FIRST - I see i made a typo but I left it. I left it because it's a sign of all the races that I have been to, supporting Bill, not running! - a "championchip" is the brand name of a little plastic thing that you tie onto your shoe laces that tracks your progress during the race. As you run across mats, it takes down your time. So if your a fanatic, you know your splits. If you are a spectator, you know when your runner passed the different miles marked with mats. Anyway - it should have said CHAMPIONSHIPS - but my mind was thinking racing and I typed out championchips.

So we go to this big race - it's out on some agricultural farm park in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I guess if you are a runner, it was a big deal. It seemed exciting enough - but it reminded me of being at tennis tournaments with my mom. It was a cross country race and they had different categories - junior boys and girls, high school boys and girls, college men and women, and then they had an open - i think that's how it went. (our dr, Dr. Cucuzella ran in the over 40 mens race, and he did very well.)

I just know Bill ran in the men's open. But you know who else ran in the men's under 40 open - the olypmic silver medalist, Meb Keflezighi. So BIl ran this race, with no intention of winning, or even placing. He only goal was to not be the last man to drag his carcus across the finish line. I think he did really well. The ground was muddy and wet and slippery and sloppy and even though he was wearing spikes, i think he said he slid around a few times. But he didn't fall down!

So Stewart, Parker, and I lined up along the "barriers". we heard the gunshot and we stood there waiting for the runners to come flying by. Meb Keflezighi was obviously in the front followed by a large pack of men that were either simply excited to be running with an olympic champion or had dreams of passing one. I'm used to seeing Bill in the front of the pack. When the race started, he was towards the back of the middle and with each lap he slipped a bit. He looked strong every time he came by but he was running with a completely different caliber of runners - most of them were a decade+ younger. He came across the finish line faster than he expected, despite being lapped by Meb and the other runners that placed in the top 5. He finished the 12k in 48:11, placing 155th out of 168. Not bad for a father, a student, and a man that works 40 hours a week at a job that requires a one-way commute of 75+ minutes.

It was a fun time, the weather was beautiful, the kids behaved amazingly, and Bill had a good time. I think this was a once in a lifetime experience because the USTF Championships are located in different places every year - plus who can say they were lapped by an Olympic Champion. I mean, if you're gonna get lapped it might as well be by someone like that! I took some pictures but I don't have my cord with me right now, so I'll post them later tonight or tomorrow.

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USAXCChampionships/schedule.asp <- that is all of the restuls from the official website, etc. If you're interested.

  Bill trying not to fall