Chico Fall 8hr - The Solo Cherry

Today was the Chico Fall 8hr. It was held up at Walker Farm in Durham. I wasn't able to race (packing for the move), but Chris and I headed up to see Todd, Ian, Mike and Steve all do their first 8hr solo. It was an inspriation to see all of them step up. Not sure of the positions but I think they were all top ten, which is great.

I was able to grab a bunch of photos of everyone except Mike. Sorry man, you were always the first to come by...and going so quick! :)

Congrats to Rob from Barrie for taking 3rd in the Solo, good job!

and Greg for coming 3rd with a four man team, of whom I met none...did they really exist? hmm Greg's getting married soon, so maybe he's just playing the field with 3 strange men...nothing crazy, you know :)

You can see all of today's the photos by clicking any of the ones below, or going to http://www.flickr.com/photos/dheaps/.

Run the fastest at the end

I recently finished reading Good to Great, fantastic book. Close to the end Jim Collins talks about a running team having a simple and very effective plan on how to win races. “We run the fastest at the end.” This simple motto is what they base all of their training on. So much so that they put a coach at the ½ way mark of the race, from this point they calc how many people they pass by the end of the race. They earn points for the people they pass and it’s a huge source of pride among team members.

I really like this idea, makes a ton of sense. In each of my O-cup races I’ve gone out hard and ended weak. Consciously thinking about going out slow and coming in fast I think could really work for me. To the point where I could start with the first hour of the race taking it easy and then give it my all during the second half. And measure how many people I can pass. Would be very interesting to see how I could do with this.

Either way it’ll have to wait till next season. Work is too busy and I’m moving in two weeks, and I don’t feel up to it – so I’m going to miss provincials this year. No biggie, I’ve had a great season (loved Hot August Nights) so I’m good.

But come next year...