Barely over cross-country, all things running are already focused on NCAA Cross-Country in Louisville on the SATURDAY (not Monday) prior to Thanksgiving in November.  What else to the locals have to think about now that Pitino's guys are looking as if they were shockingly overrated after being handled by Providence?  What other running stuff is there to look forward to if Galen Rupp is not running the marathon trials, Trevor Dunbar is a Duck and there will be no University of Vigilante to pull for in the Penn 4 x 8?  Its been 6 weeks or so of some upheaval and change for us here at Grotepoll.com.  To top it all off, odds appear to be pretty certain that our beloved New York Jets will not be playing in, much less winning The Super Bowl.
Dammit.  That said, there is still much of the looking forward to in this latest of calendar years which is said to be the end of civilization or something. 

Read more: 2012...All About Louisville

River Road Park, Bedminster, NJ...9 AM this week and the following few Sunday's.  Mostly dirt roads, rolling hills, little or no traffic, and excellent company for some miles and banter.  Grotepoll.com would expect good representation from a number of athletes representing NCAA Divsion I Institutions of Higher Learning over the next few weeks.  There were about 30 blokes out on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.  A good crew.  The main loop run is just over 13 miles, with easy options to add on.  We won't discuss going shorter, as most should understand, Sunday is the most important day of the week, so come on out. 

Speaking of NCAA running, college cross-country is dead and gone for 2011, there are a few issues to address to wrap things up, including the departure in different ways of two Grotepoll.com favorites.

In unprecedented and unforeseen fashion The Grote Poll got it wrong, blew it, screwed the pooch, bit the big one, perhaps even sucked the bag.  Wisconsin did not.  They won the national title they coveted.  All season long it was OkState, OkState, and more OkState.  I went so far as to denounce and decry my pre-season flirtation with Wisconsin as #1, calling it a moment of weakness, and error, a misjudgement.  So it goes.  At least Grotepoll.com had the right four teams on the podium and Lawi Lalang as the individual champ.