Lawrence, KS. On the West Campus of Kansas University, I joined the growing Orienteer Kansas club for some training. I had gotten out my work meetings late so I was late arriving. People had already done most of their workouts or were finishing up. Seeing Mary Jones on the way in, she directed me to the parking area. I got changed and went out in a rush (needing a bathroom but foregoing that). We were to do interval training on
Ulrik's Hill. I hadn't done any interval training for years, having shied away from it to avoid injuries. I definately need to do that more. As I jogged down the hill I jogged with Ulrik himself, a student from Sweden who has been here temporarily. Ulrik started the actual interval behind me to get a longer length and said he was going to give me a head start. I needed it. Ulrik passed me not far after rounding a curve or two and just as we had really headed up the hill. I tried to keep him in sight and was mostly successful but he probably finished close to a minute ahead of me anyway. I had finished in 4:31.94. Ulrik was completing his 5th interval. I remember feeling like that long ago.
Spike was recording all of this. I actually felt a bit more out of synch with not having warmed-up enough. It was windy and cool too. After the first interval, just about everyone else was done. One of the other OK guys thought he'd like to do another so I went with him (after a 5 minute rest). He was completing his 4th or 5th to my 2nd. After the jog down, we started together. I fell behind a bit but caught-up an passed the other guy. Interstingly enough, my second interval (both went to the stop sign where Ulrich had been stopping) was 4:31.67--I didn't do as many intervals as others but I was very consistent.
After the run, a few of us met downtown on the main drag in town and had a nice dinner with great company. It was kind of cosmopolitan with two unrelated Swedes, a guy from Kansas, a gal from NY, and me, a guy from DC.