N-City Runners Redux (or "Just Me" once in a while)

Numbers

2011-07-15T09:08:00.002-04:00

Today I did a morning run for the 31st consecutive day which breaks last year's high of 30 days. I also had a "PB" for the 3.5 course that I run every morning. I knocked off 14 seconds from last year's best time.

I've yet to run in a race this year (Zero) but hope to get into one before the end of the month. Last year my first race was on July 4th but this year I didn't feel I was in racing shape at that time.

There are 19 days left until I hopefully meet the 10 girls who committed to running Cross Country for E-City this fall. If 4 or 5 of those girls actually show up, I'll be satisfied.

Look's Promising

2011-05-19T20:24:00.002-04:00

I had my Cross Country pre-summer meeting at the E-City School today. Amazingly, ten girls attended. There were 7 Seniors-to-be and 3 Sophomores-to-be. All seemed genuinely interested when I gave them their summer running schedule. I've been at this point before (three times) and I can only hope that this time the team and the season become reality.

We set up an August 3rd date to meet in order for me to determine if the girls have been training during the summer. If so, I'll notify the AD and ask that the team be entered in the school's athletic conference and to start looking at uniforms.

Next week, I will also submit my letter of resignation as X-C coach at N-City School.

Humbled

2010-11-28T20:29:00.002-05:00

I drove down to Holmdel again today to run the course. I can't make any excuses such as it being too cold (high 30s but sunny) or that it had only been 72 hours since running a grueling 5k race on Thanksgiving morning. Bottom line is that the course beat me today. I won't even mention the time. But I will be back.

Basketball practice started in earnest this weekend so personal running will decrease over the next three months. Hopefully, I can get out 2 or 3 times a week to keep the stamina at a decent level.

Two Good Days

2010-11-25T21:16:00.002-05:00

The first day (yesterday) started out with the receipt of my second check from the N-City school. It ended when I stayed over my friend's house in preparation for the Flemington Turkey Trot. He would be running along with his wife, two sons, brother, and niece. The night was spent talking about nothing but running and cross country!

The second day (today--Happy Thanksgiving to all) was even better because I went out and ran an over-40 PB (personal best) in the 5K despite running only 3-4 times a week since Labor Day. The Verona Labor Day race was my previous best (26:15) and I bested that by 59 seconds (25:16.37). There were 3,851 finishers and I came in 859th. The time is a bit slower on the website results page because there were so many slow runners in front of me at the start. It took 51 seconds to get to the front. So I timed myself on my own watch. It was worse the further back you went; my friend's wife took more than 2 minutes to get up to the starting line.

After knocking off almost a minute off of my 5K time, I have to wonder how low I can go at this age.

Mecca

2010-11-21T19:34:00.002-05:00

Today, on a beautiful Sunday morning, I decided to take a drive down to Holmdel to view the State Cross Country Championship Course. The state's cross country season officially ended yesterday with the Meet of Champions so I knew the park would not be crowded. I had never been to Holmdel Park, either to watch a race or just to visit. I had another reason for wanting to view the course for the first time. Although still being cautiously optimistic about next year's possible X-C team at E-City, my goal would be to take them there for the states. And this would be a first preview of the course for that race.

The park was easy to get to. Exit 114 and a few country roads brought me to the park. In hand I had a map of the course and a memory full of X-C videos of races held at the park. I found the starting line easily and proceeded to walk the course. As I traversed the running path I was amazed at what I was discovering. This is a true cross country course--almost all gravel, lots of open areas, and lots of woods running too. And it is a tough course--many hills including a hill which should be named "heartbreak". The entire park is very beautiful; even to a non-runner, the "bowl" is an incredible sight.

As I neared the finish, I had the temptation to go back to the car, lace up my running shoes, and give the course a jog. But I had already had done four miles in the morning so I just went back to the car.

I knew I had to come back soon to run this course and before the weather turned any colder. I am planning to do so one week from today. And I will definitely try to factor a run in whenever I visit family I have in the area.

In other news:

The N-City AD called to let me know that he has my second check. It's nice to get that money a lot sooner without all the letter writing to their treasurer, even though the amount is smaller.

Three more Juniors at E-City have expressed interest in running next year. The E-City now had six definites, three maybes, and a tennis player who wants to work out with the team.

This Thursday I'll be running in a 5K in Flemington with an old Pru/running friend and his family. Since Labor Day, I have been only running about three days a week and have lost some of my summer strength. So I'm shooting for a time of 28 minutes.

End of Another Season

2010-11-08T21:31:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday, I drove my only N-City runner to the CTCs in W-Park in E-City. They say running is 10% physical and 90% physical. Well, my runner was definitely ready for the race mentally. He had been psyching himself up for this big day for weeks. But the physical wasn't there. No summer training and only 4 practices a week left him unprepared for the big race. He finished last.

And so my third season at N-City came to a close. Tomorrow I go there to collect uniforms and that will be it.

My new E-City team is still intact at 6 runners ready for next year.

And on the personal side, now that the season is over, I'll be spending more time after school to get ready for the Thanksgiving Day race.

One Week To Go

2010-10-31T22:21:00.003-04:00

N-City - During the past week the girls were almost non-existent at the team's practices. So I decided against taking them to this Saturday's CTCs in E-City. I'll give them the bad news when and if they come to practice this week. That leaves just one male runner on the team. He still wants to run Saturday, but he still can't run 3 miles without stopping. He has four days (he works Wednesday) to fix that problem.

E-City - Six of the 10 girls who came to my X-C meeting signed and had their parents sign a "contract" stating that they understood the commitment involved in being a member of next year's E-City X-C Team. Of the other four, I'll only will miss two. One has a minor asthma problem and her mother won't let her run. The other is the best tennis player in the school but she almost loves running as much. We agreed to allow her to be involved in our practices when she doesn't have a tennis match or practice.

Personal - not running as much during the school year as I did during the summer. But I signed up for a Thanksgiving Day run anyway. A running friend and former Pru employee always runs it with his family. His two sons and niece are top notch runners in middle school. We'll be hearing about them in the next few years. Unfortunately, they won't be running for E-City. Oh, well. LOL

The Battle Is Won But The War Is Lost

2010-10-25T21:52:00.002-04:00

All five girls showed up for last Friday's race. St. Vincent had 10 girls. I knew that four of our girls would be doing more walking than running, so I prepared for the worst. And that's what happened. SVA beat N-City by a score of 20-42. But the highlight of the day was that the one runner on our team who isn't walking anymore actually out-kicked three SVA runners in the last 100 yards to win the race. The time wouldn't get her in the top 100 of the CTCs but it was still a thrilling moment.

And now there are 12 days until the aforementioned CTCs. Goal #1, the girls have to eliminate all walking and build up their stamina. Hard to do when two of them never came to practice today. Par for the course at N-City. Goal # 2, lower their times, which will go hand in hand with the cutback of walking.

Bad News - Good News

2010-10-21T18:53:00.003-04:00

The boys at N-City have stopped coming to practice except for one. He's pretty dedicated and wants to run in the NJCTC on 11/6. We did not run in the Greystone Invitational last Saturday because someone in the main office of the N-City school didn't mail out the check with the entry fee. Just as well since we only had one runner available.

The girls are only a little bit better. They come sporadically to practice but we still have five, enough for a team. They still can't run 2 miles without stopping to walk and they have their first race (3.1 miles) tomorrow. We are racing an all-girls school from N-City and it should be a massacre. I'm more worried about whether they will show up tomorrow than how they will do.

But the good news is that we had our X-C meeting at E-City school today. All ten girls showed up at the meeting. I thought I was dreaming. I gave them a 15 minute talk on what Cross Country really was about and to see if they still wanted to do it. Seven are still on board and three are thinking it over. Keeping fingers crossed for the 2011 E-City Harriers.

Mid-October Update

2010-10-12T20:57:00.003-04:00

My third season at N-City is more than half over and nothing has changed from the previous two years. The runners are still out of shape, they come to practice sporadically, and the amount of time we have to practice isn't enough to form any kind of respectable team. The AD and myself scheduled 3 races for the year. The first is an Invitational meet this Saturday in Morris County for the boys on the team. But I found out from the meet director that the N-City AD did not send in the entry form nor the fee. Just as well. Our runners would have been embarrassed in the meet. The second meet is on October 22 for the girls against another N-City school (all girls). One of our girls quit due to poor grades so racing with only four runners will definitely shift any advantage to the opponent. And while this school is not a great team, I've been monitoring their results in their weekly races, and we will have our hands full with them. The third and final race (if everyone is in shape by then) is the CTC Championships on November 6. This is the Catholic Track Conference meet held at W-Park in E-City. This is the same race that one of our runners entered back in year 1. He's about the only one who is dying to get back there and have a good race.

So again, nothing has changed at N-City. I'm just baby-sitting a few runners who show up once in awhile. And getting paid less this year than the past two years. So I have slowly realized that I can't have a decent X-C team at N-City. And I have found out in the past three years that nothing will probably happen at E-City either. My three failed attempts to land a position at other schools this past summer (because of my age?) seems to seal my fate. I finally realized that my dream of coaching a decent X-C team was never going to come true.

So I decided to make some changes. I decided that the E-City school, especially the girls, needed another sport. Preferably in the fall since I'm busy in the winter and spring with other sports. In the fall, there are five major female sports in NJ. One is X-C. Another is Tennis, and E-City already has a team. Field hockey and soccer are two others but equipment and field locations present real obstacles. The fifth is volleyball. Practices and games would take place in our gym. And it seemed like the easiest of the three sports that I could learn quickly.

So I wrote up a proposal for the E-City AD and Principal. The principal liked the idea because we need to attract more females to the school. The AD said he would think about it since it would mean more work for him (he's not an energetic AD). So I left both meetings with the plan to forever give up X-C and to try volleyball in the fall of 2011.

Enter Mr. Murphy. The man who wrote the famous Law. That very same night, just eight hours after my volleyball proposal meetings, I'm at the Freshman Parents Orientation Meeting at the school. Two females who were in attendance with their parents came up to me and wanted to know why we don't have a Cross Country team. Yes, unbelievable. Murphy works in such strange and mysterious ways. Well, I was cautious and knew that fool me three times I'm an idiot. Fool me a fourth time, and I'm a bigger idiot. But they seemed so sincere and passionate. I told them that if they could get a list of girls who were SERIOUS about running next year, and give it to me by Columbus Day, I would think about it.

Well, today they brought me a list. Seven names, five females and two males. Only the five females were definite. The boys were maybes. So I decided my next step would be to have a meeting with the definite females. I may have two other females (two Juniors) who may be interested. But for my next step, I decided to try something new. I would empower these two freshman who seemed passionate about running. I told them it was too early to name captains, but they would be my "leaders". They would need to talk to the other runners and come up with a date when we could have a team meeting. By giving them this responsibility, I'm hoping that they will try to get the others to be as serious about the team as they are.

So hopefully, next week, we'll have a meeting and I'll have a better idea if this is going to happen.

Year 3 - Cautiously excited

2010-09-10T19:02:00.003-04:00

N-City called me back last week. There are 11 students who are interested in running. A good sign. Seven boys and four girls. Two of the Seniors were on the team in Year 1 and are very good runners. One junior has been with me both years and is very dedicated. If a couple of the other new male runners step up, the boys team could show something this year. The girls on the team are all new and probably will have an average year. The AD at N-City is trying to get 2 or 3 dual meets with other private schools in the northern NJ area.

That's the exciting part. It has to be cautious because none of the runners ran during the summer and all are out of shape. N-City has an even later dismissal time for the students this year which translates into a shorter practice session each day. And the Seniors will be taking special SAT Prep classes after school and missing more practices than the others on the team.

We had our first practice today and the runners who showed up (not a work day) were all enthusiastic and worked hard.

Stay tuned.

Summer's Over

2010-09-08T16:22:00.003-04:00

Today was the last day of the summer vacation, i.e. the last day I could get up early and run in the morning. Tomorrow, classes start at school and running will be taking place in the afternoon or early evening.

Final numbers for the summer:

218.8 total miles

80.5 % of the days were running

Had a streak of 30 consecutive days running at one point during the summer

Current streak - 14 days and 26 out of the last 27

Still no word from N-City on whether or not they will be having a X-C team this fall.

My second race of the year was on Labor Day. I had run Verona before in the early 90s. The course had changed a little bit but there was still a modest hill in the first mile. Nonetheless, I was able to knock about 50 seconds off of the July 4th time, if you concede that the courses are the same (same distance, different contour).

Not a Steeplechase

2010-08-28T10:37:00.003-04:00

But an obstacle nonetheless. During my morning run thru Caldwell, it looked like I would not be able to get thru on Bloomfield Avenue. Police cars and firetrucks had the road blocked off and were detouring the traffic. As I got closer I saw that they were in the late stages of putting out a fire that had destroyed the Caldwell Diner. Well, runners can't just detour around obstacles like cars can, so I ran to the opposite side of the street and hoped that the sidewalk would be clear. It was and after passing some firemen who were resting and attending to their equipment, I passed the last police car and went on my merry way.

I had never been in the Caldwell Diner but had always wanted too. Maybe if it gets rebuilt I'll go there for breakfast some day. (Photo courtesy of The Caldwells Patch)

Summer Re-Cap

2010-08-27T19:12:00.002-04:00

Over the winter I had to again resort to sending letters to the N-City school treasurer to find out when they would be sending my coaching fee. It took only two letters this time to get the check in the mail. I was very surprised to find out that they were paying me the same amount as in the first season. Even though I coached about one month instead of two. Even though we didn’t enter any races. And even though the students again showed up when they wanted to.

Meanwhile back at E-City, I decided to try again for the third year to start a cross country team. Flyers and announcements produced six female underclassmen who expressed some interest. After talking to them and letting them know what cross country involved, the list shrunk down to three. These three gave me the impression that they were very serious about running in the fall, but when, in the last few days of the school year, we couldn’t all get together for one single meeting to discuss the summer program, I decided to pull the plug again.

As summer recess started, I scoured the web for available cross country positions at other schools. There have been six. The first three, Gill St. Bernard, Ranney Prep, and the Bergen County Tech schools were too far of a distance to travel. The fourth one proved to be very interesting. It was not a high school, but a college, Caldwell College. It’s a co-ed college but it only has X-C for girls. Examining their website and race results on the web, I learned that over the past few years the team has had little success. There wasn’t going to be a large number of runners coming back either, maybe 5 or 6, not counting the incoming freshman. A plus for the job was that the school was close to home; a minus was that I would have to do some recruiting for future teams. I got as far as the HR department calling me to ask some basic questions and to let me know that I might be called again for an interview. Well, the call never came and I found out that they hired a young runner out of Ramapo College.

The fifth job was for Mount St. Dominic Academy, an all-girls school that shares the same campus with Caldwell College. This had lots of pluses: close to home again, lots of runners (they had over 20 the previous year), and a successful season the previous year. The minus was that it was for an assistant coach. Since I was in my third year of looking for a coaching job, and maybe I could always learn something new, I applied for the position. I got a little farther this time. The head coach called and set up an interview at the school. Two hours before I was to drive over for the interview, he called to postpone the meeting due to a family emergency. He said he would call the next day and set up another meeting. I’m still waiting for his call. Very strange. Their website is not updated regularly so I don’t know what they did regarding the position.

The sixth was for another assistant’s job at another all-girls school—Oak Knoll Academy. They had about 10 runners the previous year and were a middle-of-the-pack team in most races. I did get an interview this time and found out that five others were also vying for the spot. No need to go into any specifics—I didn’t get this one either.

And finally the new Athletic Director (the fifth in the last three years) at N-City called me to ask about myself and the two seasons I have coached there. We met today and talked about what has been going on there in terms of X-C. He wants to see if there is enough interest for Cross Country to move ahead and have another season there. He will be meeting the students on 9/1 and 9/2 and then get back to me on Friday 9/3.

On the personal side, this has been a very good summer for running. Unlike past summers, I have been running a lot and without pain. No pulled muscles. No bursitis. Nothing. I do about 25 miles a week and can hope this will keep up once school starts. I run almost every day—I had a streak of 30 straight days early in the summer and currently am on a 12 day streak. I entered a 5K race on July 4^th when I was just starting to get back into running shape and had a decent time. I will be running in a second race on Labor Day in a nearby town’s 5K.

Season Over

2009-11-06T18:26:00.002-05:00

The attendance during the final week of the season surprised me. This week there were 4 runners on Monday, 3 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, and 3 today for the season finale. It was a cold and windy day in the park today, but the three runners all wanted to close out the season with a 3.1 run on the park's X-C course. Most of them had finally gotten up to running 3 miles during practice so they had a chance to beat their personal bests. And they did. All of them. It was a fitting end to an abbreviated five week season at N-City.

Tomorrow is the Sectional Meets for the states public schools. The North Jersey Section 2 meet will take place in W-Park. That will then be followed by the CTC's (the non-public school state championships). This was the race me and the one runner from N-City went to last year. It's a full day of racing and for a X-C junkie, it's heaven.

So this ends another season of X-C blogging. I'll occasionally enter a personal note about my own running, and hopefully a good coaching position will open up somewhere next summer.

Four Down and One to go

2009-10-30T22:07:00.002-04:00

Today finished the fourth week of N-City X-C with no one showing up. No one showed up on Wednesday either. This is worse than last year. I feel like I'm stealing their money. Oh, well.

Week 1 - 2.67 runners showed up for each practice.

Week 2 - The highlight of the season - 3.67

Week 3 - 1.75 getting worse

Week 4 - .625

Week 5 - will I be alone next week?

Exposure

2009-10-13T19:58:00.002-04:00

Over the past year, the NJSIAA has realigned most of the high school athletic conferences in northern New Jersey. One of the new conferences is the Super Essex Conference which is comprised entirely of schools in the county. Gone are the gamesmeets against schools far away and new rivalries are now in place. The new alignment was met with some criticism as well as with praise. Anyway, the new SEC (Super Essex Conference) has been holding their dual meets at B-B-Park on Tuesdays and Wednesday. Last week, during the first week of training for N-City, the team got to see some races and today was the conference championships. They saw all of the teams in the conference as well as some of the top runners in the state.

Today we had 6 runners show up, 5 boys and 1 girl. Four of the boys showed some decent talent. A couple of them were impressed with the races and the quality of runners that they saw. They wished that we were a lot closer to entering a race. It was a good sign from this team.

The best case scenario would be that for the next 3 1/2 weeks, we get a few more runners and are able to take a nice group of runners to the CTC Championships on November 7.

Week One

2009-10-12T17:15:00.002-04:00

This past week was the first week of training for the N-City runners in Year 2. Because of some cancellations, the team met only three times. The original sign-up sheet that was outside of the AD's office produced 50+ names. Nineteen runners of both genders have gone out of their way to get physicals, fill out forms, and turn them into the AD. Of the three days of practice, 4, 0, and 4 runners showed up. Nothing has changed at N-City!!

Of the runners who have shown up, two are veterans from last year. One ran at the CTC Championships in November '08. He is looking forward to going back. Whether we do or not depends on how much practice we get in during the next four weeks.

One Week Later

2009-09-24T20:26:00.002-04:00

It has been one week since I was at N-City meeting with 25+ runners and the Athletic Director was handing out physical forms. At that time I told him to call me as soon as he had four runners who had completed and turned in their physicals. So far, no call.

In the meantime while I wait, I have continued to have fall practices with members of the E-City Softball team. More new sophomores have shown up and a couple of them show some minor talent. There are now 21 names on our "40-man roster" and 12 of them are sophomores.

I mentioned that during the summer there were a few X-C jobs posted on the Internet. There was one school, an all-girls one over in nearby C-City, which I presumed had a team but I never saw them entered in the Catholic Schools Championships in November. This same school hosts a softball tournament which we (E-City) have been invited to for the past two years. I took a chance and sent an e-mail to the AD that was listed on their website offering my services if they needed any help with their X-C team. I never heard back from her one way or the other.

Now one of the teachers at E-City asked me to tutor her daughter (in Math) for the upcoming SATs in October. Today was our first session. When we were finished I asked her and her mother what the status was at her school regarding X-C. I found out that the AD has been out for a while due to a pregnancy which is probably why I never heard back. I then asked this student to find out what she could about the team's status and who the current AD is. Once I find that out, I'll send another letter offering my services for next year. It's a good school and I think it would be a nice place to coach X-C.

And finally, I'm still running slow 2 mile workouts (today was 6 days in a row) with an occasional hard run. The pains are still there but they are milder.

Here We Go Again

2009-09-20T11:20:00.002-04:00

For those who are tuning in for the first time, this is the fourth name this blog has had. The first was "E-City Runners" when I tried to start a team at the school where I teach. Then I changed it to "N-City Runners" when the E-City team quit and I took a coaching job over at an N-City school. The third version was "No City Runners or Just Me" when I was fired by the N-City school and I was expecting this blog to then be about my personal running only. But now I am back at N-City and thus the new title (with apologies to the late John Updike).

This past week I stopped in at N-City. The AD had a sign-up sheet of 50+ names. And about 20-25 kids of both genders showed up at a brief meeting after school in the gym (why can't E-City kids be this enthusiastic?). There was only one runner from last year that I recognized. The AD handed out physical forms and told the attendees to get them back to him as soon as possible. The meeting broke and I told the AD to call me as soon as he had four runners with returned physicals. With four I could start practicing. If these kids are as bad as the kids in my school in getting physicals filled out, it will be another week before practices start at N-City. My previous prediction of 9/24 as the first day of practice could very well come and go. We'll see.

I also found out that the school day now ends at 3:35 PM (2:50 last year), so practices won't be starting til about 4:15 PM. That will allow me ample time to drive up there after teaching at E-City. It will also make for a shorter practice session.

In the meantime, while I wait for N-City to be ready, I've been working out my E-City softball team. Some of the regular freshmen from last year seem to be hitting the ball hard this autumn. A good sign. A few new sophomores have also come out for the practices. The highlight though is a transfer senior from Virginia. A large girl who will have to play first base, but she has a good bat. She has been playing ball since about the age of 7. But enough about my other team.

On the personal front, I've started running again. About 3 times a week, usually a very slow 2 miles. The aches and pains are still around but diminished. The hammy is still there too but I am able to run with it. In fact, I'm not so sure it is a legitimate hamstring pull. You would think that a hammy would heal after 4 weeks of non-running rest. I wonder (this is probably how "doctors" thought during the Dark Ages) if it could be a hybrid hammy pull. Maybe it's a mixture of a hammy pull and a touch of bursitis. Maybe the bursitis is the more dominant of the two and that's why it doesn't go away.

I could probably get some kind of answer if I asked the AD (who is also an athletic trainer and a Health class teacher). But if I did I would be subjected to a 40 minute talk about himself and his injuries. And then there wouldn't be an guarantee that I'd get an answer after listening to him for that long of a time. So I won't mention it to him.

You're Hired?!?!?

2009-09-09T19:56:00.003-04:00

I wonder if I jinxed myself again in my previous post, because when I got back to my school (E-City) after summer vacation, there was a message from the Dean of Students at the N-City school. To refresh your memory and to save you from going back thru previous posts, he was the contact in that school that informed me that the new AD had chosen another coach for the X-C program.

He wanted to know if I would be interested in coaching there again. It turns out that the new AD and his new coach had left the school after only a few months and I didn't ask for details. A new AD was in place and they were looking for a new coach. I told my contact that I would like to come in and discuss it. And that is what I did today.

When the new AD came into the room, I said to him, "I know you!!" So let's rewind back to the 2008 N-City X-C season. We practiced in the park near the school, and there was always a guy, who lived near the park, walking his dog nearby. He got to talking to me while the team was running the loop. It turned out that he was a former athletic trainer at I-City (that will be an easy one to figure out) school who was involved in some injury related lawsuit or something. Anyway, he is a scruffy old guy who likes to grab your ear and talk incessantly about himself and his life. I'm sure you all have met some guys like that before. It got so bad at times that I was asking some of my runners to come over and "save" me if I couldn't get away from him. While he was out of work he had asked me if N-City was doing any hiring, especially athletic trainers which was his specialty. I was never able to help him but it now appeared that he had gotten a job there.

It was supposed to be an interview for me and the X-C job, but he spent most of the time talking about himself and his situation at N-City. He was athletic trainer, was teaching Health classes, and was the new Athletic Director. He told me point blank that he wasn't too happy about the last one but he more or less had to do it as part of his hiring.

So long story short, he is also going to interview a friend of his, but I know that my contact, as well as the principal, like me for the job. So I told him that I would be interested in the job again if 1) he can get runners signed up (the program is inactive right now so we don't know how much interest there will be), 2) they get their required physicals (that was the hardest part for the AD last year--these kids took forever to get the physicals), and 3) my fee would be the same as last year.

Now I'm about 90% sure I'll be coaching there this fall but when will be the question. Based on this guy not thrilled about being the AD, I can envision him taking forever to get kids signed up and physicals turned in. So I'm predicting that our first practice will be September 24. And then once that happens I will be totally shocked if he goes out and gets us a meet. The time before we start practice will come in handy for having softball practices at E-City.

So why am I doing this? Two reasons: 1) the coaching stipend will offset my expenses incurred during the summer (see my personal blog), and it will give me a good place and time to get my own running in. Last year I was always able to beat the team in the 2 mile loop except for one male runner (that gives you an idea of what we had last year).

As for personal running, I am into week 4 resting my hammy and it feels almost 100%. So tomorrow I will be testing it after school.

The Jinx is Up

2009-09-04T21:19:00.002-04:00

Just like Sports Illustrated cover stories, my previous blog became a jinx for my running. Just two days after my cross country run in W-Park, my legs were besieged by the old aches and pains that I have come to know too well. This time they were accompanied by a sore hamstring. The aches and pains took a little longer to go away this time but the hammy lingered. Today, after being on the shelf for three weeks, I tested the leg out, and while it wasn't painful, the sore hammy was noticeable. So I'll rest it for a few more days and test it again.

On the coaching front, a third job appeared on the net. It was a charter school in N-City. I didn't want to go down that road again (lack of training location, not an NJSIAA member, questionable commitment from the runners, etc.) so I didn't bother looking into it. Unless a major surprise happens in the next week or so, I'll be devoting the autumn to helping my softball team (those who are interested) improve their hitting and fielding.

And I am also going to commit to making any blog postings in the future less verbose.

I'm Back, Baby !!

2009-08-12T21:30:00.005-04:00

Yes, George Costanza had it right. Since my last post the stamina in the old legs has not gone away, so I decided to enter a competitive race. The arch rival school of my E-City school holds Cross Country races (3.1 miles) in W-Park during the summer (five in all) to benefit their X-C team. Tonight was the 4th in the series. Most of the runners are high school kids who are getting ready for the upcoming season, but a few old guys run too. The first few races of the series attracted about 50 per race. So it would be small compared to other road races. And it is run on the official X-C course with the exception of the last 4/10 of a mile or so to avoid crossing a road.

So I decided to give it a try and see what I had at my current age. It was a beautiful night: mid 70s, windy, a little humid, and a threat of a thunderstorm. At 6:45 PM I toed the line and waited for the start. I will admit I was a bit nervous having no idea what to expect. It had been 14 years since my last race and only two days since a colonoscopy. But I'm not getting any younger so I said "what the heck".

I came to the race with a goal of an 8:30 pace but I never factored in the condition of the course which is mostly run on grass, uneven and high at times. I definitely started out too fast. Assuming that the mile markers were positioned correctly, I did the first mile in 8:13. Even though I started out what I thought was too fast a pace, a lot of runners passed me in that first mile. At the half-mile I got my breathing leveled out and then just tried to keep a nice even pace.

At the 2, I was at 16:42 (8:21). For the last mile of the race I passed two younger runners and no one passed me which gave me some satisfaction. But even though I felt like I was running at a decent pace (at least faster than my normal runs everyday), I finished at 27:06. That's a pace of 8:44 which was higher than my goal. And the last 1.1 mile was run in 10:24 or a 9:45 pace which I find hard to believe.

But all in all I was very happy with the results of the night.

And as for the coaching, a second position appeared on the web but like the previous one, the location is a bit too far. So it still looks like softball practice this fall rather than X-C.

YOU'RE FIRED !!!

2009-08-01T20:04:00.003-04:00

July turned out to be an interesting month. In my last post, I mentioned that some E-City girls were interested in having a X-C team in the fall (please read that post for all of the details). It turns out that one of the seven girls isn't coming back in the fall so we would have only been six. And it would have been interesting to see if they would have come to any summer practices. I'm currently having a hard time getting some of my softball team to come to hitting and fielding practices.

And now for the N-City team. The title of this post refers to that team. I found out this past month that the AD decided to go with another coach that would handle not only the X-C team but the Winter and Spring Track teams as well. So that is why he never answered my e-mail. I only found out from talking to the other teacher that I know there; I wonder if they were ever going to tell me.

So as of right now there will be no X-C experience in the fall. The web classifieds have only had one position so far and location was the problem with that one. I'm not sure how August will be in terms of classifieds. By now I would think that any open position has been filled or else it would have been advertised. And new openings seem unlikely unless someone were to leave their school with so little time left before September. So the fall may be spent with optional practices for the softball team (Lord knows they need it).

In regards to my personal running (which may be the sole reason for this blog in the immediate future) there were two developments, one good, one bad. First the bad--sometime in the middle of the month, after a hard and trying run, every ache and pain that I suffered earlier in the year came back. Totally out of nowhere. I could barely walk the following two days. So I shut it down for a week and the pains eventually went away. The good has to do with the stamina and strength of my legs. In past postings I expressed concern of whether I would ever get the stamina back in my legs that made a long run both easy and enjoyable. I had felt that my ## year old legs were shot and those enjoyable runs of years gone by were over. But twice during the end of the month of July, I experienced that stamina once more. Maybe with these old legs it takes longer to get them back into running shape after such a looooong layoff. I hope for now that the stamina has returned even if it only comes a couple times a week (the resurgence may also be due to a slight posture problem that I corrected but it's hard to say).

So with this good news my goal for the rest of the summer up until Labor Day is to increase mileage and maybe enter at least one Road Race.

Thank you Reader for stopping by, and enjoy the rest of your summer.

A Long Overdue Update

2009-06-12T20:38:00.002-04:00

Three months have gone by since my last entry. As I prepare this new update, I realize that ten months ago I started this blog to document the happenings of coaching a cross country team. It has been anything but. It has been more of a tale of the frustration in trying to get just one good program to last a whole season. Maybe I should have done a softball blog because this past season on the diamond was more satisfying than the entire past 10 months of X-C.

My E-City plan (as mentioned in the previous entry) was to keep flyers for Cross Country up on the walls for two full months, March and April. With only three positive responses, I pulled them down about 2/3 of the way thru April. At that point I figured it wasn’t going to happen. With the amount of freshman girls who tried out for both the basketball and softball teams, I had hopes that there would be a sizable interest in a Cross Country team.

So with that being said, I decided that I would return to the N-City program and coach there for another year. The money was good even though the commitment of the runners wasn’t. I figured it would be a good-paying baby-sitting job that would help pay off my mortgage. One of the E-City girls who had wanted to run kept after me about it. I asked her if she would be interested in running for N-City since students can play sports for another high school if theirs does not offer that sport. She said she would and I sent off an e-mail to the AD in N-City. It was also an e-mail to touch base with him for the upcoming season since I hadn’t heard from him in a while.

Now I’m not sure of the date of that e-mail (because my Comcast e-mail service only saves sent notes for so many days) but it must have been sometime in early April. For a couple of weeks I heard nothing from him. I then sent an e-mail to the Dean of Students there who used to be a teacher at E-City asking him about the AD who was not answering my e-mail. It turns out that the AD’s son is a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants and was hit by a pitch in early April. He had a concussion and was put on the disabled list. Apparently the AD had gone out to California to be with his son. My teacher friend said the AD would be answering my e-mail when he got back.

Well, it is now early June and I still haven’t heard from him. Did he send an e-mail and did I accidentally delete it? Is the recession affecting the N-City school and are they cutting back on some of the sports programs? I don’t know. And I didn’t follow up on it because for most of April and May my time was totally devoted to the E-City softball team. We still didn’t get a win (although we did get an official forfeit) but we did have a productive offensive season. We scored 53 runs which was more than the two previous seasons combined. But the poor defense is what kept us from getting a win.

And now it is early June. And that one girl is still asking about whether she can run at N-City. I told her again how unfortunate it is that we couldn’t have a team at E-City. Well, she decided to do something about it. An eleventh hour attempt for a fall team was begun. She came up with eight girls—7 freshmen and 1 sophomore. Maybe only 2 are from the “athletic” group that I had hoped would produce a team back in March.

But I wanted more than just names. I didn't want the debacle of last year repeating itself. I typed a whole list of things that they would have to do, what to expect, and other pieces of info to make them aware of what they were getting into. Well, the reality of what X-C is and what I would expect from them during the summer and the fall must have scared them off. Because I never heard back from them this week.

And now school is over at E-City. I'll hold off on contacting N-City in the hope that a position at another school will show up on the NJSIAA website. And if nothing does show up in the next two months, then I'll see what's going on at N-City. Worst case scenario is that in the fall I'll be a spectator over at W-Park watching X-C races.

On a personal note, my individual running has been making progress. I am now running anywhere from 2 to 3 miles everytime I go out. I have missed only two days this month and have a current streak of 7 days in a row. And all the aches and pains have subsided. Maybe they were just kinks that had to be worked out for an old man who was trying to do young things with his body.

Anyway, it will be nice to start the summer vacation with an established base of miles rather than having to start up from scratch like I have had to do the past two years. The only other problem is that the stamina and endurance in my legs hasn't come around yet. I wonder if it is taking longer because of my advanced age or maybe this is as good as I will get at this age. I wonder.

Or maybe it has to do with the extra baggage I am carrying. Maybe if I slim down I could build up the endurance. So on the way home, I stopped at the market and bought two boxes of cereal (kinds that I would never have bought before) and three vegetables and one fruit (another first for me). I also was able to walk past the ice cream that was on sale!!

Into Week 3

2009-03-10T22:30:00.002-04:00

Today was the second day of our four day tryout session for the school's softball team. The talent level trying out for the 14 spots on the team is a bit higher than last year. I have moderate (not high) hopes for the upcoming season. But this is a X-C blog, not a softball one.

We are into week three since I put up the Girls X-C flyers and the roster still contains the two girls. One girl who picked up the softball forms packet back in January is the co-captain of the basketball team and very athletic. She didn't show up at the first tryout yesterday so I saw her at lunch and asked her why. She said she was planning on running spring track at a neighboring school (NJSIAA rules allows a student to compete at a different school if their school does not sponsor that given sport). I then asked her if she had given any thought to running Cross Country. She said yes she was going to go out for the team. I then told her there was no team unless students came to me expressing interest. My plan is still not to do any recruiting--I only want students who WANT to run, not ones who are a bit coaxed.

So I now have three runners. I also have been reminded how the E-City student is regarding announcements and posted messages. They either don't read them or they read them but interpret them differently than their original purpose. So tomorrow morning, I'll be adding an addendum flyer clarifying that a team roster has to be in place by late April for the team to exist in September.

After One Week

2009-02-28T21:23:00.002-05:00

In a previous blog entry, I mentioned that there were about 22 freshman girls who were either on the basketball team or who signed up for my softball team tryouts. I added a few others who "looked" like they could be runners. I figured some of them would reply to my Girls X-C flyers this week. Well, so far, two have expressed interest in joining a team. And those two were NOT on my list of potential runners. Not only that, they are both cheerleaders (in another entry, I mentioned that I would prefer the real female athletes and not the tennis players nor the cheerleaders).

Well, one of the girls is in my freshman math class. She sounded very interested and I told her to try and get some of her classmates to join. The other cheerleader said she always enjoyed track and wanted to join. I too told her to try and get others to join.

So as of right now, I have two girls on the "future" team. I had hoped to have had a few more stop by my classroom and I wonder if any more will come in the next few weeks. Softball tryouts start next Monday. I am going to set a deadline date for myself of April 30--to decide whether I have enough girls to coach at E-City and resign from N-City, or to give up on E-City and go back to N-City.

As for the payment from N-City, it finally arrived today. At my interview in September, the AD quoted me the amount I would get for coaching the school's X-C team. The number was quite large (more than my E-City softball and X-C payment amounts combined), so I figured he was blowing smoke or I was mishearing him. Well, today when I opened the envelope and looked at the check, sure enough it was all there. That amount of money for baby-sitting a group of kids who have no commitment nor are in any kind of shape may make going back to N-City in September a lot easier than I expected.

Stay tuned.

And Now I Wait

2009-02-20T21:01:00.002-05:00

I posted the Cross Country flyers today after school so most of the school's female population will see it on Monday. I will then just sit back and see if any of the many female students come forward expressing interest in joining a new Girls Cross Country Team. Between today and March 9th (the first day of tryouts for the Softball Team), I hope to have an idea if there is enough interest.

In other news, it has been a month and five days since I was last at N-City to finalize all papers so that I could receive my payment for coaching last fall. It has been five days since I mailed a letter to Sister Treasurer to find out when I'll be getting my check.

And on a personal note--despite the cold weather, the snow, and my busy school schedule, I have been able to go out for runs at least twice a week. Each run is 2 miles and as the weather warms I hope to increase the frequency. The slight bruising pain (bursitis?) in my left hip has been joined by another pain in my right buttock. Fortunately neither one ever flares up enough during or between runs to cause me to stop.

Mid-January Update

2009-01-14T20:43:00.002-05:00

I drove over to N-City School today in my never ending effort to get paid for the Cross Country duties performed last fall. This would hopefully be the final step before receiving the money. I had to supply them with SSN and Birth Certificate proof. All went well and I should be receiving my stipend soon.

As I cut thru the gym to get to the front entrance of the school I recognized one of last year's runners and she recognized me. I couldn't remember her name so I just said hi and she said "hi coach" back to me. I couldn't remember her name because she only came to about two or three practices at the beginning of the season. Then she had to drop out because there seemed to be a problem with her lung or heart, I can't remember which. And she wasn't one of the top runners on the squad either. But she always seemed to be positive, always smiling, and always giving her best at the few practices she attended. During the season if I ever ran into her before the start of practice, she would say that she was hoping to be healthy and back running next season.

Well, today she said that her "ailment" turned out to be absolutely nothing. She then said that she was ready for next year and would be training during the summer. If I had 10 runners with her positive attitude never mind the lack of speed, the decision of whether or not to go back to N-City would be even tougher than it is now. So I then said good-bye to her, told her to have a good winter, and then went home to find out her name. Of all the runners from last year's team to run into today, it had to be the one who probably cared the most about the team.

As for the E-City team, my plan is still to put the recruitment flyer up, but a week earlier than last mentioned. I hope to put it up on Monday February 23rd, after the girls basketball season ends. I've been attending the girls' games, both home and away, to show them that I'm a big supporter and hopefully to convert that into some interested runners. Not that I normally don't go and support the team, I do. But I am making more road games this year.

I've finally got an accurate count on the girls basketball team. They number 15, 10 of whom are freshman. As for my softball team, 12 freshman girls have expressed interest in trying out for the team. Of those, there are 3 who are in both groups.

This is exam week which means proctoring exams. And as I scan the room for cheaters, I am also getting to know who the freshman girls are and gauging as to whether they look like running material. There are about four more girls who aren't in either of the above two sports groups who may make decent runners. So all told there are about 23 female freshman candidates who could be X-C runners. Again, I try to contain my excitement and will only hope that a handful come forward in late February and early March to sign up.

And maybe I can also hope that the N-City girl will transfer to E-City!!

Two Words

2008-12-08T20:28:00.005-05:00

I was originally going to leave E-City school early today to go up to N-City school to get my X-C money. And then talk to the Dean of Students about the teaching position he offered me last week on the phone. Well, we had three teachers out today. So because I had to cover a class in the late afternoon, I wasn't able to leave early to drive up there to see the Treasurer before she left. I'll try again next Monday.

But as for the teaching position, I thought about it over the weekend. And without meeting the Dean today, I was able to make a decision.

Here are some pro's and con's affecting my decision:

On the E-City side, I would have to give up coaching the softball team.

On the N-City side, I would have a shorter commute.

On the E-City side, I would have to give up my wonderful job of running the candy store.

On the N-City side, I would have a little more control over the X-C runners, i.e. seeing them every day and maybe getting them to go to practice more often.

On the E-City side, I would have to give up teaching the higher math classes like Honors Algebra and Pre-Calculus (I'm pretty sure the academic levels at N-City are a bit lower than those at E-City).

On the N-City side, the salary would definitely be higher based on comparing the X-C fees at both schools.

On the E-City side, I would be severing the long six year relationship that I've had with the students, the faculty, and the school.

So what was my decision? Well, it came down to two words (or one??).

White Board.

Leaving E-City, I would have to leave my cherished white board and go back to chalk boards.

And chalk dust. Chalk dust on my clothes, on my hands, on my shoes, in the air, on my desk, on my computer, etc. etc.

Nope. No chalk dust for me!!

Job Offer

2008-12-06T10:32:00.002-05:00

A couple of days ago, the Dean of Students at N-City school called me. I know him because he was the Academic Dean at E-City school before he went to N-City. The N-City school will be expanding to three levels next year (grades 9 to 11) and he asked if I would be interested in a teaching position there. My plans were to go to N-City this Monday to finally get my X-C coaching fee, so I told him that I would think about it over the weekend, and stop in and see him on Monday.

Next Year

2008-11-29T17:16:00.000-05:00

The state Meet of Champions was run last week so the Cross Country season in New Jersey has ended. Some teams and some individual runners will be racing today in the Nike and Footlocker championships in Wappinger Falls and in the Bronx respectively. But there will be no more X-C races in New Jersey until next September.

And now with the off-season here, it’s time to start thinking about next year. This past year, if you read my blog, I was coaching a brand new Cross Country team in N-City. At first it looked like a golden opportunity. At my interview I was told there were about 30+ runners who had signed up in the past couple of weeks. At that first practice, there were 11 runners. But as the weeks went by, personal issues came up as well as injuries. Work days took their tool as well as a growing lack of commitment. By year’s end, there was only one runner who went to the CTC championships. A sad showing.

As of today, I am about “30-70” for coaching a 2nd year at N-City. I know it is the first year that they have had a X-C program, but the work program and the lack of commitment could be serious deal breakers. The former is an excellent program that the school has but one day a week that runner is missing practice. The latter is something that can’t be taken lightly. A lack of commitment means missed practices which translate into zero improvement during the season. So the 30-70 means that I might be coaching there next year if I can’t find anything else and I would be able to put up with those problems.

The scenario that probably fits me best would be to take on a coaching position for a school that already has an established program. Between now and September I will be looking for any openings at northern schools. Starting a program and doing the normal practices is a bit more than I would like to handle. I would rather concentrate just on the coaching aspect instead of also initiating the program.

I did get one benefit from the N-City program (besides the money) and that was one year of experience. At the end of the 2 month season, I felt that I had learned how to plan a season, how to be organized, and how to get the most out of a practice. I hope to be able to use this experience in the spring’s softball program at E-City. But that’s for another time and another blog, if I create one.

Now I would be very hypocritical of what I said two paragraphs ago if I said I haven’t given up hope of starting a X-C program at E-City. Now that I look back on that effort, I realize that maybe starting a boy’s X-C team may not have been such a good idea. The reason why I did so was two-fold. First, I felt that a boy’s team would be better than a girl’s team and would be able to compete against the other schools in our conference. Second, there is currently only one sport in the fall and that is girl’s tennis. E-City does not have girl’s volleyball, field hockey, girl’s soccer, boy’s soccer, football, or any of the other fall sports that exist at larger schools. So the plan was that since the girls had a sport in the fall, I would start a new sport for the boys.

If I do decide to try again at E-City, I realize now that I will have to change genders. The 15 boys that had signed up the previous May were a total disappointment in terms of responsibility and commitment. And since my initial effort, the school has implemented a soccer club and an intra-mural basketball program during the fall which many of the boys have joined. That leaves very few if any boys who could be candidates for a new boy’s X-C team. At E-City, the boys are either big soccer fans or basketball fans. There is no third option.

So the option for a new team may lie with the females of the school. The girls are not as involved in sports as the boys are. They have the tennis, basketball, cheer leading, and softball programs. So since they are not that much into sports, the school’s girls may be where a new sport may grow and thrive. In fact, I feel that there is a different relationship with the females in the school than there is with the boys. The girls, whether they are athletes or not, will say hi and talk with teachers, while most of the boys won’t even look at you as you pass them in the hallway. So I need to count on this rapport with the school’s female population.

Why didn’t the girls come forward last year when I was looking for potential runners? Did they not listen to the announcements over the school’s intercom? Did they not see the 40+ signs I had posted around the school? I think they did. Two did come to me and I signed them up as managers for the short-lived boys team. What I think happened was that most girls in the school thought of X-C as a boys sport and didn’t realize that there are girl’s X-C teams as well.

So once I get an idea in my head, it always begins to grow. I have devised a plan for starting a new girl’s X-C team next fall. I don’t expect to get any of the girls from the tennis team. They seem too committed to that sport. Plus they don’t seem to be true athletes—walking around the court hitting a tennis ball softly is worlds apart from the demanding workouts of a X-C team. The same could be said for the cheerleaders. True, they are a bit more active and athletic than the tennis players, but still, too dainty for me to be a X-C runner. No, my target is going to be either members of the basketball and softball teams or girls who have no sport affiliation at all. Since I coach the softball team I will know which girls I can approach about joining a new team. This past week I dropped in at an open-gym session for the basketball team and I saw quite a few new faces (mostly freshmen) trying out for the team. Next spring I might touch base with the basketball coach and ask him if he would like any of his team to run X-C in the fall as part of a training program.

My plan will kick off on March 2, 2009. That is the day of the first tryout for my softball team. From talking to the girls at the school, it seems that there will be a lot of girls trying out for the team. That means I will have to cut girls which I didn’t do last year. To quash any ill feelings toward me from a girl who was cut, I’m hoping that by having an option to join a new sport in the fall, coached by me, may be enticing enough to the girl who was cut.

Next year, instead of putting 40+ signs around the school, I’m going to keep it very low key. I will put up just three signs which will be positioned at locations where all the girls of the school will see it and probably very few boys: outside the two girl’s bathrooms and one outside the girl’s locker room. And the key selling point of these signs will be that “you don’t have to be fast to be on a X-C team, you just have to be dedicated”. That way I could get both athletes and the girls who feel that they may not be athletes.

And the most important thing I have to do is to control any anticipated excitement on my part. I was in another world last summer anticipating the approaching X-C season and when it never got off the ground it was a crushing disappointment. When the N-City opportunity came along, that too was exciting, only to fizzle out after two months time. So as March approaches and my plan either works or not, I need to control my excitement. So as I always say, “stay tuned”!

End of the Season

2008-11-10T21:18:00.000-05:00

The N City X-C season finally came to an end this past Saturday. During the week leading up to the final day, the lack of commitment by the runners continued to show at practice. The number of runners who showed up were 3, 1, 1, and 0. On Saturday, instead of five runners going to the CTC Championship at W Park in E City, there was only 1. So off we went, me, the runner, and the AD in two cars. The AD told me that he would drive the runner back and I could go directly home instead of driving all the way back to N City.

It rained the whole time driving to the Park. When we got there, the runner and I walked around trying to figure out where the 2.1 Freshman Course was. In the morning, the Public School North II teams were having their Sectional Championships. We got there just as the last race was finishing. The grounds were wet and muddy. As we walked around, we could easily tell who had run in a race that morning. If their legs and other parts of their body were muddy, we knew that they had raced. A beautiful site.

We went over to the finish line and checked in with the officials. The Freshman girls were to go off at 2 and my runner would follow in the boys freshman race at 2:20.

What a year this had been. It started out back in early September at an interview for the coaching position when I was told that 30 some kids had signed up for X-C. That was followed by that beautiful Saturday morning when 11 students showed up for the first practice. 9 girls and 2 boys. It had the makings of a solid girls team. But the apathy crept in along with a lack of commitment. And by year's end there were no girls and just one solitary brave soul, ready to run his heart out on the muddy fields of W Park.

2:20 came and he lined up with the other runners. The gun sounded and off he went. He was strong for about the first 1/3 of a mile but then the lack of practice began to show. He dropped back steadily. Finally as he came back to me from a loop to the other side of the park, he was walking and running. I spurred him on to the finish but he was experiencing pain and discomfort that an out of shape X-C runner always would. He finally crossed the finish line and he could barely stand up. We got him to the AD's car, loaded him in, drove over to where my car was, and got him some fruit and gatorade. Then I told him he ran a helluva race and off they went. He officially finished the race and his name appears on the online results. And he actually beat two other freshmen!!!

I decided to hang around and watch the rest of the races. I was able to take in the Girls Varsity as well as the Boys JV and Varsity races. It's hard to believe, but this was the first huge high school X-C meet that I had ever attended. It was quite exciting. I got in a position where with minimal walking/running, I was able to view the start, the middle, and the finish of the races. And along with the excitement, I also felt a bit of disappointment. As I watched these teams of young boys and girls battle over the muddy course, I realized that I was a coach without a team. Or more accurately, a coach without two teams.

And now the season is over. Today I had an open gym for my softball team. There were some new students trying out who showed some promise. But that's another sport for another time. As for X-C, I don't know what my future will be. I guess you will just have to stay tuned!!!

Bullet proof running gear?

2008-10-28T17:01:00.000-04:00

If I was a betting man, and there was an "over-under" on the number of runners who would show up this week, I would have chosen the under. As I previously mentioned, the number of runners showing up has been dwindling. Three last Friday and two on Saturday. The weather has been getting cooler and today was rainy. Yesterday and today no runners showed up. But the real reason I haven't mentioned is that the official gang initiation period kicked off last Friday and is supposed to run thru Halloween. The annual event, held every October, got off to a roaring start last Friday with 6 drive by shootings in N City. Basically the runners on the team are just plain afraid to come to practice. So I will be canceling practice tomorrow. Thursday is a normal day off and Friday is Halloween and the team voted weeks ago not to have practice on that day. So the next practice will be Saturday. That leaves just one week to work hard to get in shape (the runners who will be going) for the championships on 11/8.

If this program continues in the future, having gang initiation week in October is going to put a crimp in this team's preparation for any late season races. I may have to google Bloods, Crips, and Latin Kings and find out how to contact their representatives. Maybe I could convince them to move their initiation period to another time of the year.

Highs and Lows

2008-10-26T20:13:00.000-04:00

This season has been a roller coaster of highs and lows and this past week was no different. There was a high on Tuesday when we ran our second meet of the year. We had only five runners compared to the eight that ran in the first meet. But the four that were running for the second time knocked anywhere from 2 to 7 minutes off their previous times for the course.

A low came the next day when two of the female runners informed me that they wanted to go to basketball practice as well as show up for X-C once in awhile. The school had just started basketball tryouts last week and were allowed to start early in the year (as well as overlap our season) because we are not a member of the NJSIAA and are not governed by their rules. I didn't care for this news and told the AD in so many words. He put the kibosh on their intentions and they can only practice X-C until 11-8.

A high came on Friday when the Girls Basketball coach came over to me in the gym. I thought he was going to talk to me about the season overlap, but instead he informed me that he wanted his entire team to run X-C next year so they could be in better shape for their season. I've never subscribed to the idea of having basketball players running X-C to "get in shape". I've always preferred to have a team made up of "runners" who are dedicated to the sport and not some ulterior motive. But an increase in team members is a good thing.

And then more lows on Friday and Saturday when only three and two runners, respectively, showed up for practice.

Tomorrow we begin the final two week preparation for the championships on 11/8. There are 4 or 5 runners who will be running in that--the others have one scheduling conflict or another. It will be interesting to see how many show up for practice this week. The weather will be getting cooler (forecast is for 40s and 50s) and the other runners don't really have anything to run for other than to just run for the sake of running. The two basketball players won't be racing in November so they may not show up at all.

Every day I go to practice and instead of concentrating on my plan for practice, I wonder instead if anyone will be showing up. But it's still better than E City where the entire team quit. Next year has to be better. How can it be worse?

Here are pictures!

2008-10-22T21:16:00.000-04:00

Here is the link for the pictures from Tuesday's race. Hope you enjoy them.

I don't have a photographer for the 11/8 race but am still searching :-)

http://albums.phanfare.com/5131397

The Hawk Rules

2008-10-21T19:11:00.000-04:00

The second race of the season took place today. Four of the team's best runners were not able to make it for one reason or another, but the five that did race were the ones who have been coming to practice and working hard. The countdown to the start of the race had a few hiccups. With about 10 minutes to the gun, two of the runners tell me that they have to use the facilities. It's a bad thing that the johnnies-on-the-spot were about a tenth of a mile away, but it was a good thing that the last team to arrive was just getting there. We had a traditional huddle this time. As we walked towards the starting line, we noticed a hawk standing guard over its prey of a dead squirrel (no this is not an actual picture of the event). It was only about 20 feet from the starting line and most of the runners were staying clear of it. It eventually took off but not before one of our runners viewed it as a good omen for the team.

The gun went off and so did the four competeing teams. Four of the five runners had run in the first race. So besides finishing the course, they also needed to prove that they could lower their times. And they all did. And not by a little but by a lot. The top four runners on the team lowered their previous times by 7:21, 2:12, 6:17, and 7:06 respectively. An outstanding performance.

All five of these runners are freshmen and they were running a varsity distance (3.1 miles) against upperclassmen. Most freshmen in the sport are running freshman races of 2.1 miles. Again this was truly an outstanding result.

The next and last race will be at W. Park in E. City on 11/8. The freshmen will be running against other freshmen in a 2.1 race. They should do quite well that day.

Approaching Race Number Two

2008-10-19T21:50:00.000-04:00

We will be entering our sixth week of existence tomorrow. And things have finally settled down. It's been three weeks since that day when I was alone at practice except for one other runner which was followed by a coach's tirade. Since then there have always been enough runners to have a practice. It's still hard to get these kids to appreciate how much work needs to be done to be a good runner, but I'm happy with what they have done so far. We are finally up to doing a little more than three miles during a practice. And it seems I'm giving out "PBs" everyday. A PB is a personal best, where a runner beats his/her previous time for a given distance. I give out a little card (in the school's color) which lists the event and the new and old time. Some of the kids are really into getting them. And like I said, there are always one or two given out every day.

The roster has also finally settled down. We're down now to 13 on the roster: four boys and nine girls. Of the four boys, one has mostly dropped out due to a serious family situation. Another boy, who is the best on the team, has gotten involved in two jobs which cuts down on his practice time as well as preventing him from running in the two races left on our schedule. Coaching this team is much different than a coach at any other school would experience. These kids have their normal school work day, outside school jobs, family problems, sicknesses, injuries, detention, staying for extra help, church and choir, sweet 15 rehearsals, etc. etc. I have yet to see the entire team in one spot at any one time. The thought of a team picture is a mere fantasy. I try to stay away from imposing any kind of consequences for missed practices in fear that it may drive the kids away for good. But next year I may have to re-think practices, absences, rules, and punishments.

As for the girls, my two best are now partial "shows". The best has been missing a lot of practices due to her Sweet 15 Party rehearsals. She will try and race on Tuesday in our second meet. But her lack of practices will hurt her and I don't expect a good performance from her. Her birthday is on November 8 (the CTC Championships in W. Park in E City) so she won't be racing there. The other top girl on the team has moved up to being the best. She has been improving each week and has been my unofficial winner for the "most dedicated" award for the season. But unfortunately she too is now injured and is out for the season. She joins two other girls on the "DL".

So with three runners on the DL and one with family problems, that has left me with a steady roster of nine runners who show up most of the time. This Tuesday is our second race of the year. There only will be 5 runners racing due to "work days" and other situations. I only know the host team (same as the first race)--the other participants are unknown. But we will again be running unofficially. Hopefully this time the start will be much smoother.

I hope to have a photographer there to get some shots of the race, and before and after. Check back to see if I am able to get them on the web.

That will leave only one other race, the 11/8 one. I did meet the coach of a Charter school from JC in the park this week. He would like to have a pick-up race with us. He has openings on his schedule and would like to fill them. He is going to contact our AD. I hope it can happen.

I'll be back Tuesday night with the story of Race 2.

Baptism By Fire

2008-10-01T21:29:00.000-04:00

Well, the day finally arrived for the big race and in the end the minor problems were overshadowed by the amazing performance of the N City Runners. Today was only the 19th day that the team has been in existence. No runner had been able to run the 2.1 loop non-stop yet. And the total mileage for any practice had not surpassed 3 miles yet. And yet today the runners were asked to run a race of 3.1 miles, 1 mile longer than they had ever run before.

We arrived at the park about ten minutes before 4. The AD and the principal were already there. We found the coach and AD of the hosting school and told them of our arrival and gave them the info they needed. One thing I immediately found out was that since we are not a member of the NJSIAA, and since most races are monitored by the NJSIAA, we would be running as unofficial entries. That means that the times would not be included with the official results nor would our team of five girls be included in the team scoring. But regardless, it would prove to be a huge exposure to the sport of Cross Country for our young team.

The final roster for our team was five girls and three boys. About a dozen students and faculty were also present as well as other team runners who were injured or just starting to work out with the team. The amount of support of the spectators for the team was amazing. And the support of the runners towards each other during the race and afterwards was also truly noteworthy.

We were informed that our race, with about 4 other schools would be following a dual race by about 10 or 15 minutes. Also they would be running the boys and girls race at the same time and sort out the genders at the end of the race to determine the winners. So we waited off to the side, about 400 feet from the starting line. I figured we had enough time to have our pre-race huddle (a X-C tradition) before the race was to begin. Suddenly, the coaches of the other teams were yelling and calling for us to get up to the starting line. Apparently, they decided to switch the order of the races and we were going first. So he walked quickly to the start without being able to have the huddle. They lined up, all 8 of them. I knew they were nervous as you wouldn't believe, and about a minute later, the gun fired and they were off.

The course is basically a three loop so they passed the spectators two times before coming in the last time for the finish. We cheered them on each time they passed. I couldn't believe the perseverance and drive that these young runners had. True, they did some walking, but I knew they were keeping that to a minimum. As they passed each time you could see in their faces that they were hurting but they wouldn't quit. And keep in mind that these are sophomores and freshmen, and this was a varsity race, against teams of juniors and seniors.

Needless to say, they finished far back in the race but for the amount of time that they have been running, it was truly an outstanding performance. They all finished strong--there were performances by some runners that surprised me. But in the end they were all winners in my book (sound like N Dale again).

Some Gatorade, a cool down walk, and the day was over. They all walked off to their homes, and as I saw them get smaller in the distance, I knew that on this day, in this race, they had graduated from weekday practice runner to Cross Country Warrior.

Just like "Hoosiers"

2008-09-29T20:54:00.000-04:00

No, we didn't win a championship. It's just that I gave the team the Norman Dale locker room speech. Not the good one at the end but the one where he ripped into them after the first game they played. Last Friday we had a 2 PM practice scheduled. With the rain I decided to have the practice in the gym. One runner showed up. I was p-o'd !!! I cancelled Saturday's practice because how could I know if anyone would show up on that day as well?

Today at our pre-practice meeting, I let them have it (those that showed up). A Norman Dale speech about commitment to the sport and the team. And a new team rule--miss two practices and you face a suspension for an indefinite amount of time. I hope I got thru to them. Then I told them to meet me at the park.

Of course you can't stay mad at a team too long, so when we met in the park, I was the usual fun-loving coach. They had a good 2.1 loop followed by Intra Squad Meet # 2. Team B won again 9-12.

Wednesday is the big day. Real Meet # 1. Tomorrow we'll have a light workout followed by an info-packed meeting about the race. The AD should have the uniforms sometime tomorrow. We should have 5 or 6 girls racing and 3 boys in their race.

Finally, a good practice

2008-09-24T19:39:00.000-04:00

With some students always on work program and now with several out with injuries or some kind of malady, the daily attendance is always a constant 6 or 7. And I'm learning to live with that. Today we finally had a good practice with seven runners with only one hiccup. One of the boys has been having pain in his legs and it finally got too bad today, so I shut him down indefinitely like I did the girl runner on Saturday.

Other than that, the remaining 6 ran the opening 2.1 loop quite well. Two of the runners got PBs (personal bests) for the distance. And then we had a mini intra squad meet. It would be their first exposure to how a meet works, so I mapped out a course of only about 1/2 mile so that I knew that they would be able to run the whole race without stopping and be able to attain some speed as well.

I tried to split the teams up so that they would be as equal as possible. I had three boys and three girls. I was off by a little because one of the girls who I expected to finish strong got stitches and finished 6th. As a result the race was as close as it could possibly be: Team B beat Team A by a score of 10-11.

Yesterday I thought I finally had the roster at a constant, but the one girl who quit is coming back and another girl who has been taking forever to get her "papers" in order has finally done so. So there are now 9 girls, with maybe another one to join later in the week--she talked to me today before practice. And there are two more boys joining--one of whom ran in today's practice/meet. He shows some raw talent and now I have what looks like three strong male runners. This program in the beginning gave the impression that it would be a girls team, but now it's starting to look more like a strong boys team.

One week to race number ONE.

Correction still

2008-09-23T21:25:00.000-04:00

I was right the first time. The first meet will be at Branch Brook Park in the Arts H.S. Invitational on Wednesday, October 1. Some of the other schools that I found out will be participating are Arts, Pingry, and Montclair Kimberly Academy. That leaves just five days of practice left before the meet.

Today was the first practice since Saturday's. I announced two PBs (Personal Bests) and then told the team about the meet next week. In a word, they were petrified. To a runner, the sport of Cross Country is totally new to them and to run in a meet for the very first time will be a traumatic experience for most of them especially since they are way behind all of the other schools in terms of training. My job is to get them ready physically as well as emotionally and psychologically.

After one of my sophomores went down with a sore leg (near the calf) on Saturday I decided to add a calf strengthening stretch to our daily warm ups. It was added with good intention but seemed to back fire. The seven runners who were there today took off for the 2.1 loop that we start each practice with. Four of the runners limped back long after they started, three with sore calves. I was planning to have our first intra-squad meet but with only three runners, it would have to be put off til tomorrow.

I then gave them a crash course on how the scoring in a X-C meet works and then we broke for the day.

In terms of the roster: we will be adding two more boys which will bring our total to five. They should have their medical papers completed soon and should join practice Friday or Saturday.

The girls were at seven on Saturday. One has since left the team and one that only showed up on the very first day of practice has rejoined the team. So we stay at seven, but the one who got hurt on Saturday is going to be out for abut two weeks, And another one has been to the doctor and has either an asthma or a heart problem. Which leaves us with five to run the race except one of the girls has her work program on Wednesday and will not be able to participate. So unless we come up with another girl, they will be running as individuals.

Correction

2008-09-22T21:45:00.000-04:00

I had the wrong date for the Arts Invitational. It should be Saturday, October 4. So we have a little more than a week and a half to prepare.

The Die Is Cast

2008-09-22T19:20:00.000-04:00

As we move into the second week of our late-starting season, it's time to reflect on the first week. The N City runners are still not in the best running shape and no one is able to complete the 2.1 north loop in the park without stopping. But they all do give it their best effort as they complete the task.

The roster is finally settling down to a constant number. I really don't want to take on any more new runners after ten days, so right now we are looking at 7 girls and 3 boys. One of the girls pulled up lame on Saturday, and she will be shut down until she is 100% healthy again.

Of the 3 boys, two show a lot of talent and it's a shame there aren't enough other boys to build a team around them. They'll probably enter any future races as individual runners.

Of the girls, 4 show some nice speed and the other three (including the injured one) are all determined to improve. Of the fast ones, there is one girl who is very talented and extremely dedicated to running. If I had a team of ten of her, this would be a team mentioned in the Ledger!!

The only concern at this time is the number of practices that the runners are missing. Most of the excuses seem to be legit: doctor's appointment, sweet 15 party practice, church, sick, too sore, etc. I'd prefer that they run if they were sore--that's the only way to improve--but I'm letting them heal. I don't want to play "bad coach" and drop any hard team rules regarding attendance on them for fear that that would turn them off towards being a member of the team. And this week will be a tough one--I mentioned in my first posting that these students work one day a week and miss school and practice. Well, once a month they work two days a week--the extra day being the Monday (today).

And now for the latest news. The AD wants us to participate in the Arts High School Invitational on Wednesday, October 1. That's only 9 days away. So in the practices available before that race, I will determine if the girls are ready to participate as a full team (need to run 3.1 miles). If not, I'll just select individual girls to run as well as individual boys.

So stay tuned.

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

2008-09-13T14:19:00.000-04:00

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.

The Final Nail

2008-09-03T16:56:00.000-04:00

Well, today was Freshmen Orientation. Around 10 in the morning they were all assembled in the cafeteria to hear several speakers. Besides the principal, guidance counselors, and some upperclassmen, the Athletic Director and myself were also going to talk briefly.
The AD went thru his shpiel about all the different sports we offer and the conference we belong to. Then it was my turn. I talked briefly about the benefits of X-C and tried to make it appealing and opportunistic for them. I basically used a recruiting speech that Joe Newton (high school X-C coach extraordinaire) uses. I saw a lot of blank faces and I knew I wasn't going to get the needed number of runners to keep this program alive.
But it only got worse when a phys ed teacher suddenly got up after me and told them about the new basketball intramural program he was starting for the fall. Great! Any kid who is not in a sport is now going to go play intra-mural hoops rather than go out for X-C.
So it's over. I don't expect any freshmen to come see me before Friday.
It's a hard reality but I'm realizing that X-C is not a sport geared towards the inner city kid. Our HS is like any other inner city school--boys basketball is king and every sport is either horrific or doesn't even exist.
So this summer has been a waste of planning, a waste of money, and a waste of hope and expectations.
So I need to forget about this dream and concentrate on softball in the spring (boy are those girls gonna run laps!!!!). >:-)

Life Support

2008-08-28T21:09:00.000-04:00

Another disappointing day for the E City X-C Team. Today, only one of the runners (A) showed up. He told me that S was in Canada and wouldn't be back til Tuesday. Nice of him to tell me. The two managers didn't show up either, but either way, I wasn't going to have a practice with one runner. So I told him that I was going to cancel practices until we got some more guys on the team. I then gave him a ride back to his house in the team van.

During the morning I also got a call from one of the runners who were in Cape May on Monday saying that he was also dropping out since practice was going to be held every day. And another runner's (who was a basketball player) father wouldn't let him join two sports because he felt he would suffer academically.

So the existence of this team will depend on two things. 1) hopefully some of the original 17 will show up once school starts. I would assume that they would be ready then after not running during the summer and also not wanting to have any kind of practices before school starts. 2) a real good sales pitch will need to be made to the Freshman class on Wednesday. That's the only way this program will grow--from the early grades.

So next week will determine if this blog will continue or slowly die like my other one. LOL

Day One

2008-08-25T14:55:00.000-04:00

The alarm went off and as I dragged myself out of bed, I realized that THE DAY had finally come. After five years of thinking about it and eight months of actually creating it, the first day of practice for the S M H S Cross Country Team had finally arrived.

As I drove to the school in the early morning I was expecting the worst. The previous May I had a tentative roster of 17 runners along with two female managers who also wanted to work out with the team. 19 members. Not bad for the first year of a team. And so in May I gave them a challenging and somewhat demanding summer program to follow and I would see them in late August.

Now starting a cross country team at an inner city school is not the easiest thing in the world. It's like going to a Bronx high school and starting a golf team. In both programs the students are weary of trying a new sport they are familiar with and also the environment that they live in does not provide a good training facility.

If an inner city student doesn't live near a park it proves difficult and perhaps a little dangerous to go running around their neighborhood by themselves. So I think the demanding summer program along with the lack of good training facilities, not to mention that some kids might not want to train that hard during the summer months, may have led to the surprise that awaited me at the school this morning.

During the past week I've been getting hints that the turnout today would be small. One student had not re-registered with the school and another had told me that he wouldn't be joining the team. Last night I got an e-mail from another student saying he too would be dropping out. Friday night, I got a call from the mother of a runner (and an aunt of another) saying that the two boys would be in Cape May today but would be at practice on Thursday. My two managers had told me that they would definitely be there. So 2 mangers and a possible 12 other runners awaited me at the school.

I arrived at the school and started getting the van ready. A big water jug and the first aid kit were placed in the van. My plan was to go to the park instead of the original plan for a first day run of 6 miles through Roselle. Since it was becoming apparent that no one had done the summer program, I decided to just take the team to the park and have a workout designed to see where everyone was shape wise.

And so I then waited for 9 o'clock to roll around. Finally around 8:50 two sophomores (one is a basketball player) came through the front door. I welcomed them, told them the locker rooms were open if they needed them, and we would meet in the downstairs caf for a pre-practice meeting. And then I waited some more. 9 o'clock came. 9:05. I told the girl in the office to send any late runners to the caf or to the park if we had already left. After the meeting downstairs, the three of us headed out to the van. The two female runners caught us just as we were pulling out of the lot. So the five of us headed over to the park.

We arrived at the park, did some stretching and exercises and then we began our first workout. I had a strong feeling that my runners were not in good running shape. I had already set a small course in the park that was approximately 6/10 mile. I ran with them for the first time and told them that if they got tired to walk and then try to start up again. Sure enough, one of the managers had to stop several times. The other three made it all the way back with me to the end. My bursitis was killing me at that point so I was glad that that was all the running I had planned for the day. We took a slow walk (to let them recover) back to the start and they did it again. This time three of the four had to stop for breaks during the run. The sophomore basketball player (we'll call him "S") made a wrong turn and I saw him slowly jogging to the other side of the park. The other sophomore (we'll call him "A") finally made it the finish line and I congratulated him for beating S. He was ecstatic at the news. Finally S figured out what he had done and he finally came back as well as the two girls.

Another slow walk back to the start and off they went for the third and final run. This time I timed them even though the distance was only a guess on my part. S finished at 4:59, and A finished at 7:26. We then went back to the van for a water break. Then we went over to the track.

I knew I couldn't push them too much on this first day especially since they didn't seem to be in the best running shape. I had decided to do times on the very first day so that they wouldn't view these practices as boring and with the times they would have some way to measure their improvement. A goal to which they could shoot for.

I had the group jog a 400, then walk a 400. Then they repeated that. Then I had them run a timed 400. Not hard, but not a slow jog. I asked them to just kick it up a little higher than a jog. Both S and A came in at the same time (I'm going to have to instill some competitiveness) at 1:33.93. Then back to the van and then to the school.

So the bottom line is that I have two runners and two more coming on Thursday. I just need one more to have the minimum 5. I realize that I may need to do some damage control over any missing runners who gave up and quit because of the demanding summer program. Hopefully if I can do that, then I may have 1 or 2 more on the team.

But somehow in the future I need to get the team to buy into the need for the summer program. At the park today there was a high school (not sure which one) that was training. And they were running laps around the park with little effort. I hope my two guys took notice. And maybe at the end of this season, when the members who will be retuning next year see how well the other teams do in the meets, they will realize the importance of the summer program. Because as long as our runners don't complete their summer running, success will never come to E City.

One other plan that I have for filling out the team is by talking at next week's Freshmen Orientation. I'll give them a sales pitch and hopefully get a few more potential runners.

So that's where we stand now. Tomorrow and Wednesday are "run on your own" days. Whether they will or not, I don't know. But those two days all the students have to come in for their books and uniforms and stuff, so I thought I would put practices off to Thursday.

So I hope whoever is reading this, you enjoyed it. I'll try to keep this up to date more than my other blog. So until next time, so long.