Slab City Running Company is spending July looking ahead at the three remaining races on the Minnesota Team Circuit, gathering strength for a final surge. Two-thirds of the way through this grueling test, The Company is strategically positioned at the tail end of the main chase pack. Content to let Lundgren Ford and Collegeville do the hard work of chasing down front runners, Run N Fun and TC Running Company, SCRC is lurking comfortably in fifth, and ready to strike with the kind of ferocious finishing kick we displayed at the 2006 Get in Gear 10K. Unsubstantiated reports from around the Twin Cities suggest that Company rivals have started to panic. Frankly, if they haven't, they would be well-advised to start. Our fifth-place team, a team just five-points out of third, has featured scoring performances from the motliest collection of runners this side of Anthony Famiglietti. At the TC One-Mile, for example, Reuben Woodruff laughed off wisdom tooth surgery en route to 4:48. At Brian Kraft an Anonymous Company Member (ACM) turned in a scoring performance despite the fact that he was still suffering embarrassment, having too-narrowly avoided vomiting on his girlfriend's mother the day before. Worse still, at the USATF Master's 5,000m Tom Church turned in a scoring performance while (barely) wearing the same sized singlet he wore during his rookie season.
The unflappable Ben Merchant has helped to offset some of these misfortunes. His third-place finish among Circuit participants at the TC One-Mile led SCRC to a fourth-place showing and a 17-second victory over Collegeville. Chris Lundberg, Paul Fischer and a surprising as well as surprised Matt Mascioli joined Reuben in the scoring ranks. Ben Ho and Tom Church, the Slab City Sentinels, guarded against attacks from the rear.
At Brian Kraft it was Merchant once again, shaking off a wedding to lead The Company in 15:57. Bryan Donald followed him, shaking off the in-laws, in 16:24. Steve Harris, Chris Lundberg and Paul Fischer rounded out the scoring, shaking off Texas, Woods to Water and Sunday respectively as Slab City finished fifth. Dan Church decided to shake off the race itself once Paul went by, and saved himself for the following weekend. Ben Ho decided that spending 5K on Sentinel duty with the likes of Tom Church would be too much shake without enough fries. He wisely tapped Matt Gehring as his replacement, and Gehring, also recovering from the 80-mile relay, shook out a gutsy fourth race in 24-hours.
One week after Brian Kraft, the only marriage on Merchant's mind was his own...to the shoulders of some of the best runners on the Circuit. His fourth-place, 15:17, at the USATF Master's 5,000m helped The Company to another fifth place finish. Dan Church stormed back from his shaky race the week before with a stellar 16:49, and Chris Lundberg left fans wondering if he is more machine now than man with his 17:08. Phil Schrader turned in a solid 17:27 in his first race since March, but failed to lap Tom Church, who literally rounded out the scoring for Slab City.
The Circuit resumes on August 3rd at the Hennepin/Lake Double-Header. Company rivals are beginning to tighten up, over train, over compensate and over think. The Company is relaxed and preparing for an elegant finish; the kind of finish that can only manifest without the travails of compensation or training. Or thinking.
