"Eeeeet's Aliiiiive!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ah, yes, Frankenstein. That wonderful monster who came alive because some one's brain was put into ANOTHER body. Emphasis on the word "another".

During the summer as I was doing all of my research and planning for the upcoming Cross Country season, I came across two interesting items on the Internet. Both were ads for a Cross Country coach. They say hind sight is always 20-20, and if I had somehow known that the Cross Country program I was trying to start was going to be a huge failure, I would have contacted one of those schools.

But as the days went by and no new runners were coming forward, and the AD got closer to pulling the plug on the program, I decided to contact those two school just for the heck of it. I sent e-mails to each and one got back to me immediately. It was a Jewish high school located in a town next to mine. The AD informed me that the position was filled, but they were looking for two swimming coaches. I told her that was not my forte, and said thank you. She said she would keep me in mind for the future but I wanted something now.

The other school didn't get back to me for about a week. It's a special kind of school that is existing in the city north of E City, and that is why I am changing the name of this blog to N City. It is a new Catholic "high school" that resides in a Catholic high school that closed down about three years ago. I put high school in quotes because it is growing one year at a time. This is its second year and it only has Freshman and Sophomores. So in a couple of years it will have all four levels of students. It's also special in that companies sponsor a program where all of the students spend one day a week at a real job learning responsibilities about life. Their Dean of Students was also the Dean of Students at the E City school for a year and a half a couple years ago. So I had someone inside who knew me.

When the AD of that school got back to me, he said that the position was open and I could come in for an interview. So this past Thursday I drove up there after school and met with the AD and one of the Board Members (a former track star at ECHS). The school, the administration, and the Board are behind new sports like X-C 110%. The interview went well, and I accepted the job and the challenge.

I was told that about 30 students had signed up for the program, so I figured if 10 to 15 showed up at the first practice (today), I would be happy. I got there at 10:30 this morning and I waited around in the gym. Two boys showed up. Then five minutes went by. Then ten. It was deja vu all over again. I was ready to go home, when the Board Member drove up and said all the girls were waiting in the front of the school. So we finally got them all together in the gym for the first practice!!

Two boys and nine girls showed up. But we think even more may show up during next week. I'll probably stop accepting newcomers at the end of next week. I had all of the students fill out cards with their names, their grade, the day of the week they would be at their job, and in one sentence, why they want to run X-C. Three of the 11 actually had the word passion in the reason. These kids want to run, they have no problem with practicing every day, and they seem to be great kids from what I've seen today.

I gave them a brief speech about X-C, some rules and parameters for the team, then we exercised and got ready for the practice. The school is only about six blocks from world famous Branch Brook Park. So the Board Member and I drove over and met them there.

We were in the north part of the park and there is a nice 2.1 loop there. My aches, pains and bursitis were minimal so I decided to run the loop with them. They're not in great running shape, but they were able to make it around with a number of stops. I encouraged them as they made the effort. There are also a couple of runners who show some raw talent and almost made it around non-stop.

The only drawback is that there isn't an oval running track anywhere in the area. So my plan for that is to mark one out with cones in one of the open fields and do 200s, 400s, etc. there. So with the remaining time left, we did some fast runs on the gravel path and then we broke for the day.

The AD had set up a schedule of about 6 meets, but I feel we'll be lucky if we get in shape to run maybe the last two. They also have to acquire uniforms and maybe some new shoes, although almost all of today's runners had a decent pair of shoes on.

So readers, Monday will be day 2, and I'll be keeping you up to date with the high lights of the upcoming season.