I watched the women's Olympic trials online this morning.  Damn, that was impressive.  At mile 14, Deena Kastor was just under two minutes behind Magdalena Lewy-Boulet.  I really figured that she was running for second place at that point.  That shows what I know.  She ended up beating Lewy-Boulet by 44 seconds.  

Really, the most impressive part of the whole thing was watching Deena's form at the end.  She looked like she had just started the race, when she was at mile 26.

She also looked giddy at the end.  It was neat.  She checked to make sure there wasn't anyone right behind her, then she grabbed some spectator's flag and finished the race waving the flag.  That was one happy woman.  I think that kind of cheerfulness is part of what makes it so fun to watch her.  It's really inspiring to watch someone who really enjoys what she does for a living.

I hope I'm able to be as joyful in my running - even though I don't come anywhere near first place.

Today I did my longest run yet - 11.5 miles.  I did two 5.75 mile loops, and I dropped into a walk a couple of times - okay, three - on the second loop.  Still, I ran up all the hills, so that has to count for something.  Right?

Besides, I ended up doing the whole thing at a 9:51 pace.  I'm pretty pleased with that.  One more long run and then I start tapering before my race.  

I have to say, the whole thing wasn't anywhere near as painful as I thought it would be.  I thought it would be hellish to try and keep myself going for that second loop, but it wasn't too bad. 

As I was running today, I started wondering what the elite runners think about people like me.  I started wondering what Deena Kastor would say if she happened to run by, but I quickly realized that Deena Kastor would be there for maybe .2 seconds, at which point I would be watching her fade away into the distance. 

But seriously.  Those big races, the ones that pull the big names, it's like they're actually two races.  It's the elite runners up front and then there's the rest of us chugging along behind them.  Do they wish they could get rid of us?  Do we add to the atmosphere?  Do they think about us at all?  Do they figure that our fees are funding their prizes, so we're at least worth that to them?

Aside from being short, slow, sort of dumpy and four years older, what's the difference between me and Deena?  How do you get to be an elite athlete anyhow?  

All I know is that I keep getting faster.  That Deena Kastor had better watch out.