Track and Field Blogs - Ryan From Flotrack

I am sitting here at a Hostel in Oslo and about to catch a bus to the airport. Its funny to think Im back where it all started 56 days ago. The longest trip Ive ever had, the longest time away from the good ole US of A. Its been a long exciting road over the past 8 weeks and Ive gotten to see so much. A few days back I was "hitting the wall" and spoke with Mark about it because hes gone through it before, but after rallying and finishing off a great week at the World Championships… more »

If you saw the video from the other day then you know I've made it to Berlin and yes I'm counting down the days until Saturday! From the time I was in Monaco until now there's been some downtime in terms of track and field. There's about a two week break from racing as the athletes get to train a bit more and travel to Germany. I imagine the down time in competition is needed at this point in the season and it gives the athletes a nice chance to refresh a bit but the big show. I know for… more »

I don't know who says it the best but Notorious B.I.G.'s "Sky's the Limit" track comes to mind as he says "your brain was a terrible thing to waste." You learn a lot of things on the circuit as you travel from meet to meet. Things about track, about people, about life. There are also things you learn that may not be new, but more reminded or reemphasized. That thing for me this week has been the power of the mind. People say that when you have success there is no magic behind it, no mysterious unknown that guides to… more »

? I apologize for the time in between blogs here. There is only so much a video can show and I need to do better on letting you know the day-to-day happenings out here. At this point I've been to Oslo, Lausanne, Rome, and Liege. Its been a lot of fun traveling and getting to know certain athletes better. There are definitely some characters out there on the scene and I hope you'll get to know some of them better. People like Dexter Faulk (hurdler) and Bianca Knight (sprints) are pretty hilarious, as you may have got a taste of… more »

I finally have a few minutes to sit around where I am not feeling like I am falling asleep. The first day and a half was tough on the body getting used to the time change. I learned after the trip last year how important it was to get on a good schedule right when you get overseas. I got in on Thursday and kept myself up all day after only sleeping maybe 2 hours on the whole trip over here (23 hr total from door to door). Right when I got to Oslo we were greeted by some workers… more »

Anniversary 1: the annual recurrence of a date marking a notable event ; broadly : a date that follows such an event by a specified period of time measured in units other than years Its been about a year for me now, and what a big year its been. A one year anniversary. I put the definition above solely because I've read some cool things that start with a definition so it feels like you are about to be given some great knowledge about life or something....but don't worry, you probably won't learn too much here ;) Many of you… more »

Its time for NCAA D1 Regional action and we are pumped!!! We'll be have a 2008 Highlight Reel going on throughout the day and a LIVE Show that will begin at 1pm (CT) at the start of the Women's West Regional. Check back throughout the day for live results (all times in Central Time). Here ya go: 9:00AM - report from Cara Hawkins in the South region: conditions at the course are "windy, soggy and 53 degrees. ?everything is running on time" 9:25AM South Region Results - in the women's race, Hollie Knight of Auburn sets the course record with… more »

HELLO! Man I feel like I have been out of the loop forever! I've been without internet all week and its been tough, let me tell you. We had internet access in Leuven but its not working anymore so the only way to get any vids to you has been through asking some of the random university to borrow their computers. But now I've got it back and ready to rock. I have a bunch of great footage from the trip that I am excited for everyone to see so I'll be getting it out to you soon. I hope… more »

So quick update, its 8:30AM pst. We've been driving through the night and we are going through Sacramento. There's less than 500 miles to go! We have 7 of us now and we'll be looking to run when we arrive. So the tentative plan is to run at 6pm from our live show location. If u want to join us meet at our spot... 1960 Emerald St, Eugene Hope to see u soon! more »

Where do I begin....I guess the fact that we actually have internet is a plus! ? So last night we spent the night in the Pearl outside of Bozo's Mechanic shop. ?Three of us in the van, lets just say my back did not feel great in the morning. ?Chase got up in the middle of the night and threw up for no reason. ?We woke up in the morning, left the Pearl with Juanito and went for a run. ?It was pretty awesome. ? We found a sweet dirt trail and went about an hour. ?Old man Floreani and… more »

So believe it or not, I FINALLY MADE IT!!! I arrived in Austin this week and it was a pretty big relief. I had a blast out on the road for 36-ish days meeting a ton of great people, seeing some cool workouts, running on some great trails.....but now its time to get moving! I have a bunch of footage I want to finish up for you all so get excited. If I have time, I'd like to make a recap video of everything I've done on my trip so hopefully that'll be in the works soon. This week we'll… more »

So today was day #35 of the move/road trip. I started in Maine and yesterday could be found in Arkansas. Guess where I am today.....Maryland! Kinda back-tracking it feels, but the good thing is I flew here not drove. I am in Baltimore covering the Maryland State Meet at Morgan State University. Today was 1A and 2A races, tomorrow will be 3A and 4A.....saturday will be finals for all classes. So on Sunday I'll be flying back to Fayetteville to grab my car and finish the journey to Austin!! It feels weird thinking I'm actually going to get there. There… more »

So the traveling just keeps on going. In the past day I was in Clemson, Athens GA, and now Knoxville. Crazy schedule, not much sleep and going on runs definitely makes for a tiring schedule. Luckily for me, I've never really needed much sleep to get things done. But once I sit and slow down it definitely hits me. Enough about that....

Last weekend I saw some great stuff while at Clemson. Got together with some old teammates (Matt Clark and Mitch Greeley....young Bryce Iverson was also around as well). Got to see some workouts, some off-roadin… more »

So here it goes....a change, a new beginning. No more 9 to 5 at the desk behind an old computer, I've now become part of the movement that is Flotrack. My first step is to move out to Austin, TX to join the team at HQ.

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I thought back to the start of Flotrack and Mark's travels throughout the country in the "White Pearl" (his van) and all of the experiences he took away from it. With that in mind, I decided I would set out on my… more »

So I made the trek (hardly that) from Boston to NYC last weekend to cover the NSIC at the Armory and the US 8K champs in Central Park with Victor, Andrew, and Mike (see Mike trying to sleep and not happy with me in the pic). There were definitely some great races to watch this weekend on both sides.

The 8k saw Jorge and Shalane with victories, but some great runs by a bunch of athletes out there! Everyone was great to meet and seem really excited for this upcoming track season. On the high school… more »

I was in Denver last week, which was my first time in Colorado and it was a blast. The views of the mountains are beautiful. I was able to travel to the Air Force Academy, Denver, Boulder, and ski at Breckenridge. Due to limited jogging I wasn't able to take advantage of some of the cool runs in the area (especially in Boulder), but just gives me motivation to check the area out again sometime. I meet some cool people and got to catch up with some athletes. Look out for some new interviews on Flotrack soon.

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So I've had about 8 weeks of due to some shin problems, but now I'm back running again as of this past wednesday!! Let me tell you, I had three intense days of running!

Wed - 6:30mins (jogged to PT)/6:30mins (jogged home from PT)
Fr - 6:30mins (jogged to PT)/6:30mins (jogged home from PT)
Sun - 10mins jogging/4mins walking/12mins jogging

The PT office has me doing some jog/walk/jog for the next few weeks to make sure the shins are ready to go. Nothing really crazy done, but just is awesome to be… more »