Perhaps they'll have it on TV next door in the Lounge --- or could put track trials on by request.

I didn't even know Alan Webb was running. Guess I never heard his name b/c he wasn't in front. Which heat was he in? (first heat had Galen Rupp, second heat had Lagat & Lomong)

I think he was in the one with Rupp. He spent most of his time towards the back before finishing 2nd to last.

Kind of like Nick Symmonds, except for the end, then.

I finally got around to actually reading that article in The Enterprise and what the heck, Phil.

Philip McCollum of Leonardtown is an even newer competitive runner than Boonchaisri. He started running in 2009, but it wasn’t until recently that he became more serious about competing. Now he runs about one race a month, has a handful more lined up this summer and signs up for anything from a track event to a six-hour run.

Perhaps Phil told the reported that he got back into running again in 2009, but she misinterpreted this to mean that 2009 was his very beginning as a runner. I imagine that those who've known you as a runner since 1997 would be quite perplexed by that article, wondering if it was about a different Phil McCollum.

McCollum trains by running every day after work at St. Mary’s College of Maryland with friends from the Chesapeake Bay Running Club. They have been running for much longer than he has, he said, so training for races with that crowd “keeps you honest.”

Well I know you've been running for at least a year longer than Joe has, as he didn't sign up until sophomore year.

I just thought that that was an unfortunate slight to the proud legacy of your high school running career. Also I haven't forgotten some of the notable runs you did during that supposed interim period --- like that group run around my neighborhoods in the summer of 2002 that turned into an unplanned progressive tempo, or that epic Dorsey Park 2-lap tempo race we had in the summer of 2006, or that time your raced me all out up the Rupert hill and ended up sprawled out on the pavement for a long while (summer 2007?).

posted: 8/13/2008 at 10:03 AM
modified: 8/13/2008 at 12:13 PM

Those Ryken football fiends have gone TOO FAR. When I arrived and beheld the track yesterday, I saw that, in addition to team equipment and the coach's jeep being parked on the track, they had erected a damn 20 foot high LOOKOUT TOWER out of steel scaffolding over the first three lanes of the track --- right by the start/finish line! Luckily, our hills workout did not require use of the track. This hills workout, though light in interval volume, produced piercing pangs of penetrating pain --- for everyone involved! To begin with, Phil, Joe, and I tackled three standard hills (each approximately 350-375 yards). I ran the first two in 1:18 and 1:20, with Phil clamoring to catch up on both. He claimed to be hanging back on the second so as go all out and defeat me on the third, and Joe (who more than once quipped that he himself needed more base mileage for this kind of killer workout) gave Phil tips on how to race me. It was a good battle, and he definitely had me running scared. Hot on my heels as we pushed our way up the hill, Phil seemed poised to overcome me --- but then he petered out at the summit, allowing me to pull irrevocably ahead as I thundered over the sidewalk final straightaway. I finished in 1:15, Phil in about 1:19-1:20. Utterly spent and defeated, Phil cast himself down on the grass where he lay prostrate in a panting and heaving ruin, bearing testament to what happens to those who should endeavor to defeat DR (oh right, I'm trying to cut back on hyperbole). "It's a last man standing match!" I called to Joe as he plodded up to the finish some moments later. Despite maintaining my composure, I was indeed feeling the pain. I had that weird tingly/prickly sensation all over and my lungs were burning. Whilst Phil remained on the ground after announcing he was done for the day, Joe and I headed over to the Everest Side and did two hard, near-vertical sprints (60-75 yards?). Let me tell you, it was as though daggers were thrust into all the joints of my legs. And although I'd originally intended to run a final hill up through the woods, I decided against it quickly into the workout (the HELL I was going to run up that thing!). Instead I just embarked on a cracked and cramped cool down. Then, upon approaching the Goat Field, I cast a look back towards Rupert and saw that Phil was still collapsed on the ground! With Emily in the passenger seat, Joe had to make his Explorer into a makeshift ambulance as he drove over there to ferry Phil back to the parking lot (talk about an easy cool down). Rest assured that Phil didn't pull or sprain anything --- he was just extremely fatigued (hilled, not killed!). I only got about 3.75 miles for the day.

When we chatted with Morriah tonight, and we mentioned not running to the college so we wouldn't have to run on full stomachs, she informed us that Emily's boyfriend does that (run after eating). Emily's boyfriend must be a nut.