Meet Camille and my homecoming run

Hello again runners,

Some of you may have caught a tweet from @R3_Running introducing Camille. I thought I'd take a few minutes to expand on that introduction here.

Camille is on a mission! She is attempting to run a race in all 50 states. So far she has Tennessee, Louisiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi. R3 will be tracking her on her travels, so keep on eye on this blog, and follow her progress on Twitter. If you happen to know a great race for her to run (and maybe some nice folks she can stay with, racing all over the country isn't cheap you know!) please let us know.

I actually ran a race myself last week. Not surprisingly, it wasn't all that impressive. Murray State hosted its 28th annual Homecoming Run 5k on Friday. My parents were in town to visit, so I thought it would be fun for them to stand in the rain and watch me run a mediocre race. Who wouldn't love that? Actually, my parents are crazy about running in general and my running in particular (even though neither of them have ever run a race). They couldn't have been happier, and as always, were a magnificent pit crew. Much to my disappointment two of the current pack of Murray State Racer cross country team members were on hand. I had settled for third before the race started. I know that sounds pessimistic, but I was truly only there for fun, and I had eaten Matt B's pizza for lunch a mere two hours before the gun went off. It is my favorite pizza, but a terrible pre-race meal. I knew I was in trouble, and wasn't in "race mode" at all. I didn't even wear my singlet.

I had a cramp within a mile! A cramp!!! I've been running over half my life. I should be well beyond the eating too close to race time and getting a cramp stage! Oh well... My time was terrible even the course is about 2.8 miles. I did tell a few runners about the store, and it was fun to have my parents at a race again, even if I never really planned on doing much racing.

I'm done with PT if I keep improving. The pain in my leg is sort of hit or miss these days. I'm looking forward to maybe running some good races this winter, and hitting it hard come spring.

Keep it up!

Devin