Desiree Davila, Amy Hastings, and me.

Mammoth is the training grounds for a lot of elite distance runners.  For some of us it is “home” and others come here to incorporate an altitude training stint during their season. It was a particularly fun week to have Desiree Davila visiting.  After her stellar 2^nd-place finish in the Boston Marathon this April, she took some downtime and is visiting my Mammoth Track Club teammate Amy Hastings, who finished an amazing 2^nd place in her marathon debut at the LA Marathon this March.  Amy, Desiree and I enjoyed some runs together.  I felt as though I was chasing them down the dirt roads and hoping their recent marathon mojo would rub off on me.

One of our non-running highlights was taking a gondola ride to the top of Mammoth Mountain and watching my husband Andrew and Desiree’s boyfriend Ryan ski.  The five of us enjoyed lunch on the sunny deck at the base of the slopes.  It’s been a great year for skiing as we have had over 600 inches of snow.  Whereas so many people are enjoying the early sprouts from their gardens, we still have 15 feet of snow in our front yard.

I am typing this on Sunday evening and I’m tired.  It has been a great week of training, not only because I had good company on my runs, but because I included some higher quality workouts to my weekly mileage.  The inclusion of 200s, a short tempo run and a long run with pick-ups has me wrapping up the week with a combined sense of elation and exhaustion.  I am overjoyed with the fatigue from training and to have seen such great progress in my running.  Whereas a lot of progress is gradual, this week proved a good-sized leap forward.

Its Boston Marathon Monday and anyone who watched the races unfold there were inspired by what they saw.  Desiree Davila came so close to breaking the tape, while offering every American a bit of hope. She showed us that American distance running is alive and kicking.  On television, you could hear the crowds on the sides of the streets chanting U-S-A as she passed by.  I was emotional watching such a worthy distance runner come so close to taking the Boston crown, but Desiree maintained composure the entire way.  Beautiful.

On the men’s side, Mutai smashed the Boston course record and bettered the World record (though Boston isn’t a certified course due to the net downhill).  It was the single most impressive marathon victory I have ever witnessed, which topped my previous favorite which was last year’s Boston win.  Okay, Paula Radcliff’s world record is a tough one to top!  Also within this amazing men’s race was Ryan Hall who defied critics and ran the race of his life.  Although we miss our teammate that left mammoth Lakes to train on his own, I could not be happier for him that he pursued his dream and conquered it on the streets of Boston.  He didn’t win the race (though his time would have in other years) his time of 2:04.57 will be talked about for years to come.

So,  I got out for my run a little late today and was carrying with me the inspiration I got from  the performances on the other side of the country.  It is no wonder that I had a great run.  It was one of those runs that went by so quickly because my mind was busy dreaming of a “comeback”. It was a run that had me “seeing” myself at the races  and fighting for the finishing tape. It isn’t really the win that makes the races sweet, but the chase that thrills me.  As I continue with this marathon buzz, Andrew is skiing fresh powder on the mountain.  The new snowfall doesn’t faze me because my mind is already a season ahead.  Many miles ahead.