Track and Field Blogs - Reid Coolsaet

Eric Gillis and I arrived at Phoenix airport on Sunday and made the drive to Flagstaff with a stop in Sedona. The only car they would give us for a one way rental to Flagstaff was the Nornee Mobile. I knew it was supposed to be snowing in Flagstaff so I figured we would run in Sedona and skip the snow. That wasn’t the case as there was snow on the ground in Sedona. The run itself felt alright once my travel legs loosened up after the first 30 minutes. Last year at this track I was running without a shirt and worried about getting a sunburn while doing abs on the infield, this year I was worried about slipping on the snow covered slickrock.

On Monday, Gillis and I hooked up with Steve Osadiuk and Erik Kiauka for a run from the University to Sinclair Wash. Yesterday we ran with Fasil Bizuneh from our place on the trails. This morning we went into town for the infamous Bagel run to meet up with more runners. I was overwhelmed, and so were others, with the 57 people outside Biff’s Bagels. It was good to see some of the runners whom I met last year and a whole bunch more that I haven’t seen for a while. There really is a TON of elite runners here, it’s quite amazing. It’s great how the running community is very welcoming and supportive.

I started today’s run with a little limp as my foot was not cooperating but, I figured it would warm up. After a few minutes it was apparent that I couldn’t keep running the way I was so I took off my shoe and stood on a stick and pressed down hard. I head a crack, still not sure if it was the stick or the cuboid going back into place, but either way my foot immediately felt better and I was able to run with a normal stride for the rest of the run. After the run everyone hung out at Biff’s and caught up and figured out if different groups could meet up for workouts and runs. It seems like there should be a good group going for a long run on Sunday morning. I also got a great idea for an upcoming blog post, and I’m going to try and make it happen, (thanks for the idea and everything else!!).

Our place is great, it has tons of room and we are close to trails. The only problem is that we are pretty far East from downtown and the University. I took the bus home after returning the rental car and I had to walk two miles further after the bus stop to our place. Thank god we have bikes here, this afternoon we’re going to ride them to the NAU track for some strides. We are taking our time getting acclimated to the altitude so our first workout will be Friday at Buffalo park for some mile and two mile repeats.

Here is a pic of our place and of the track down in Sedona last Sunday.