Track and Field Blogs - Ryan Warrenburg

I just finished up my first year here at ZAP, and now with the addition of Jon Pierce, I am no longer the "newbie". I would be lying if I said I was happy about the way my first year went from a competitive standpoint. However, Pete and I have learned from some of my shortcomings in races, and I am really excited about this upcoming Olympic year. My situation here at ZAP is all I could ever ask for as a distance runner trying to make it after college, and I am grateful to so many people for helping me get this far.

I have heard a lot of people say that running is an inately selfish sport, but I really can't see that. I understand that right now, as a runner, I have to be a little selfish to be at my best, but this sport is full of the most selfless people I have ever met, and without them the sport wouldn't be what it is. I have to thank Zika (now Zika Rea) and Andy Palmer (get it? Z-A-P) and Pete Rea for the opportunity they have given all of us here and ZAP and the wider running community. Also my college coaches, Louie Quintana, Walt Drenth, Jeremy Rasmussen, and Walt's brother Doug, my high school coach. I'm sure many people can relate to having great people around them, not to mention parents and teammates, who want them to succeed. After I get done running I hope I can try to give back to the sport in the way that these people have given their time, energy, and support to me.

With that said, I am currently getting back into shape following some down time after our summer track season. We have just started some light workouts and I'll be opening my "racing" schedule with a couple of really low-key local races in early October. After that we'll be heading to the infamous Ntelo's 8k in Richmond, VA. This race was absolutely insane last year, Thomas ran 22:36 and missed the money by one spot. So if your looking for a fast race, come out, if you want to win some money it might be best to stay home. That race is early November and will be the first really competitive effort followed by the Manchester Road Race on Thanksgiving and Club XC Nationals in December.

I will keep everyone posted, (well, at least Mark) on how the races go, how the training is going, and life here at ZAP. Obviously the focus for the fall won't be on the races but on putting in some solid work for the spring and summer. If anyone wants to know about anything in particular just let me know, I'm open to suggestions and questions. Thanks to Mark and Medhu for coming out and checking out ZAP, we are pumped about what Flotrack is going and happy to be a small part of it.