We are half way through June. Hopefully, if you are reading this, you are starting to get in the habit of 7am summer runs with your friends and teammates! And you may be wondering, where is coach and what is he up to? Well…
- Eugene! I was in Eugene for part of the NCAA D1 championships. What a great track meet…it is one of my favorites. Yes, some of the pro meets and the Olympic Trials can be faster, but the team aspect of the NCAAs is so cool. And Eugene feels small–when there is a big track meet in town it feels like everyone there is either competing in the track meet or talking about the track meet. I was staying in the same hotel as the University of Florida coaches–and Florida won both the men’s and women’s titles! That was a happy bunch of coaches at breakfast in the morning. (I was upset that the old stadium was torn down and replaced–it was a classic. But I have to admit…the new stadium is a masterpiece. Best place for track I can imagine. And still a short walk to Track Town Pizza or Prince Puckler’s Ice Cream…two classic venues for post-meet gatherings.) At the track…only the hard-core fans are there early for the dec- and hep-!
- The Oregon Coast! My happy place. My family has been here since 1920. Nothing like it!
- MVXC22 T-Shirt Design! I stopped in Portland to take the owner of the company that makes our t-shirts to lunch. We have a killer design for our t-shirts this year…I think you will like it a lot and we will look great rolling into our invites all season long. And speaking of our season…
- MVXC22 Season Planning! We are darn close to having a finalized schedule for our upcoming season. The Pacific Tiger Invitational is gone for good so that makes one choice easy. There is a lot of hype about a new 5km course being developed in CCS so I’m going to see if we can get in the first invitational at that site. Hopefully I get a couple responses and we can have a firm schedule. You can mark your calendar for the Watermelon Run on Thursday, August 25…that’s 10 weeks from now! Coach’s season planning scrolls…these scrolls have every race and every workout listed in the last 12 years of MV cross country:
- Thinking about you guys! I hope you are getting into the groove of 7am runs…I know it feels early, but the trick is to make it a habit and a routine not a choice. Try not to go to bed thinking, “I’ll see how I feel about running in the morning.” We know the answer to that–when the alarm goes off at 6:15am, the answer is “nah, I’ll sleep more and run later.” The trick is to make it a habit and not a choice–when the alarm goes off, automatically get up, get ready and head to the track. By the time you are there you will feel better. By the time you start running with your teammates and friends, you feel fine. And at 9am when you are done, you have the satisfaction of having a half dozen miles in the bank with the whole day in front of you, while most of the world is still in bed dreaming of having the passion and drive that you just demonstrated.
Check back in a couple days for a running plan for the next two weeks!
