couldn't push through without massively tying up (which isn't the point of this workout).

Splits: 5:46, 5:40, (13:31), 5:39, 5:27, (13:10), 5:31, 5:28, (13:02), 5:22. 

I worked from home today, so after spending most of the morning and afternoon at the computer. When Valerie got home, I joined her on her run, keeping it easy. 

We're heading down to Calvert County for the weekend for her dad's birthday, so the next couple of days of running will be down there.

August 7

AM: 8 miles easy

PM: 7 miles easy

Recovery day. Rock Creek Park trails in the morning, and the Capital Crescent via the produce stand after work (I passing Melissa along the way).

August 6

AM: 14 miles easy/moderate

PM: weights, core

Ran through the Chevy Chase neighborhoods and down Western Ave before hitting the trails in Rock Creek Park to finish off a mid-week medium-long run. I started off a little slow but opened up more as the run went on.

The gym session after work was quick 30-minute circut but effective nonetheless. I didn't take much rest between sets.

I definitely need more sleep than I've had this week. There have been stretches at work where I'd willingly sell a kidney on the black market if that meant I could exchange it for an afternoon nap.

What I do for a living.

Sometimes, I have trouble explaining what my company, CURRENT, does and what I do there. This piece linked above from the Wall Street Journal gives a fairly balanced take on the "Smart Grid" concept and how it relates to the big picture for the energy issues in the United States. The writer mentions one of our deployments in Boulder.

August 5

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 3 x 2k/1k with 400 jog recovery, 12 miles

The morning run was just a quick shake-out on the Capital Crescent.

In the evening, I met Bain, P. Murphy and Klim at B-CC for the track workout. Though the pace was somewhat inconsistent on the first two, we settled into a groove by the second set. Still, I started "feeling it" by the second 1k repeat, which was a slightly sooner than I wanted. We're getting there, but the temperature was still well into the 80s during the workout; the weather by no means cooled off yet. While I felt decent albeit not yet spectacular by any means, I can feel (or hope...) that I'm beginning to come around at the right time. I felt uncomfortable by the end of the workout but certainly didn't go into the well.

Splits: 6:26 (after slow first lap), 3:05 (fast first lap), 6:26, 3:05, 6:21, 3:03

August 4

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: 11 miles easy, core

I felt better than I should have after less than six hours of sleep following last night's concert, which was completely worth the extra cup of coffee I had today. To keep things a little easier, I flipped my usual schedule, running short and easy in the morning up Connecticut Ave. I ran the the back stables loop in the evening, returning home for grilled salmon and polenta.

I'm starting to notice that dark is coming sooner; the sun was almost down when I finished. Summer's on the way out already...

August 3 (88 miles/week)

AM: 20 miles easy/moderate

Valerie and I met a group of GRC folks in Greenbelt Park for a three-plus-lapper, refreshingly all done in the shady confines of the park. We stopped at each loop, though since we were running fairly easy and relaxed, I just took water. The first two laps were steady 6:40-6:50, though we pick up the pace a little on the last lap (reversing to run clockwise) to hit 6:10-6:20.

By the end of the run, we did have one minor casualty after Robert "F*** this...I'm running 20" Jarrin took a fall, but no cougars were involved, fortunately. After three laps, Jarrin, Peter and I tagged on a little bit to make it 20 even in 2:12:30. This is the first long run in weeks where I haven't felt totally trashed afterward, most likely on account of the cooler weather and the recovery week.

I pitched this run as a "cougar hunt" after someone supposedly spotted a cougar on the UMD campus. In the end, the elusive predator only turned out to be a large housecat.

That night, Valerie and I went with some college friends to see Coldplay at the Verizon Center, who completely blew us away (probably the second- or third-best concert I've ever been to). For being a sometimes-melancholy band, they have a ton of energy in concert. Chris Martin was also surprisingly funny and off-the-cuff.

August 2

AM: 11 miles easy

I took the Rock Creek Park trails to Beach Drive, running all the way back up until I looped back around Meadowbrook.

A mediocre round of golf at Rock Creek Golf Course immediately followed.

August 1

AM: 2 miles easy

PM: 2-mile track race, 9:56, 4th place; 1 mile track race 75 minutes later, 4:44, 2nd place; 9 miles

I ran the MCRRC "Go for the Glory" track meet this evening, really looking for a good workout more than anything else. It's no secret that I'm not Mr. Speedy when it comes to races below 5k, but I think it's important to work on my preceived weaknesses. That being said, I've run faster

In both races, I more or less tried to hang on and watched the guy in front slowly pull away. Especially in ~85-90 degree heat, I just don't have the wheels right now. Once the winter comes around again, I'll probably get some more work and races on the indoor track to help develop some legspeed.

In the mean time, I'm glad to be done with the shorter stuff for the summer. I've taken my lumps with the fast stuff over the last month or more, so I'm definitely ready to start going longer and stronger.

July 31

AM: 7 miles easy


I kept my run fairly easy and short on the Capital Crescent today with the track race/workout tomorrow. Plus, I'm in the middle of a recovery week, so I don't need the mileage.


So instead of doing a second workout after work, I just did some core work and grilled a couple of beautifully marbled Delmonico steaks (*drooling on keyboard*).

The X Games started tonight. Watching passively, ESPN replayed this video approximately 644 times from 34 different angles. I completely forgot this happened; Jake looked very, very dead:



Watching this makes me feel like a coward. Any discomfort felt during a race is so trivial compared to landing after falling 4.5 stories.