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Written by Bwana Bwana

March 12, 2015

It was sunny and quite cool, and bit breezy on the backstretch, but we’ll take it. Lance Bland, Judd Michael, Marty Klanchar, Mike Casper, newcomer Marc Serra, Mike Renz, Andy Maguire, Mike Zimmerman, Tim Scitti, Carole Dudukovich, Sara Noss, Rich Harter, Nikita Fedkin, Scott Harford, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track on the first nice Thursday in what remains of this winter, for the first outdoor workout of 2015. After the long winter, it was great to be out and about again!

Just off of our all-time worst February (temperature-wise), March is shaping up to be pretty nice. There was still a sad little pile of snow at the finish line on the inside lane, so Bwana decided to let it die in peace and moved the workout to the very outside lane where there are some distance marks in imperial units. The cool temps and stiff breeze called for a workout of a few long reps at just faster than race pace with short rests: 1 mile + 2 X ½ mile.

Bwana welcomed newcomer Marc Serra, a graduate student who will be here until September. Marc comes from Bwana’s favorite European city, Barcelona. Favorite despite the fact that it was uncharacteristically cold and windy when he visited there 5 years ago this week. And Bwana still has nightmares about the train ride from Barcelona to Montpellier, France, that should have taken 4 hours but ended up taking over 24 due to a freak snow storm on the Mediterranean coast that dumped over a foot of ‘heart attack snow’. Bwana and his family survived a night in the desolate border station on a train full of cranky fellow travelers, but otherwise empty of food, drink, or other comforts. The train had hunkered down in the border town rather than risk a jog through the Pyrenees where conditions were worse. After a night of howling winds and lightning, we woke (those of us who slept at all) to a windy and sunny day and the freakish scenery of a coastal town with palm trees and lemon trees decked in heavy, wet snow. But after a night of cramped quarters, it was great to be out and about as we waited for the train to get going again!