Record* Runs for Gebrselassie, Goucher

Two astounding results today from the world of road racing:

34-year-old Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia set a world best for the marathon, running 2:04:26 in ideal conditions at the Berlin Marathon Sept. 30th. Geb's time hacks 29 seconds off the previous world best (2:04:55 by Paul Tergat) and adds to the legend of perhaps the greatest long-distance runner the world has ever seen.

In setting the record, Geb averaged 4:45 per mile. That's 105 x 400m in 71 with no rest. He ran the first half marathon in 1:02:29 and picking it up in the second half. His 35th kilometer was the fastest of the race at 2:50.

Another result, perhaps even more amazing as it came more unexpectedly, Kara Goucher beat marathon world record holder Paula Radcliff at the Great North half-marathon in Tyneside, UK. Goucher's time was 66:57, 37 seconds seconds faster than Deena Drossin's American Record (Goucher's run will not count for record considerations, since the Great North Run is slightly downhill). Goucher also recorded splits at 15K, 10M, and 20K that were faster than any American woman has ever run.

The Osaka 10K bronze medalist has now beaten Deena Drossin and Paula Radcliffe within the space of five weeks, and has, arguably, taken over the mantle of the U.S.' best female distance runner.

NNHS/BSC Alumni Results - 9/29/2007

In his first race of the 2007 XC season, Chris Barnicle was second man for Arkansas and 12th overall at the Cowboy Jamboree, in Stillwater, OK, running 24:36 for 8K. It was a frustrating day for Arkansas, however, as the hogs (73 points) were winning with 800m to go, but lost crucial places in the final strecth, falling to third behind Oklahoma State (69 points) and Abilene Christian (69 points).

Cowboy Jamboree Story and Results

At the SUNY - Geneseo Invitational in Geneseo, NY, Dan Chebot ran 26:47 to finish 23rd overall and 3rd for Rochester, which placed 3rd of 15 teams. Remarkably, the Yellowjackets had only 31 seconds separating their top six men, and only 5 seconds separating their 3rd and 6th finishers.

University of Rochester XC 3rd at Geneseo

Barton Runs 21:21 for 6K at Dellinger Invite

Wake Forest freshman Jess Barton found the climate of Oregon to her liking as she ripped off a 21:21 to finish 42nd, and third for the Deacons, at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Springfield, Oregon (birthplace of Simpsons creator Matt Groening).

At that pace, Barton passed the 5K mark in approximately 17:47 -- and maintained that pace for another kilometer! Her performance earned her a mention and photo on the Wake Forest Athletics web site:

Wake Forest Finishes Eighth at Bill Dellinger Invitational

All About the Fun

"All about the fun" - Mike Glennon

It was dusk already when I set out Wednesday evening to check out a nearby athletic field as a possible site for long intervals. It had been a long, hot day, with temperatures reaching ninety degrees, and our team had raced earlier in the afternoon. Everyone was pretty wiped out, including me, even though all I had done that day was jog from spot to spot on the course, monitoring things and yelling encouragement.

It probably didn't help my energy level that we had lost our first meet of the year, and that by a single point. Running in the twilight was helping me sort out what I had learned from the meet, and I was thinking about how the team might use the experience to improve.

I ran along at a moderate pace, keeping a watchful eye on the cars full of people returning home after their day's work. I ran past the Concord commuter rail station a few minutes after a westbound train stopped to disgorge commuters from the city. I turned down a quiet residential street with people out walking with kids and dogs. I turned down another dead-end road and found the open area I was seeking. In the gathering dark, a soccer team was doing final post-practice stretching on one of two fields. I set out on a path that circled the fields and encompassed a meadow, thinking about the distance, the footing, the suitability of path for a workout. The moon shone low in the eastern sky. A hum of insects provided background music for my thoughts.

And then, without being aware of any conscious desire to do so, I began to pick up the pace. At first, it was nothing much -- a slight adjustment to my stride barely noticeable, but as I moved through the thick air, some inner need stirred in me and I started running faster still. I didn't have any plan or purpose. I was not trying to do a workout or a tempo run. It just felt good to stretch my legs, and I wanted more of that feeling. I circled the field once, checked the distance and time, and set out on a second loop. At any moment, I was expecting to lose interest and resume my modest jogging pace, but as I ran, I became more and more keen on running faster.

It was... what is the word I want? ... fun.

I ran about a mile and a half that way, picking up the race with each lap. After 10 minutes of steady acceleration, I welcomed and enjoyed a pause. But after a couple minute of jogging, I felt like I wanted more, so I ran one more lap, this time running it really fast (or what passes for really fast at my age). In the darkness, barely able to see the ground, I felt like I was flying.

...

I find it difficult, at times, to remember, that not everyone experiences running the way I do. I find it hard to imagine that not everyone gets the same pleasure out of moving through space. But, I believe it when people tell me they don't enjoy running, and I observe it when runners settle for a slow, safe pace well within their capabilities.

But ultimately, the key to everything is that running fast is fun, or can be. And if it isn't, then the competitive side of running is probably not for you, because it's just too hard to train to run fast if you don't get any pleasure from it. Of course, being injured, being out of shape, being sick means that the fun is limited or inaccessible, but that's (we hope) just a temporary state of affairs, soon set right with a little patience and persistence.

On our team, we do "fun" things -- group outings, team dinners, t-shirt design, pool parties, etc. But speaking only for myself, I hope our collective definition of fun never completely excludes running alone around an obscure field in the twilight, going faster and faster as the moon rises into the autumn sky.

BSC Roundup: Newton Boys Split, Girls Sweep

Tuesday's tri-meet between Newton, Needham, and Walpole @ Sharon was a dandy, with the Needham boys and Newton girls emerging as the big winners.

Needham's Sam Miller won the boys race, and Needham took five of the top seven spots to crush North and Walpole, and run their record to 4-1. Seb Putzys and Dan Hamilton finished 2nd and 3rd for North, but the absence of Ben Chebot (stress fracture?), Jarad Forman, and Charlie Krasnow in the results hurt the Tigers, who did manage a narrow 26-29 win over Walpole.

Final team scores were:

Needham 23 Newton 33
Needham 15 Walpole 42
Newton 26 Walpole 29

In the girls race, Newton junior Carolyn Ranti remained unbeaten, winning the 2.93-mile race in 18:32. Needham's Emily Lipman finished 2nd, followed by North's Franca Godenzi (19:38) and Adina Hemley-Bronstein (19:58). Nora Barnicle (8th, 20:42) and Becca Park (11th, 21:11) completed the scoring for North, which improved its record to 4-1.

Walpole eked out a 1-point victory over Needham, as Diana Wiseman and Liv Perry finished 5th and 6th overall, and Walpole put four runners in front of Needham's third.

Final team scores were:

Newton 20 Walpole 37
Newton 21 Needham 34
Walpole 28 Needham 29

In other Bay State action, Weymouth scored a 27-28 win over Brookline at Larz Anderson. Natick's Becca White set another course record at Braintree, running 19:01 for the 3M course, but Natick fell to Wellesley 36-25.

Needham v NN v Walpole Today

The most interesting Bay State matchup today takes place in non-BSC territory Sharon, as Walpole hosts Needham and Newton North. The Needham girls are on a roll, having beaten Weymouth and Brookline in their last two meets. The Needham boys sloshed their way to victory over Weymouth and then lost narrowly (30-27) to Brookline at Larz Anderson park.

The Newton boys are 3-0, with a convincing win over Wellesley in the first meet of the year, followed two days later by a sweep of Braintree and Norwood. The Newton North girls lost to a very deep and talented Wellesley team in the opening meet, and then swept Braintree and Norwood.

Walpole has good boys and girls teams, but probably not good enough to be competitive in this meet.

In the boys race, Needham's Sam Miller takes on Seb Putzys. This is a terrific match-up, pitting the true harrier (Miller) against the track guy (Putzys). I happen to think that Seb will win, as he has made huge improvements over last year and knows how to win close races, but it will be a battle. After the top two, Newton has Dan Hamilton and Ben Chebot, and Needham counters with Kevin Potterton, Brett Riley, and Liam Gluck. I'll pick Hamilton for third, but after that, almost anything could happen. For fun, here's a prediction for the top eight finishers (excluding Walpole's Chris Lotsbom, who will be in there somewhere):

1. Putzyz (NN)
2. Miller (N)
3. Hamilton (NN)
4. Riley (N)
5. Potterton (N)
6. Gluck (N)
7. Chebot (NN)
8. Krasnow (NN)

That would be 17-18 Needham, with the fifth runner still to finish. might it be one of North's fab freshmen? It should be an exciting race.

On the girls side, both Newton and Needham have exceptional top runners in Carolyn Ranti and Emily Lipman, respectively. After that, Needham appears to have a strong 2-5, as shown by their win over Weymouth. Newton has a strong 2-4, but their fifth is a question mark at this point. The race might come down to whether North's 2-4 can outrun their Needham counterparts and build enough of a lead. Again, it should be a very close, very exciting race.

Other Bay State matchups to watch:

Brookline hosts Weymouth and Dedham today. Although the Brookline boys are not expecting to be tested by the Wildcats, the girls meet will be a real battle. Brookline has numbers this year, and although Weymouth's Kristin Mahoney is likely to win the race, Brookline hopes to score with depth.

Norwood hosts Framingham and Milton. I expect the Framingham girls to sweep, although the meet with Norwood will be close. I think the Norwood boys will take both meets.

finally, Braintree hosts Natick and Wellesley. Wellesley boys and girls should dominate both meets, although Braintree's Kyle Higgins is a good bet to win the boys race.

Race Report: Apple Harvest 10-Miler

I ran the "Apple Harvest Ramble" yesterday, a 10M race up and down the hills of Harvard, Mass. If you've ever wondered why the Bromfield girls are so good, all you have to do is run a little bit in their backyard to understand. The countryside is absolutely breathtaking, and the terrain is absolutely staggering.

As for my race, I didn't know what to expect. I have been struggling through the worst stretch of racing in my life, including meltdowns at the Newburyport 10M race at the end of July, and a worse-than-bad performance at the New England 5M championship two weeks ago. That race, run in 90 degree heat, was humbling, and had led me to wonder whether I could hold ANY pace for ten miles.

So on Sunday my goal was pretty simple: I wanted to run the whole way with no walking.

I started out in the middle of the pack, and ambled forward slowly at the gun. I jogged down a long gradual hill in the first mile with no aspirations, and was surprised to hit the first mile in 6:25. A few weeks ago, I would have considered that to be a decent training pace, but I wanted nothing faster. I settled in to comfortable rhythm, and tried to enjoy the scenery.

It is an obvious point, but one that bears repeating, that it is a lot more fun to pass people than to be passed. After a couple of miles, I found that I was passing people without effort. This made me feel better about myself, and as I felt better, I ran better. Gradually, I started picking up the pace. only a little at first, because I still didn't trust my fitness or pace judgment. At my modest pace, I found that going up the hills wasn't much of a problem, and I actually started looking forward to them. I passed 5 miles in 31:41, and I felt fine. I was enjoying myself.

It feels a little but shameful to admit that I wasn't "racing" in the sense of running all out for the best possible time right from the gun. But I throw myself on the mercy of the court: in my previous race, I had struggled -- and failed -- to run 6:15 pace for five miles. Maybe it had been the heat that day, but I was taking no chances. I needed in the worst way to feel good. And feeling good wasn't about taking it easy. I was trying to get a little confidence back. Running and racing can be a roller coaster, and a bad race can plunge you into doubt about your fitness, about your toughness, and even about whether you should be running at all. I had been wallowing with all three of those demons, and I was ready - really ready -- to feel good in a race again.

In the final miles of the race, I felt better and better, and as a consequence, I ran faster. With two miles to go, I saw a familiar form in the distance -- a rival who had run aggressively from the start and was paying the price. I decided I wanted to beat him, and a mile later I found myself passing him with no resistance.

The race finished with a long, steep uphill, followed by 200 meters downhill to the finish. I ran the last mile, including this challenging hill, in about 6:15. Final time: 62:45. That's pretty slow compared to last year, but pretty fast compared to two weeks ago. I felt more relief than pride. Relief that I had been able to run with positive thoughts in my head in the final stages of the race.

NNHS/BSC Alumni Results - 9/22/2007

Doug Brecher finished 8th overall and second for Bates at the Tufts Invitational, held on the 8K "Farm Course" at Grafton. Mass. on Saturday. The meet was a three-way competition among Tufts, Bowdoin, and Bates. Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot, a freshman at Tufts, finished 23rd (7th on his team) in 28:48.

Wesleyan junior Anna Schindler ran 21:36 to finish 8th in the 5K women's race at the Wesleyan Invitational, Saturday. In the 8K men's race, Scott Cole finished 17th in 33:42.

At the Iona Meet of Champions, hosted by Iona College and held at Van Cortland Park, UMass Lowell sophomore Matias Carrasco ran 27:43 to place 101st overall and 5th for his team.

World Athletics Final This Weekend

This weekend marks the end of summer in the Northern hemisphere, and the end of the summer track season for most of the world. Stuttgart hosts the final meet of the season, the two day "World Athletics Final," and it's taking place right now!

Stories and Live Results from World Athletics Final

While not nearly as important as last month's World Championships, the meet is not without interest as many of the world's best go after records or seek redemption after sub-par performances in Osaka.

Double gold medal winner Bernard Lagat will not be competing, but Alan Webb will be there in the 1500, and with only one race to run, perhaps he will rcapture his early season brilliance. Although Tyson Gay will not be there in the 100 and 200, world-record holder Asafa Powell will be in the 200, and Wallace Spearmon headlines the 200. LaShawn Merritt is the top seed in the 400, with Jeremey Wariner opting out.

Among the women, Allyson Felix will be competing - in the 100, not the 200 -- where she will be rcaing against Osaka silver-medalist Lauryn Williams. After sharing in a million-dollar prize for winning all her Golden League meets in the 400, Sanya Richards will be the favorite in that event in Stuttgart.

So for one more weekend, we can revel in summer speed, before fall arrives and it will be all about cross-country again.

Is Running Complicated?

Is running complicated?

In spite of the fact that I seem to be writing or talking about it all the time, it strikes me that running is pretty much the simplest thing you can do and still call it a sport. Other individual sports aren't even close on the simplicity meter. Weightlifting has all these techniques and rules, and walking is so complicated that you need three separate judges to tell whether you've done it right or not.

But running? Very simple! Everyone knows how to run.

But now I hear my readers grumbling that running FORM is a rather sophisticated matter, and that young runners must be taught to run correctly, and so on. I admit that when taken apart and dissected, running form is complex. I will also admit that in the sprints and hurdles, a focus on running mechanics is absolutely essential. But we are talking about taking a skill that has been acquired naturally and fine-tuning it, not teaching it from scratch. I stick by my basic assertion. We all know the basics from the time we are six.

But training, ah TRAINING must be very complicated. I know it must be complicated because I have a bookshelf that groans beneath the weight of all the training books I own. Some of these volumes present me with a veritable graduate level course in biochemistry. Others contain pages and pages of suggested training schedules. Still others recount the training logs of outstanding runners (oddly, all of the outstanding runners seemed to run a lot -- and pretty fast). The more I read, the more complicated it seems.

But wait, here is Kenny Moore recounting Bill Bowerman's famous speech to his incoming freshmen runners at Oregon: according to Bowerman, training is simple. Take a primitive organism (say, a freshman). Make it work. Make it rest. A miracle occurs. It improves! It's so simple, and yet people always screw it up! They work too hard, rest too little. Fall in love, play guitar all night, get mono, and they don't improve.

Run. Rest. Eat well, sleep well, stay healthy, and run. Improvement is almost guaranteed. Perhaps training is not complicated either.

But then, it must be that the real complexity of running is... us! I am complicated and you are complicated. When we run, we project upon our exertions all our passions, fears, hopes, and insecurities. In training, we exhibit irrational exuberance; in racing, we exhibit hesitancy and lack of confidence; in recovery, we exhibit self-destructive behaviors.

We know how to run, but we don't know why we run. We run fast, but we want to run faster -- always faster! ("I already know how to run slow; I want to learn how to run fast!" - Zatopek). Running is no longer an activity of the body solely, but of the mind. We become obsessed with it. Then disenchanted. We think it will cure us of every disease. We think it will solve all our problems, forestall the aging process, perhaps keep death itself at bay, if only we can keep running.

And so, we bring to this simplest of activities, our most complicated and profound beliefs about ourselves and the world around us.

So is running complicated? Is racing? Paradoxically, the role of the coach might be to remind runners that these things are natural and intuitive, and needn't be a burden on the mind.

I think of the famous racing advice given by Jumbo Elliot, the legendary Villanova coach, who instructed his athletes "Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run."

White Opens Season with CR at Elm Bank

Right now, the top girls runner in the BSC is Natick junior Rebecca White. White, along with senior Anya Price gives Natick the best 1-2 combination of any team, and with the rest of the team improved from last year, Natick hopes to challenge Wellesley for top team in the league.

On Tuesday, White set a course record at Natick's 2.5M course at Elm Bank, running 14:35, a 17-second improvement over her best time from last year. Price was also under the old course record, taking second in 14:48.

That 14:35 -- in the first meet of the season -- is twenty seconds faster than two-time BSC champion Ashley Davidson ever ran. It is flying.

And if previous years are an indication, White will only get better. Although she seems to race hard every time she steps to the starting line, she ran very well at the end of her sophomore season, winning the EMass Div II race at Franklin park, and then finishing 5th in the Div I state meet at Northfield.

In 2006, White set a course record in her first meet at Brookline. It is not unthinkable that by the time she graduates, white will own most of the course records in the league.

A Good Day for the Ranti Family

(Photo H. Finch)

After three and a half weeks of anticipation the Newton North XC teams were finally competing against a real foe yesterday, and not just the stopwatch.

On a beautiful day for running fast at Cold Spring Park, the boys dispatched Wellesley, taking the top three spots, and seven of the top 11 places. The Tigers were led by Seb Putzys, who ran 16:26 for the win, Dan Hamilton (16:53), and Ben Chebot (17:10). Charlie Krasnow ran 17:42 to place sixth, while freshman Dan Ranti ran the fastest debut time since Chris Barnicle's 17:42 in 2001, placing 8th in 18:18. Rounding out the top seven, Jarad Forman (18:36) and Jake Gleason (18:37) finished 10th and 11th, respectively. The final score was Newton 20 - Wellesley 39.

[Historical note: Seb is now the fourth fastest runner at Cold Springs in the last seven seasons (2001-2007). The only ones faster are Chris Barnicle, David Polgar, and Brookline's Mattias Carrasco.]

The Newton North girls faced an extraordinarily deep Wellesley team and fell 21-39. It wasn't that the Tigers didn't run well; every one of Newton's top five ran faster than their best time last year at Cold Spring. The problem was that Wellesley was really, really fast and deep. Leading the Tigers and winning the race was Carolyn Ranti, whose 19:03 demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is officially an elite runner now. I would use the term "Bartonesque," but Carolyn is such a different runner that the word seems unwarranted. After Ranti, Wellesley placed 2-3-4-5, their pack interrupted momentarily by Franca Godenzi, who ran an excellent time of 20:32. Two more Wellesley girls finished before Nora Barnicle, who took 9th. Adina Hemley-Bronstein finished 11th.

Newton runs next on Thursday, taking on Braintree (24-31 losers to Framingham Tuesday ) and Norwood (who fell to Weymouth).

Brookline @ Amherst - Just the Facts

On Saturday, the Brookline H.S. boys cross-country team won the Amherst Invitational. Although it's an early-season meet, and doesn't tell us the future, I think Brookline's performance warrants a rational and clear-headed assessment. Let's not indulge in unsupported opinion or hyperbole, but stick to the facts.

In the previous five years (2002-2006), only three runners broke 16:00:

- In 2005, Mark Amirault (2005 state champion) ran 15:58
- In 2002, Dan Sullivan ran 15:53 and Ian Marcus ran 15:58.
(Marcus finished second to Victor Gras in the 2002 State meet, while Sullivan, who had beaten Mike Banks to win the Central Mass meet that year, had a bad race at States and placed only 9th)

Three guys in five years, who finished 1st, 2nd, and 9th, in their respective state meets.

On Saturday, Brookline's Robert Gibson ran 15:41 -- 17 seconds faster than Amirault. Mike Burnstein and David Wilson ran 15:54 and 15:55 -- faster than every other runner in the last five years except Sullivan.

Brookline was missing two of its top four returning runners from last year -- Elliot Lehane and Chris Mercurio, but replaced them with two underclassmen on Saturday.

Fourth for Brookline was junior Ryan Hardiman, who ran 16:31. In 2006, the runner closest to that time was Paul Norton, who finished 9th at States that year. In 2005, the runner closest to that time was Ian Schofield, who finished 33rd in the New England Championships.

Fifth for Brookline was sophomore Brendan Grove, who ran 17:00. The sophomore runner closest to that time in recent years was Chelmsford's Chris Brown who ran 17:01 in 2005. Brown went on to finish 47th in the State meet that year.

So -- and we're still sticking to the facts here -- Brookline now has 7 runners who have run 17:00 or better for 5K, three who have run 16:00 or better, and three of the top four times at Amherst over the past six years.

Brookline runs their first home meet today against Needham at Larz Anderson Park. I'd like to offer Needham some words of advice, but nothing comes to mind.

Newton v Wellesley on Tuesday

For Newton North, and several other teams in the BSC, the opening meet was postponed by rain. The Tigers are now scheduled to open their season with a dual meet against Wellesley at Cold Spring park in Tuesday.

Wellesley has already competed in one meet, sweeping Walpole and Dedham on 9/12. Reports from that race indicate that the the boys have a strong team and the girls have a formidable line-up of returning all-stars and fleet freshmen.

It will definitely be a test for both teams. I expect a rollicking race for the top spots among Newton's Seb Putzys and Dan Hamilton, and Wellesley's Nick Carroll and Will Volkmann. I don't see Seb losing, and I have confidence in North's overall depth. Add a slight home course advantage, and I give the edge to the Tigers.

For the girls, I don't think anyone quite knows what to think. I picked Wellesley to be the top team in the league, and that was before we found out that they have two more strong freshmen among their top five. Wellesley has to be the favorite, but North has good runners, too, but a little bit more rusty for not having raced. While I think that Cold Spring Park is a considerable home course advantage for the girls, it might not be enough to out to outweigh the speed of the Raiders. I expect to see some surprises on the Newton side, though, with the emergence of some new talent, and perhaps a re-ordering of the Tiger's top pack.

Other good races in the BSC: The Needham and Brookline girls are racing on Tuesday at Larz Anderson Park. I give the edge to Needham in a close meet. the Needham boys are very good, but have little chance against Brookline's juggernaut.

Norwood competes against Weymouth at Norwood, which should give an indication of whether the Mustangs have continued the progress from last year.

Good luck to all the teams and runners!

Weekend Results - 9/15/2007

A lot of meets in Massachusetts and across the country, and lots of former Newton North and Bay State runners in action.

Brookline H.S. and Newton South squared off in the Amherst XC Invitational on Saturday. The Brookline boys - running without Eliot Lehane and Chris Mercurio - were still very impressive. Robert Gibson, Mike Brunstein, and David Wilson took the top three spots, all running under 16 minutes. Ryan Hardiman (16:34, 9th) and Brendan Grove (17:00, 27th) rounded out the scoring for the warriors. Newton South boys were not too shabby either, as they finished 3rd overall (2nd Mass. team) with seven runners under 17:19. Andrew Worthum led the charge, running 16:17.

In the girls varsity race, Newton South dominated, placing 1-3-5-6-18-19-35, easily dispatching last year's Div I State Champions, Dennis-Yarmouth. The Lions were led by junior Kelsey Karys, who ran a PR 18:47 for the win.

Speaking of Newton South, Lion alums and NSRP friends Sam Donovan (now at Brandeis) and James Vance (now at Johnson and Wales) competed in the UMass Dartmouth Invitational on Saturday. Sam ran a very impressive 26:43 for 8K, while James ran 28:14. In the same race, former Dedham standout and another NSRP runner Rex Radloff tempo-ed a 27:59.

At the Pingree Invitational in South Hamilton on Saturday, the fightin' Chameleons of Concord Academy placed 4th in the girls race, and 8th in the boys race in their debut race of the 2007 season.

On Friday, Jess Barton (Wake Forest, '11) ran 18:47 at Franklin Park to place 42nd at the Boston College Invitational. And wow, Brielle Chabot, ex of Wellesley and now a sophomore at BC ran 17:43 to place 9th.

NSRP stalwart Greg Williams (Gettysburg) ran 28:17 for 8K at a double dual meet against Juniata and Messiah. Greg was 7th man for his team.

Dan Chebot (Rochester) placed 38th (out of 254) at the NYU Invitational held at Van Cortland Park in the Bronx on Saturday. Chebot ran 26:34 on the VCP 8K course.

At the same venue (but in a different race?), Noah Jampol made his return to XC racing after a hip injury sidelined him in the pre-season. Noah ran a very solid 28:10 for 8K, placing 51st overall in a field of 238, which was sixth man for the Blue Jays.

Bekele Aims for 10,000 WR in Brussels

Keninisa Bekele, the world and Olympic champion at 10,000 meters, takes aim at his own world record in the 10K Friday night in Brussels. Bekele, 25, ran 26:17.53 two years ago in the Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels, and feels he is in better shape now. His coach Jos Hermens, confirms that Bekele is fit:

“Kenenisa put in so much work to catch-up after his rest following Mombasa that in my opinion he came to Osaka over-trained, and we could see how tired he was in the latter part of the race there in Japan.”

“I am expecting that after fully recovering from the tiredness and the high of Osaka that there are still more highlights to come from his season. This is an athlete coming into his peak form relatively late in the year, and I hope we will see the result of his great preparation on Friday,”

One problem might be finding anyone who can rabbit the race, since there are a very few number of human beings on the planet who can run 5K in 13:10, and many of them, including Bekele's younger brother Tariku, will be in the 5000m race in the same meet.

Here is the link to the IAAF article

Mr. Crowley

On Saturday, Amherst Regional H.S. hosts the Amherst XC Invitational. At the meet, the "Crowley Cup" will be given to the school with the best combined finish for their girls and boys teams. The award recognizes the 30-plus-year career of Coach Randy Crowley, who guided the Hurricane track and cross-country teams to many Pioneer Valley league championships.

Randy Crowley was my track and XC coach at ARHS. He was also my gym teacher in the 7th and 8th grades. I never called him "Coach Crowley," it was always "Mr. Crowley." I remember very clearly our first meeting. It was the first day of winter gym class, and Mr. Crowley was my new gym teacher. He had us playing basketball. In those days, I was a big fan of "Pistol" Pete Maravich, and had the floppy hair and sagging socks to prove it. Handling the ball on my way down the court, I threw a behind-the-back pass. It was a good pass and it reached its target, but Mr. Crowley was not impressed. He took me out of the game and left me on the side of the court for the next ten minutes. "There is NOBODY in this class named Bob Cousy," he informed me.

Nothing significant changed in our relationship until the spring, when I went out for track and showed promise as a distance runner. None of the other young kids wanted to run the mile, but I loved it, and I even scored in meets against 9th graders. For Mr. Crowley and I, it was the beginning of a strange, but oddly close relationship. I say strange, because in six years. we never settled the question that had been raised by that first behind-the-back pass -- whether Mr. Crowley was going to find a way to reign in my relentless assault on authority and convention.

Mr. Crowley was not, and never had been, a runner. He had been a gymnast at Springfield College, and had become a gym teacher. He had a gruff demeanor, but he liked the challenge of molding a team, and I think he found track and field athletes to be generally hard-working and dedicated. He was also -- and I now appreciate how rare this was, especially in the 1970's -- a student of the sport of distance running. Never having competed in a 5K race himself, he studied distance running, and evolved a training philosophy that was remarkably healthy and sound. Mostly, we ran distance runs around the hilly environs of Amherst, building up to 10-11 mile runs as we progressed. We did strides after many runs. About once a week we would do long intervals on the grass fields of the school or over at UMass. We did tempo runs. We did hill workouts, even running up hills backwards sometimes. We stayed away from excessive short intervals on the track, although I do remember running 10x400 every once in a while. Mr. Crowley's training provided us with variety and interest. And we became pretty good runners, too.

I regret that I was always a thorn in his side. I was the one who thought up the infamous 24-hour relay as a fund-raising event for the track team (the captain of the team, a sprinter, had wanted to sell over-sized, over-priced candy bars -- typical!). I was the one who convinced him to let us paint our own lockers. And I was the one who became a vegetarian on his watch, and then convinced two other guys on the XC team to join me, leading him to spend several weeks researching non-meat sources of iron and protein. I was a lot of trouble, but I was also fiercely committed to our team, and I hope that my passion made up for all the aggravation.

I still remember some of the things Mr. Crowley said: little gems that my teammates and I would repeat endlessly in a variety of tones and cadences, depending on the occasion. Advising us on how to run a particularly steep part of the Turner's Falls course: "Don't be afraid to use your hands..." Or when warming up at Northampton, "Be cognizant of the contours of the course." Although not an especially learned man, Mr. Crowley was a bit of a poet, after all.

A couple of years after he retired, I visited Mr. Crowley at his home in South Amherst. He had kept a bunch of old trophies that our teams had won and that had been moved out of the high school during some re-modeling. He sent me away with a couple of them, and we reminisced about the characters on those teams that had achieved a modest sort of glory so long ago.

I really owe a lot to Mr. Crowley. In his way, he was extraordinarily generous to me -- generous with his time, and more important, generous in his ability to accept me more or less the way he found me. Six years he had to put up with me, and now I wish I hadn't been such a pain in the ass.

Mr. Crowley was my coach -- my only coach, as it turned out. I'm glad there is an award named after him because he set a high standard for himself, and a high standard for us. I was very fortunate to have been under his guidance.

Around the Puddles, or Through Them?

One school of thought holds that running around the puddles is more efficient, since the edge of the puddles, while wet, do not generally inundate the shoe, avoiding the phenomenon of water "loading" and subsequent emptying. When the athlete steps directly in the deepest part of the muddy water, a quantity of liquid is lifted along with the shoe, stressing the lower limbs in that peculiar way. Many a runner comes down lame after frolicking through the deep bogs of a sodden xc course.

Another school of thought holds that the risk of puddle running is exaggerated, and anyway, the edge of the puddle isn't exactly risk-free. In fact, stepping to the left or the right to avoid the deep water places the foot at an odd angle, and no longer directly beneath the body's center of gravity. It would seem, then, that avoiding the puddle puts the runner at risk of a slip.

Often overlooked in this debate is the effect that splashing through the bog has on any runners foolish enough to be following closely. I would almost say this is the overriding concern, and that if you happen to have a small lead, you really ought to plow into the very deepest part of the water just to make the guy behind you think twice.

Now, there is really a proper technique for running through puddles, and it isn't to stomp on the water, satisfying as that might be. Stomping uses a lot of energy, and if the course has a lot of puddles, stomping them all is like trying to run through snow drifts. No, the proper technique is to run with a slightly shorter stride, focusing on keeping the lead foot landing directly below your center of gravity, not in front of it. The proper motion might be described as "prancing." The challenge of this kind of running is bringing the recovery leg through quickly, which requires very precise stepping and a somewhat higher knee lift.

But back to the fundamental question of what to do about the puddles, I must admit that I favor running through them. I always feel that the fewer decisions one has to make in a race, the better, and running around puddles feels like a decision that has to be made for every single puddle. Way too complicated!

Of course, you might want to make sure that you've double-knotted your shoes so tight that not even yesterday's puddles could suck them off your feet.

Six Years Ago

Six years ago the sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue, and I couldn't wait for the morning hours to pass by. It was the day of the first meet of the 2001 cross-country season, and it was my first meet as an assistant coach for Newton North. My daughter was a senior on the girls team. My son was a freshman, and was thrilled to finally be attending high school. I couldn't have been more excited.

At work, I was sitting in a conference room on the ground floor of our building, which I shared with two of my co-workers as temporary office space. A little bit after 9:30, one of my office mates, Don McAllister, came in and told me that he had just heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

There was no immediate shock or sense of fear. I assumed it had been an accident, although a bizarre one. A half hour later, I and everyone else at work had a very different understanding.

All athletic events were canceled that day. The team met after school anyway, wanting to be together as a team. I expected we would talk about what had happened, but no one knew how to talk about it. The sky remained cloudless, but now the vacant sky had an almost menacing quality. And it was quiet -- quiet in a way that it never had been before.

Pat Pierce was a sophomore on that team. He lost a close relative in the attack on the World Trade Center. In the next several days, we became aware of others close to us who had lost loved ones in the collapse of the towers. They included Newton North's principal, Jennifer Huntington.

Today, September 11, 2007 is the first meet of the fall for Newton North. The forecast is for rain, but the weather is unlikely to dampen the excitement for the start of a new season. I share in that excitement, and I wish all the runners the joy of competition. The future is uncertain -- it always is, even when we think we have it figured out -- but we have the present moment in which to do something worthy of memory.

Run fast. Be strong. Care for each other.

2007 Bay State League Preview - Girls

In 2006, Newton North returned to the top spot in the Bay State league, and Jess Barton returned to the top spot at the Div I state championships in Northfield. Newton North was undefeated in dual meets and dominated at the league meet, but faltered in the EMass meet, finishing sixth behind Weymouth (among others). Weymouth went on to place seventh at the State meet in Div I, while Wellesley placed 7th in Div II. Natick junior Becca White had a strong individual race at the state meet finishing fifth overall in Div I.

Here were my predictions going into 2006, and how things actually turned out:

Pre-season Rank    Record      League meet

1. Newton          11-0        1
2. Weymouth        10-1        4
3. Wellesley       9-2         2
4. Natick          8-3         3
5. Milton          4-7         11
6. Brookline       7-4         5
7. Needham         6-5         6
8. Walpole         5-6         7
9. Framingham      3-8         10
10. Braintree      1-10        9
11. Norwood        2-9         8
12. Dedham         0-12        12

(I might have some of the team records incorrect. Please point out any errors and I will fix them.)

The two biggest surprises to me in 2006 were 1) the improvement over the course of the season by Norwood, and 2) the strength of the Brookline girls, who were undefeated through the first half of the season.

What does 2007 in have in store? Here's how I think the teams will do:

1. Wellesley - The Raiders return their top five, have a great mix of senior leadership and young talent, and are deep, deep, deep. They also have the best sports correspondent in the Bay State in Ali Griswold (what can I say... I'm a fan)

2. Newton North - I think the Tigers have the best chance to beat Wellesley, as they return 4 of the top 16 runners from the league meet (all juniors), including Carolyn Ranti, who had a break out season in outdoor track. They have other runners capable of joining the top four, but depth after the number five spot might be a problem.

3. Natick - It is very possible that Natick will take 1-2 at every meet this year, as they return the best 1-2 tandem in the league in Becca White and Anya Price (the top two finishers at last year's EMass Div II meet). Last year there was a pretty big gap after their top two, but if one or two more runners can close that gap, Natick will be a formidable team, and could certainly challenge Wellesley and Newton.

4. Weymouth - Led by rock-solid Kristin Mahoney, the Wildcats are still strong. Although they lost Nicole Pearce and Sam Sachetti to graduation, Mahoney and Carolyn Connolly give them strength up front, and Sarah McCarthy came on strong late last year.

5. Brookline - I feel a little uneasy ranking Brookline so low. They were good last year with freshman Emily Groopman making an immediate impact and Ilona Kats improving significantly. Although Sabrina Parise graduated, the Warriors could be even better this year. Weymouth vs. Brookline will be a good meet.

6. Needham - Emily Lipman (5th at the league meet, 16th at EMass Div II, and 33rd at the State meet) leads the Rockets. I don't think they quite have the depth to overttake Weymouth and Brookline, however.

7. Walpole - Sophomore Olivia Perry had a strong season last year, which culminated in a 22nd place finish at the Div II state championships. Perry is a league all-star for sure, and leads a Walpole program on the rise.

8. Norwood - The most improved team in the league last year. In (coach) Jim (Forrest) we trust.

9. Braintree - Liz Bellofatto leads the wamps.

10. Framingham - The Flyers will be very close to Braintree.

11. Milton - Probably don't have the numbers to move up from their place at last year's league meet, but freshmen can change everything.

12. Dedham - It's difficult to compete against much larger schools. Again, one or two good young runners can completely change the picture, especially with girls teams.

Ok, there we go. The first meets are less than 48 hours away. Excitement is at a fever pitch!

NNHS Alumni Results - Sept 8-9, 2007

The college XC season has begun, with many teams competing in low-key meets or relay events over the past two weekends -- a prelude to the more grueling season ahead. In addition, the New England Road Race championship series resumed on Saturday with the NE 5M championship. Here are a few results from NNHS alumni at these events.

Dan Chebot finished seventh for Rochester in a quad meet Saturday, running 27:22 for 8K. The Yellowjackets had an impressively narrow gap of 1:05 from first to seventh, boding well for the team's chances this season.

There were at least two NNHS alumni competing in the Ollie 5M road race (USATF NE Championship) held in South Boston Saturday, John Blouin and Josh Seeherman both competed, but tmes have not been posted.

On Saturday, Sept 1, Bates College sophomore Doug Brecher placed fourth overall (second on his team) in the annual Bates Varsity vs. Alumni Run. Brecher ran 29 seconds faster than last year over the 4M course (low 21s?).

On August 31, Wake Forest freshman Jess Barton ran in her first collegiate competition, helping the Deamon Deacon women win the Wake Forest Relays, running 18:15 for the ninth best individual time in the 2 x 2.5K event.

2007 Bay State League Preview - Boys

It's that time again! Time for readers to bring their baskets of rotten tomatoes ready to hurl at my analysis and predictions for the 2007 Bay State XC season. But before we look at 2007, let's see how the crystal ball was working back in 2006. How did I do in predicting the league results?

Here's how I ranked the teams, and how they actually performed (I might have made some mistakes with final records -- please correct, if necessary):

Pre-season Rank     2006 Record   Place at league meet
1.   Brookline      11-0          1
2.   Needham        9-2           2
3.   Weymouth       9-2           5
4.   Newton North   7-4           3
5.   Wellesley      9-2           4
6.   Framingham     2-9           9
7.   Natick         5-6           8
8.   Norwood        4-7           7
9.   Walpole        6-5           6
10.  Braintree      2-9          10
11.  Milton         2-9          11
12.  Dedham         0-11         12

I certainly underestimated Wellesley, Walpole, and Norwood, and overestimated Framingham. Still, I wasn't too far off, especially looking at the league meet results.

So with that out of the way, on to 2007.

Team-by-team Capsules

1. Brookline - This year it's still all about Brookline, and things are only interesting after giving the Warriors first place. To rehearse what everyone already knows, Brookline returns four of five from the team that won the Bay State Invitational last year and battled Brockton and St. John's for the Div I State Championship. They have also added David Wilson, a first-rate harrier who trained like a demon this summer. Gibson and Wilson project to be among the very best in the state, while Burnstein, Lehane, and Mercurio (if healthy) are all low-to-mid-16 guys. No team in the BSC will challenge them.

2. Newton North - Seb Putzys really came into his own during indoor and outdoor track and is capable of beating Miller. Dan Hamilton is in very good shape and will be a sub 17:00 runner this year. The team also has great depth, with seniors Ben Chebot and Charlie Krasnow, sophomores Jake Gleason and Michael Weinfeld, and freshman Ezra Lichtmann. Watch out for the Tigers, especially after they get a few meets under their belts.

3. Needham - The Rockets have a strong quartet in Sam Miller, Brett Riley, Kevin Potterton, and Liam Gluck. The dyestat pundits give Needham the nod as the clear second-place team behind Brookline, but I expect Newton North to be a lot better than people expect. Needham has struggled with injuries in the last couple of years, and I don't think they have the depth to replace one of their top guys if anyone is hurt. However, now that I've written this, I'm sure they will be super motivated to prove me wrong.

4. Wellesley - I know very little about Wellesley this year, and never saw any of their runners over the summer, so I don't know where they stand. They lost Tom Mayell to graduation, but Will Volkmann will be strong for them. I would expect they'll still be contending for the Herget title, at least.

5. Walpole - Walpole has a number of solid runners, led by Chris Lotsbom. They have slowly been building their program, and might be ready to break into the top five this year.

6. Weymouth - The Wildcats had a great season last year, but graduated top runners Dan Pope, Mark Jordan, and Craig Myers. This year the team doesn't look quite as strong. I know some of the Weymouth runners have been training all summer, but is Brett Julian in shape? I think Weymouth will have a lot of difficulty duplicating their 9-2 record of last year.

7. Norwood - Watch out for Norwood! Norwood was much improved last year, and I have no doubt that coach Jim Forrest will have the Mustangs in even better shape this year. While I think Wellesley is the favorite to win the Herget Division, it would not be a shock to see Norwood or Walpole give them a run for their money.

After that, the picture becomes murky.

8. Natick - I know all about the Natick girls team, but I have very little familiarity with the boys on the Natick team. Still, they always have an enthusiastic pack, and usually one or two strong runners emerge. They could do better than 8th, but the league will be strong this year, so...

9. Braintree - The Wamps could be significantly improved this year, but might not have the depth to win many meets. Kyle Higgins is a real talent (4:31 mile last spring) and could have a great XC season.


10. Milton - I'm pretty sure Kevin manning graduated, so I'm not sure who steps in to fill his shoes. Every year, though, Milton produces at least 1-2 strong runners, so they could be much stronger than I have them ranked.

11. Framingham - the Flyers lost Bay-State all-star Alex Chmielinski to graduation, and it doesn't appear they have anyone to replace him at the front of the pack. If they could only get some of their soccer players to make the switch...

12. Dedham - The Marauders might not have a great course, but they have very good coaches, just not a lot of bodies to work with. All they need is a nucleus, though, and maybe another great freshman like Rex Radloff, and they'd be in business.


In any case, I hope that ALL the teams in the league improve by leaps and bounds this year, and I look forward to great competition, and quite a few surprises.

Dry season

Running around Walden Pond yesterday evening, my feet sunk into dust at every turn. Unlike September 2006, when Labor Day brought rain, it has been almost three weeks since we've had rain. According to the Boston Globe, august was the second driest on record, and September has brought nothing but sunny days.

When the weather is too nice for too long, I get nervous. I believe there is a conservation principle at work with the weather. Things always even out. If it rains for a month, the weather gods are storing up nice days to dispense at their pleasure at some later date. Likewise, if we are the beneficiaries of three weeks of perfect weather, we are in store for truly ugly weather -- the only question is when.

The extended dry weather means that trails are rock hard, and even grassy fields are surprisingly firm, and nearly as unforgiving as the asphalt paths around them. It's not only gardeners and farmers who think we could do with a little rain.

It's always striking how the cross-country season starts in summer heat and ends in the November cold. On these pleasant days, it's easy to fall in to a fair-weather routine in which warm-ups, stretches, drills, are all done leisurely and with bare feet in the grass. I wonder whether our happy routines will survive the first spell of bad weather.

Still, what can you do?

A couple of times a week, I check my closet to remind myself where all the foul weather gear is stored -- the long-sleeve polypro tops, the Sporthill pants, the warm vests, the hats, the gloves -- and I try to prepare myself for the days to come. When it's cold outside, and the days are short, it's so hard to imagine what summer will be like; and when it's summer, it's almost impossible to truly imagine winter.

Creatures of the moment, that's what we are. Hoping for a little rain now in a dry season, but likely to change our tune as soon as it really starts to come down.

Should H.S. XC Runners Race 5K?

After four days of practice with my cross-country team, we are making plans for our first "practice" race. I have already had several discussions about how far it should be, how fast, and even what to call it. One of my colleagues has a mild objection to the phrase "time trial" as that could be intimidating to new runners, creating unneeded stress for kids who still don't have a feel for running, let alone racing, 3 miles.

This reminds me of a point that Peter Martin made frequently: 5K is not a good racing distance for many H.S. runners, especially girls. Specifically, it is too long, leading to a kind of defensive approach to racing in which the runner doesn't really get a chance to run quickly or think strategically.

I find myself thinking the same thing as I try to plan the early season runs and workouts for my team. The biggest challenge is to create conditions under which my runners feel positive about running at a faster-than-normal-training-run pace. I want them to form an association between running fast and feeling satisfied with the level of effort. For many of my less experienced runners, 5K is far too long to really run fast. If they try at the beginning, they'll be staggering in the middle.

Ideally, I'd like them to race for about 14-15 minutes. That seems like long enough to really test the aerobic capacity, but not so long that it fosters bad habits of slowing dramatically in the middle of a race.

I know the argument that XC isn't track, and the longer distance gives some kids a chance to shine that they wouldn't otherwise have. But as i think about it, that really only applies to pretty good runners who don't quite have enough speed to excel in the 2-Mile. For pretty good runners, 5K is fine, and I have no objection. But for all the beginners, 5K -- 25-30 minutes is overdoing it.

Why is this man sleepy?

I'm always on the lookout for examples of great mental fortitude, and triumph over the little obstacles that life throws in the way.

Thanks to Christopher Clarey's short article in the NY Times this morning, I read about a story I had missed while watching Tyson Gay, Bernard Lagat, and Allyson Felix dominate their events.

David Payne wasn't supposed to be in Osaka, having failed to place in the top three at the U.S. Championships in the 110M hurdles. When Dominique Arnold withdrew from the event with an injury, there was an open spot on the U.S. team. Payne, who was in Virgina, received a call early Tuesday morning, August 28. he was on a flight Tuesday afternoon, and arrived in Japan Tuesday evening after crossing 13 time zones in economy class.

Shaking off the jet lag, Payne ran in the preliminary heats on Wednesday, recording the second-fastest time of any runner with a 13.27. After that race he said, "I'm amazed that I'm here... I got a call two days ago to get on a plane. Now I'm going to make the best of it."

He then qualified for the finals, and on Friday, won the bronze medal, running 13.02.

To overcome the jet lag, the fatigue, and the lack of preparation time and still perform at that level is amazing to me. The next time you are tempted to complain about a long bus ride to a meet, remember David Payne with the flag draped around his shoulders.

The Brightest Star?

I hope everyone is enjoying coverage of the World Championships, even with the 13-hour time difference and the need to avoid finding out the results before watching the races long after they happened.

I didn't want to write about the WC's every day of the week, but I've been thinking about the out-of-this-world performance on one athlete that to my mind stands above everything else I have seen or read about.

On August 31, 21-year-old American Allyson Felix ran 21.81 to win the 200 meters. It was the first legal sub-22 performance in 8 years. The 0.53 margin of victory was the largest EVER in the world championships, and hasn't been equaled in an Olympic final since 1948. If Bernard Lagat had won the men's 1500m by the same percentage margin, he would have been over five seconds and a third of the straightway ahead of the field.

Only 21, and Felix wants to make her mark in the 100m and 400m, too. I don't know about the 100, but she has already run sub-50 for 400m and is scheduled to compete as part the U.S. 4x400 relay. Watching her pull away from the entire field in the 200, it seemed obvious that she has tremendous combination of speed and strength. Scary.

I know that Jeremy Wariner makes running 43.5 look easy, and I don't want to slight Tyson Gay, who just ran the fastest 100/200 double in history, but I still feel that Felix dominated her event more thoroughly, and showed an immense potential as yet unrealized.

Allyson Felix -- the Tiger Woods of women's sprinting?

Women's 200m Final