Old School Photo

Just got the following email and accompanying photo from my good pal Marty McGowan down on Staten Island. Marty is a loyal Marist xc alum and true friend to our program on many, many levels.

Pete, I'm learning how to scan pictures onto the computer, and thought you'd like this one. It's the Marist X-C team from Fall 1971, my Junior Year.
from the top Coach Len Olsen, Bob Nelson, Pete Rock, Jay Doyle ( Jay was our # 1 runner that year ) Don Gilespie and ??? ( he was a grad assistant who sometimes showed up as an asst coach, forgot his name, sorry ) Bottom Row; John Petraglia, Bob Salomon, Me, with the sunglasses ( Bob and I were Co Captains that year and Pat " Milo" Stevens (No relation to Rich Stevens, who came on board outdoor season 1972). Thanks for the Christmas card, the kids are growing!! Stay safe. Marty

No snow here!

What an interesting weekend of weather, huh? Well, maybe not so "interesting" if you live on Long Island or New Jersey, where you had to shovel about 2 feet of snow.

Here in the Poughkeepsie area? All that was needed was a light broom to sweep off the dusting of snow we received. Weird, I know. Not that we are complaining up here ...

Anyway, hang in there and get your training in as you can. I am assuming track workouts will not be getting done anytime soon by those of the southern persuasion.

I guess you could call this storm "flaky" huh?

Oh! Keep voting on this poll. Only a few days to go ...

So much for planning ...

Creativity and clarity of thought do not come naturally to me. I have to work at it. As a writer, I have always marveled at those who can write fiction, short-story prose or poetry, and write it well. I'm not that creative. I need the real world to power my words. And even then, it's not that great.

Anyway, my creative task this week was to come up with a salient workout schedule for the break for the distance men of Marist College. This is always a difficult task. I want to strike the right chord of hard work, speed and recovery -- all the while knowing that several men probably will just train hard and well and not really follow the schedule religiously. Which is fine. But for those that like structure and will actually read and adhere to the schedule, it's important that I get it right. Or at least come close.

And so I struggled with it. But this morning, there was a breakthrough. Perhaps it's the latent journalist in me, the guy who needs a deadline to produce. Guys were starting to leave because they were done with finals; I had to produce something. So I sat down at the laptop and had an amazingly productive 1.5 hours this morning.

-- I completed the daily workout schedule. It had started percolating last week, was mostly done on Tuesday but needed some final tweaking on Wednesday morning. Done.

-- Not satisfied with that relatively easy task, I then plunged into some more long-range thinking. I decided to map out phases of training for the next three or so months of indoor track and early outdoor track. This is an important step for me; I tend to fly by the seat of my pants in terms of creating workouts. Often, I will script a workout while athletes are warming up for that very workout. This may seem chaotic, and perhaps it is. But to me, as long as there is a method behind the madness, it is OK. As long as I know what I want to get accomplished on that given day and that thought process is powering it, it should work out OK.

That is why creating these training cycles -- defining their length and their scope -- is important. Once the cycle is created, the actual implementation of the workouts can follow a seemingly endless and limitless pattern. As long as the concept behind the workouts is there, there are no bounds of how to execute what you want to get out of that workout.

So anyway, I felt really good about the thought process. Vess arrived -- with coffee! -- and we went over it for a few minutes. Excellent. A good morning of work. The December/early January time frame for all training groups consists almost exclusively of strength-based training. Hills. Fartleks. Accelerator (progression) runs. Tempos. Cruise ints. Stuff like that. Pretty basic. Right? Makes perfect sense. Right?

Feeling secure in my thought processes for a change ... and then in walks Mr. Awesome (Curt) and Conor. They have an idea. They have a great idea, they proclaim! Instead of the hill workout I had planned for them, they ask, would it be OK if they did quarters (400s). Quarters? Ha! Flies in the face of everything I was thinking about over the past hour or so.

Normally, I would dismiss this idiotic idea on its face. It's Dec. 16. Who the heck needs quarters of Dec. 16? But alas, I am a sucker for 400-meter workouts. It is my belief that quarters can be used for ANY training group at ANY time. Sprinters? Check. Mid-distance? Check. Long distance? Check. Marathon? Believe it or not, it can work there too!

The key is the proper volume, intensity and recovery. This is where I put my foot down. Mr. A and Conor said they were thinking "not that many quarters, like 8 of them, but pretty fast." Nope. Sorry boys. We do quarters on Dec. 16, we do A LOT of them.

The plan was hatched: 2 sets of 8. Short recovery. Cutdown style, but not too fast. No faster than 3km race pace. Still not a great idea in all, but it's quarters. I'm a sucker for quarters.

Well, it turned out to be a great practice. First and foremost, it must be noted that the hill repeat guys had a GREAT workout. Good for them. That's what they should be doing.

Mr. A and Conor? They ran the 16x400 workout to perfection. They looked relaxed, smooth and ran them in control (for the most part) and with short breaks. Again, was it the best workout on this day? Probably not. But it's quarters. It worked. They looked great, felt great and are confident in their fitness level.

Sometimes, you go with your heart and your gut. Macrocycles and microcycles are nice. But you coach people, not robots, and sometimes you listen, adapt and have fun.

Finals week, and planning ahead

This is finals week. The general policy is, we have scheduled practice every day, and it is optional. If you can show up, show up. If not, not. The majority of the guys come most days, but the top priority is acing finals.

Despite that, we had a pretty spirited workout in McCann and on the MidRise Hills today. Nicely done, men!

There has been some discussion among alums about the fancy AAU Championships. This traditional McCann workout (2x2 mile) is generally during midterm week in the spring semester, usually the second week in March, after the IC4As. I do not have a definite date yet, but you can use that as a guide.

I am willing to adjust slightly based on alum travel schedules. Especially Prinz, since he does not currently live on this continent, and said he might be in Po-Town for the AAU festivities. Looking forward to that if you can make it; should be fun.

Want a holiday card?

This post is for alumni, friends and others that I no longer see on a regular, daily basis.

We just got our family holiday cards in the mail today. They are really neat. If you would like me to mail you one, please e-mail me your current address. Since many of you have moved in recent years, I do not have updated mailing addresses on many of you all.

Please email me at runhed246@hotmail.com with your mailing contact information, or you can TEXT me if you have my number.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Clairification on today's cold weather

For those men's distance runners reading this today before practice:

If you prefer to do the workout inside the McCann Center, text me and let me know and we'll discuss it. Keep in mind that we do not have access to the fieldhouse track till 3 p.m.

If you ask me my preference, I say go outside and do the accelerator. But if you want to do a workout indoors (probably thresh mile repeats, and a lot of them!), we can discuss.

Keep voting on the poll!

How cold is too cold?

Tomorrow (Friday), the workout protocol for the distance runners is the "Accelerator Loop." Some coaches call it a Progression Run. I like "accelerator." A more NASCAR feel to it. Hey, I used to have a mullet, remember? (Side note: Webster wants me to grow another one while he is away studying abroad in Italy; I am considering it; but I do value a happy marriage, too)

Anyway, back to the topic: Friday is accelerator. However, the weather forecast is for highs in the mid-20s and biting wind. Pretty typical winter weather for the mid-Hudson Valley, albeit maybe a bit early. A few men were wondering whether the workout could be changed and/or moved inside to the McCann Fieldhouse given the cold weather.

My initial, gut reaction was: Uh-uh. No. Accelerator is an outside workout. Cold and wind should not matter. If it were mile repeats at the track, then yes, maybe we bring it inside. But an effort-based, road-course workout? I think we can keep it on West Dorsey, thank you very much.

But I am always open to suggestions.

Generally, my rule for outside running: If it is icy and dangerous for cars, no off-campus distance runs. Otherwise, most days are OK for outside running. Unless you prefer inside.

OK. I'm going around in circles now. Good night, everyone.

What a poll!

Boy, this Bowdoin vs. Sunken Meadow thing is quite a neck-and-neck race. Every time I check, it is tied or one park is leading by a small margin. Good stuff!

Nice to be thinking about cross country still, despite the bone-chilling cold and snow of the inevitable winter.

Of course, with this raw weather comes a sense of renewal in that it means the beginning of track season.

My 6 a.m. jogs are joyless jaunts in the dark, with black ice lurking around every bend and hill, and biting wind turning my graying beard into icicles. And it's not even January yet! But I should not complain. Our morning run posse seems to grow by the day. I am the slowest of the group, which is good and bad. Today, my fastest training partner literally ran circles around me and another slow poke.

Anyway, keep voting, and keep reading.

And bundle up. It's cold out there.

Yale results, splits, etc

Women's meet results by event

60-meter dash
16. Rachael Eichacker 8.53 seconds
17. Meghann Cocca 8.53 seconds

200-meter dash
9. Holly Burns 26.94
18. Rachael Eichacker 28.23
20. Meghann Cocca 28.46

400-meter dash
4. Holly Burns 1:01.11

500-meter dash
3. Nicole Weir 1:25.60
4. Emilie Cardone 1:28.82

3000-meter run
1. Addie DiFrancesco 10:19.99
Splits
40.8, 83.1 (42.3), 2:04.8 (41.7), 2:46.3 (41.5), 3:27.6 (41.3)
4:08.8 (41.2), 4:50.2 (41.4), 5:31.4 (41.2), 6:12.6 (41.2), 6:54.2 (41.6)
7:35.8 (41.6), 8:17.0 (41.2), 8:58.5 (41.5), 9:39.9 (41.4), 10:10.99 (40.09)
1km: 3:27.6; 2km: 6:54.2 (3:26.6); 3km: 10:19.99 (3:25.99)
Comment: Ran like a clock. Great! Who knows if you could have kept this up for 5km? I think it would have been close. Nicely done.

Pole vault
9. Justine Colabraro 2.90 meters (9 feet, 6.25 inches)

Long jump
7. Brooke Kristensen 4.40 meters (14 feet, 5.25 inches)

Triple jump
4. Brooke Kristensen 9.71 meters (31 feet, 10.25 inches)

Men's meet results by event

60-meter dash
16. Mike McCloskey 7.32 seconds
18. Darren Bushey 7.60
21. Neal Viets 7.74

200-meter dash
18. Mike McCloskey 23.85
22. Neal Viets 24.54
23. Darren Bushey 25.25

400-meter dash
10. John Kristie 53.82
11. Phil Krupka 54.08

800-meter run
7. Alex Cuesta 2:01.28
Splits: 29, 59 (30), 1:30 (31), 2:01.28 (31.28). Comment: Section victory. Nicely done!14. Chris Vanzetta 2:05.09
Splits: 30, 61 (31), 1:32 (31), 2:05.09 (32.09). Comment: Not a great start, but it should get MUCH better.

Mile run
7. Matt Panebianco 4:40.14
33.9 (209 meters), 67.1 (33.2), 1:41.5 (34.4), 2:18.1 (36.6), 2:53.1 (35.0), 3:28.7 (35.6), 4:04.3 (35.6), 4:40.14 (35.84). Comment: No place to go but up!

3000-meter run
Note on splits. All runners were in the same section, which made splits very difficult to record. Panebianco and Janczyk did a great job of trying to record them, but they seemed a little off in spots. As a result, we will post 1km splits here so you can get an idea of the way each of the races trended. Hope that helps.

3. Nick Webster 8:55.44. 2:57, 5:54 (2:57), 8:55.44 (3:01.44)
5. Alex Ward 9:09.90. 3:00, 6:04 (3:04), 9:09.90 (3:05.90)
7. Colin Johnson 9:27.20. 3:00, 6:07 (3:07), 9:27.20 (3:20.20)
9. Will Schanz 9:38.48. 3:05, 6:19 (3:14), 9:38.48 (3:19.48)
10. Ryan Fitzsimons 9:42.24. 3:08, 6:22 (3:14), 9:42.24 (3:20.24)
11. Brendan Green 10:16.58. 3:13, 6:46 (3:26), 10:16.58 (3:30.58)

5000-meter run
6. Matt Janczyk 16:03.08
Splits
36.7, 73.3 (36.6), 1:49.8 (36.5), 2:27.1 (37.3), 3:04.7 (37.6)
3:43.3 (38.6), 4:21.1 (37.8), 4:58.4 (37.3), 5:35.7 (37.3), 6:13.3 (37.5)
6:50.7 (37.4), 7:28.3 (37.6), 8:06.8 (38.5), 8:45.6 (38.8), 9:24.9 (39.3)
10:04.3 (39.4), 10:43.8 (39.5), 11:23.8 (40.0), 12:03.0 (39.2), 12:43.7 (40.7)
13:24.6 (40.9), 14:05.2 (40.6), 14:44.8 (39.6), 15:24.9 (40.1), 16:03.08 (35.18)
1km: 3:04.7; 2km: 6:13.3 (3:08.6); 3km: 9:24.9 (3:11.6); 4km: 12:43.7 (3:18.8); 5km: 16:03.08 (3:19.38)
Comments: A 5km PR, because you have never run a 5km before on the track. And probably never will again. On that, we can agree.

60-meter hurdles
9. Mike Clifford 9.73 seconds

1600-meter relay
7. Marist A (Christie 53.8, Krupka 54.3, Cuesta 55.1, Panebianco 54.3) 3:37.72
8. Marist B (McCloskey 57.0, Viets 54.2, Josh Lopez 53.1, Johnson 61.x) 3:43.63
10. Marist C (Bushey 59.3, Vanzetta 54.7, Clifford 54.3, Janczyk 53.9) 3:49.39
Comment: Thanks to my son Joey for helping to time one of the relays. He got all the splits on his iPod. True story! And after checking with Coach Horton, his splits were accurate! Nicely done.

Pole vault
4. Max Carow 4.12 meters (13 feet, 6.25 inches)
8. Henry Zhang 3.82 meters (12 feet, 6.25 inches)

Rolek repeats in record form

Received this note via email from Marist alum (1973) Donald Paulson. A very nice note with some great news about fellow alumni runners. Here it is ...

Coach Peter:

Attached is a picture of Mike Rolek winning the Seaford Wellness Council's annual 5K run. The race was run yesterday (Saturday) in the rain and cold in Seaford, New York. Mike not only defended his title but also he set a new course record of 15:14.

Fellow alumni Mike Bamberger and DJ Paulson received medals in the event. Bryan Quinn, another alumni, competed. It was a great day for Marist Alumni racing. It shows the camaraderie and fellowship built up among the runners under your tutelage. You have a great program with great young men. As a parent of one of these runners, thank you.

Donald Paulson '73

FYI - Photo taken by Jack Healy, race photographer. I was able to get it so quickly because a club that I run helps sponsor this event.

Yale results/splits coming shortly

Hello all: I have been very busy with recruits the past few days so I have not been able to post the Yale results and splits. They will be posted as quickly as possible. Thanks for your patience.

The xc course poll seems to be getting a strong response. Keep it going. Keep checking, I'll get the Yale stuff up as soon as I can.

Housekeeping items

OK, I like the spirited cross country courses debate! I think Steve nailed it: Bowdoin and SM are about as equal as you can get. You can continue to discuss it, but his logic is sound and nearly bullet-proof.

Second item: Indoor track starts Saturday at Yale. Looking forward to getting back to the boards. This is a low-key meet to just get us going. Training has started in full force for the xc guys. The track guys have been going full force with Terry since mid-September.

After this, we have a month-long break from meets, but the training never ends.

Will post at some point Sunday with results, splits, etc., from Yale.

Cuesta: This one's for you!

One of our track guys, a long sprinter named CUESTA (his first name is Alex, but no one -- not even his mother! -- calls him that; he's just Cuesta; yes. his mother calls him Cuesta!) apparently is a big fan of this blog. Huge fan. Checks it every day. In class, even!

He gave me a hard time about not having many recent posts. Dude. We are in between seasons. I'll get cranking in due time -- today, in fact, as this is my second post! So anyway, I told Cuesta yesterday that I would do a post for him to satiate his need to read a post on this fancy blog.

There. How's that, Cuesta?

Oh, and a note to his professors: If he is reading this blog instead of paying attention to you in class: You have my permission to scold him, maybe even dock him a half-letter grade on class participation. He should NOT be reading this blog in class! Just like he should not be texting in class!

From all reports, Cuesta's in great shape. He's not hurt (that's BIG) and he's training hard and tough. That's good. He showed some real flashes of good stuff last spring, and we're hoping to start off a great junior year with a strong performance at Yale.

Speaking of which ... oh yeah, our first indoor track meet is Saturday! At Yale. But I guess you might have figured that out already. I will post the schedule here soon. And when I do, I'm sure Cuesta will be the first to read it!

Cross country comparisons

Sorry, have not been in blog mode of late. Just saw Keenan's and Jut's comments regarding xc course comparisons. Here are my two cents:

Regarding Sunken Meadow: Keenan makes some fair points. I am not familiar with the course too much, other than when we used to go down there for the season-opening Stony Brook meets. My last recollections from those meets was that the course was a mess. There were drainage issues and it just wasn't that good. Based on Footlockers being there, obviously it has been tidied up.

Look. I am biased toward Bowdoin. The course has been the same since Coach Horton and friends created it 20-plus years ago. It has never been in better shape than it is now. It is a very tough, very fair course. And again, it HASN'T CHANGED. To me, that is key. Has Sunken Meadow changed? I think maybe it has. Again, nothing against Sunken Meadow. It's a great course. But Bowdoin is reaching near legendary status at this point. I really think it is. And it is well deserved.

Regarding the twins' time at Bowdoin: Jut, those guys were CRUISING. They were NOT running all out; at least, that is how it appeared to me, and to legendary track announcer Ian Brooks, who was on hand to emcee the Nike meet (that was cool!). And why would they? They just needed to advance to Nats, where they will be facing pretty stiff competition. Could they have broken the Bowdoin record (which, Keenan my friend, is held by a fancy LI runner named Millieon? am I right?)? I would say most probably yes. That record is 15:39, for those keeping score at home ...

But don't read much into the fact that they ran a lot slower at Bowdoin than Holmdel. I do think Holmdel is not as tough as Bowdoin (oh boy, Curt is gonna come after me on this one, and maybe Emerel!), but I do not think you can just their times on face value. That's just my opinion.

Having said that: As good as those twins are, even all out I could not see them cracking 15:00 at Bowdoin. No way. No how. Based on that statement, Bowdoin is tougher than Holmdel. Bowdoin vs. Sunken Meadow? I will not form an opinion on that since I do not know enough about the current SM layout.

OK? OK.

NXN at Bowdoin Park

My son Joey and I spent the better part of the day down at Bowdoin Park for the Nike Cross Country Regional races for the Northeast and New York Regions. Wow! What a day!

Bowdoin is our home course, and what a great course it is. Today, the folks at Nike really dressed it up even more.

And I must take this opportunity to give a major (huge!) shout-out to longtime Arlington High School coach Terry Horton, now our assistant coach at Marist College, who more or less crafted and sculpted this Bowdoin course from scratch more than 20 years ago, to what it is today. He did this primarily with his own two hands, his trusty pickup truck and his even more trusty father, who helped do the heavy work for years and years on this course. Terry's contributions to the Bowdoin course cannot be overstated.

This year, the course was trashed after about a dozen races at the Coaches and Officials meet in a downpour in late October. Joey and I ran the course the next day during a Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club race. It was a mud pit, seemingly beyond repair.

Today, driving down the park road (thanks to Pete Sanfilippo for giving me VIP parking!), the course looked amazing. It was all mulched and in prime running condition. Nike had the course lined from start to finish. Really classy. When I talked to Terry the day before the race via cell, he was (as usual) down at Bowdoin putting the finishing touches on his baby. He told me: "You aren't gonna recognize this place."

He was right! Imagine being a volunteer groundskeeper at your local Little League field, and then having that field being transformed into Yankee Stadium overnight. That's how Terry must have felt. But as he accurately pointed out, this can be done with a Nike crew of 30 or so folks, as opposed to the one-man volunteer band that he is each and every autumn.

Oh, and one more thing, as an FYI for those interested in map minutia: Everyone says Bowdoin is in Wappingers Falls, and that is its mailing address. But technically, Bowdoin is located in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Not that anyone cares, but I'm kind of a maps/borders freak.

Anyway ... the races were excellent. The runners were among the best high schoolers in the country. It was sunny and windy. But for Nov. 28, you couldn't find better conditions or a better venue. A truly memorable day.

We did a lot of Marist networking down there today. Several runners and their families said there were going to drive up the road to Marist and check out the campus. Nice. Very nice.

Lastly, there has always been this debate about which courses are tougher. Holmdel in New Jersey. Wickham in Connecticut. Bowdoin in New York.

The best New York runners have known all about Bowdoin. Now, entrants in the Northeast Race can reach their own conclusions. No matter what they think, they should know that they saw Bowdoin at its absolute, glorious best today at the NXN meet.

Philly results from today

A pair of Running Red Foxes did well down in Philly today.

In the half marathon, Mike Rolek (class of 08) blitzed the half marathon in 1:09:52. He was eighth overall out of 7,188 finishers. Rolek checked in Sunday morning. He was not pleased and was hoping for better. A blazing 15:00 for 3 miles was a bit too aggressive to start. But Mike had been under the weather for a few weeks leading up to the race. Bad combo. Still, a solid performance and a sub-1:10 for 13.1 miles. Nicely done. BRO.

In the full marathon, current team sophomore Luke Shane ran a personal-best time of 3:08:17 and qualified for the Boston Marathon. Luke was 396th overall out of 7,464 finishers and he was seventh in the 15-19 age group. He improved on his PR by a full 15 minutes. Like Rolek, he was hoping for slightly faster but still achieved his goal of a Boston qualifier. Nicely done!

Unfortunately for Luke, the 2010 Boston Marathon closed out a few weeks before Philly, so he'll have to wait till 2011 to run the famous race. Memo to Luke: Your young. You have many more Bostons in front of you, pal.

Women's ECAC results, some commentary

Team standings, ECAC University Division

1. Marist 85, 2. Albany 119, 3. Towson 137, 4. Binghamton 147, 5. Sacred Heart 188, 6. UNH 199, 7. Loyola 206, 8. Rider 208, 9. Monmouth 217, 10. Fordham 233, 11. George Mason 297, 12. Mansfield 342, 13. Holy Cross 342, 14. Seton Hall 378, 15. Fairfield 384, 16. Colgate 389, 17. VCU 408, 18. St. John’s 411, 19. Hofstra 512, 20. Siena 513

Marist individual results (5,000 meters)

5- Addie DiFrancesco 17:51.8 *school record, 5km cross country; **ECAC All-East
7-Brittany Burns 18:12.5 *ECAC All-East
15-Kathryn Sheehan 18:38.2 *ECAC All-East
28-Erin O’Reilly 18:59.8
33-Katie Messina 19:09.0
37-Julie Hudak 19:14.1
40-Sarah Parsloe 19:18.0
83-Jillian Corley 19:57.4
86-Kara Lightowler 19:59.2
94-Kelley Hanifin 20:01.9
99-Briana Crowe 20:05.3
108-Sarah Keating 20:15.4

Coaches Association Race (5,000 meters)

3-Laura Lindsley 19:50.0
7-Alyson O’Brien 20:05.3
11-Rebecca Denise 20:26.4
12-Dayna McLaughlin 20:35.1
13-Katie Topalian 20:35.4
15-Dana Boscarino 20:45.1
16-Colleen Smith 20:48.7
20-Kim Bartlett 21:00.1
23-Kelley Gould 21:09.7
25-Shannon Farrell 21:21.0
29-Rachel Lichtenwalner 21:32.9
30-Rachel Bremer 21:35.1

Commentary on team standings: Obviously, it does not get any better than this. We had the strongest 4-5-6-7 runners in the field, and that was that. Coach Chuck set three goals for the season-ending championships, and this enabled us to achieve them all. Nicely done!

Commentary on individual performances: Great job by Addie with a record-breaking time! Great way for Brit to go out as a graduating senior. Kathryn and Katie weren't feeling 100 percent, but they did their jobs superbly. Erin O'Reilly capped off a remarkable freshman season. Julie Hudak had a great bounce-back race and was a great leader for this team! Sarah Parsloe saved her best for last, wow! As far as the rest of the team, there were several strong performances and almost universally excellent times on a course that was not as easy as it appeared; certainly less challenging than the MAAC 6km, but not the pancake-flat/fast road race of Albany.

Again, it's not often days like this come along, and we should all enjoy it for what it is, and what it was.

Lastly, it was great for Phil to be there to witness this. His legacy and lineage still remain with this team, and he is still very much a part of our family. Thanks for riding in the van with me, it made the trips both ways seem very quick indeed.

Coming tomorrow: Updates from the Philly Marathon (Luke Shane) and Philly Half Marathon (Rolek).

Thanks as always for reading.

Men's IC4A results, some commentary

OK, the kids are settled and I have a little bit of computer time, so here goes ...

Men's team standings, IC4A Championship Division

1. Duke 41, 2. William and Mary 67, 3. George Mason 113, 4. LaSalle 130, 5. Columbia 150, 6. Marist 153, 7. Syracuse 193, 8. Princeton 213, 9. Delaware 230, 10. UMass 240, 11. St. Joseph’s 242, 12. Duquesne 318, 13. Harvard 320

Marist Individual results (5-mile course)

12-Matt Flint 25:48.5 *IC4A All-East
23-Will Griffin 26:07.7 *IC4A All-East
27-Curtis Jensen 26:12.6
39-Tim Keegan 26:26.2
52-Conor Shelley 26:35.1
71-Nick Webster 26:55.0
80-Zak Smetana 27:04.5
83-Tom Lipari 27:07.0
86-Sam McMullen 27:11.3
89-Sean Nestor 27:16.4
94-Pat Duggan 27:23.7
100-Matt Janczyk 27:36.7

Coaches Association race (5-mile course)

6-Mike Nicoletti 27:55.8
10-Billy Posch 28:04.8
11-Kyle Havard 28:07.6
16-Ryan Brown 28:40.7
20-Joel Moss 29:01.7
21-Colin Johnson 29:11.7
25-Michael Keegan 29;32.5
26-Ryan Fitzsimons 29:54.2
30-Greg Masto 30:25.8
33-Brendan Green 30:53.4

Notes on the team standings: Most of the teams in this race were not playing with a full deck, so to speak. That includes us, as we were sitting out Vess and Quimes, who are nursing injuries. We proved we could hang in this crowd, even without all our horses. Nicely done.

Notes on the course: This was still the "construction" VCP course, meaning the hills were condensed and thus making it tougher than the the "original" VCP course. However, this course was slightly shorter than the "construction" VCP course that was run at MAACs. What does this mean? Who knows. My guess it is what about 15-20 seconds SLOWER than the "original" VCP course. I will admit that the changing face of the VCP course is slightly annoying, given our meticulous school records at Vanny. But such is life. We can only run the race, and the course, that we are in. And today, we did that quite nicely.

Some notes on how our individuals ran, varsity: Flint proved to nail it pretty nicely at the end of the season; Will was still feeling the obvious effects of a serious flu illness; Curtis ran very strong and turned around what had been a 2-race slump of sorts; Zak and Duggan finished up strong, consistent seasons, their best ever in XC; same with Sam; Lipari had his best effort of the year; Keeg and Web ran well but definitely can do better, we will have to discuss and analyze things a little, but your value to our team is unquestioned; Nestor had a pretty typical freshman XC season, with some flashes of great things to come.

Some notes on how our individuals ran, JV: Obviously the times were faster; but in most cases, the effort and race was far superior to the MAAC meet. Among the big stars: Kyle Havard (huge!), Nicoletti, Posch, Brownie, Joel, Brendan; Meegan did fairly well in his first VCP; Fitz was not happy with how it went.

Some notes on our XC Seniors: Much like recent seniors, these men will be remembered as much for the tone they set OFF the xc course as the effort they put out ON the course. Future team successes will be rooted in all that you guys accomplished, both on and off the practice and race venues. It will never be forgotten by your old coach. Captain Conor, Captain Janzo, Masto, Colin: THANK YOU, MEN!

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for reading.

A "banner" day at VCP!

Big, breaking news!

Our women's team WON the ECAC University Division, today at Van Cortlandt Park.

Addie DiFrancesco set an all-time Marist xc 5km record and was 5th place overall. Brittany Burns and Kathryn Sheehan joined Addie as All-East finishers, all placing in the top 15.

Our 4-5-6-7 pack was the best in the race. Depth wins cross country races!

Congrats, ladies. And major kudos to Coach Chuck for putting together a great program. The future is bright.

Our men's varsity -- minus Vess and Quimes -- had a strong showing in the Championship Division. We were 6th of 13 in a competitive field. A positive end to a mostly strong season.

More results and details later on when I have time to type them up.

FYI: It was literally a "banner" day as the ECAC rewarded us with an "ECAC Champions" banner, which is now hanging proudly in Chuck's office.

Rock on.

One more time for Ogden Hills

On Wednesday, a few men did a scaled back version of the opening season Ogden Hills workout. Fitz called it a "full circle" moment as we ended the season with the same workout as we began it.

It was a beautiful fall day, not nearly as cold as it seems based on how I was dressed. Also pictured are Captain Conor leading the charge up the hill, along with the Thug Patrol of Mr. Awesome, Flint and Will.

Thanks to Vess for taking the pictures and providing me with coffee.

IC4A/ECAC information

Word on the street is that there will be strong alumni support at Vanny on Saturday. Hopefully that is the case! Here is the race schedule, for those keeping score at home:

9:30 a.m.: Combined JV races (men and women)
10:15 a.m.: Men's Championship Race
12:30 p.m.: Women's University Race

Who is racing what for the men, in no particular order ...

JV (10): Nicoletti, Brown, Posch, Masto, Moss, Colin J., Fitz, Green, Havard, Meegan
Varsity (12): Flint, Big Papa (Lipari), Will, Keegan, Conor, Web, Zak, Nestor, Janzo, Duggan, Sam, Curt (aka Mr. Awesome)
Not racing (7): Vess, Quimes, Holinko, Townsend, Panebianco, Schanz, Lombi
Racing, but at Philly in the marathon (1): Luke Shane (good luck!)

Hope to see you there ...

Final thoughts, images on regionals

Before I wax philosophical about Saturday's meet once more, please take about 10 minutes from your busy lives to check out the tremendous videos put together by freshman women's team member Kelley Gould.

"Gouldilocks Productions" did an amazing job. It gave me chills watching these videos. Thanks, Kelley!

Men's video here.

Women's video here.

OK, some final takes on the meet ...

Women: Looking at the "big picture," this was another big step in the right direction for our program. We are on the verge of some big stuff here! It was a six-position jump from last year. However, the ladies are not satisfied, and that is great. It shows they care.

In analyzing the results, there are several areas in which we could have improved and thus could have been several places higher. But we can do that with every meet. We must again look at the "big picture" and realize that the program is headed in the right direction, with so much potential for growth in the coming months and years.

This is in large part due to the great work of Coach Chuck, and of course the hard work, dedication and toughness of the women's Running Red Foxes. It is a pleasure and honor to be closely associated with you all (hopefully, some of you read this fancy blog?).

Men: Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells was always fond of saying "you are what your record says you are." We believe as a team and as a program that we are much better than what we showed on Saturday. However, to say that we "should have" been higher up would be to disparage the excellent teams ahead of us that got it done. I won't do that.

A lot conspired to make Saturday's men's race a disaster for us. But we are prideful team and a prideful program. Our job is to get up off the mud, move on and finish with pride and power at IC4As.

Looking ahead: We have a lot to prove and a lot to run for at ECACs (women's university) and IC4As (men's championship). We will talk during the week about goals. There is one more race to run, and we must run it well.

Thug Central

After the debacle with my throwaway camera this weekend, I decided to invest an entire $19.99 on a cheap digital camera from CVS. Just messing around with it at practice today, here's what I got for you.

Now I can get some digital shots from meets. Again, quality won't be great. But it'll be there.

Conor stuck in the mud

OK, well, I was able to get one picture uploaded -- thanks to a scanner in the Enhancement Center at McCann. Obviously, photo quality suffered due to a lousy camera and even lousier conditions.

This is a picture of Conor going through either 5km or 8km, with me in the foreground exhorting him to go faster.

A real Marist Track hero ...

OK. So yeah, Saturday's meet from the men's team perspective was a bummer. A real bummer. But checking my email slaps me right back to reality and gives us all a lot of perspective.

Got a short note from an old Marist Track teammate from back in the mid-1980s, Mike Carson. Mike was a thrower on those teams. Correction: Mike was THE thrower on those teams. He WAS our throwing team.

Mike's a military man and a local guy, from Hyde Park, and we have stayed in touch through the years as he visits home frequently. Unfortunately, since 2003, it hasn't been that frequently -- since he has been deployed to Iraq at least 4 or 5 times by my count.

The email I got from him the other day informed us all that he's gone for another tour of duty in Iraq. We pray for his safety every day.

For those old-school readers of the blog that may have been teammates or friends with Mike, I share his address with all below.

For those new-school readers of the blog that might want to drop a note of encouragement from an extended member of the Marist Track Family, I am certain Mike would love to hear from you. He follows the team closely and stays in close tabs with me via email.

Here is his snail mail address ...

CW4 Michael T. Carson
HHC, 3-158th Aviation Regiment
Joint Base Balad, Iraq
APO AE 09391

No go on mud pictures

Brought that throwaway camera to CVS today but they do not have the ability to make a digital disc there, so I just got some prints. Pretty poor quality anyway.

While there, I bought a cheap ($19.99) digital camera. I will experiment with it at ECAC/IC4A and maybe get some more photos up on the fancy blog.

More later ... just didn't want everyone waiting for pictures that will never come. Team members: I will distribute prints at practice on Monday.

Quick regionals results

Women: 17th out of 43 teams in the region, 496 points

6km
59. Brittany Burns 23:46
72. Addie DiFrancesco 24:00
103. Kathryn Sheehan 24:30
115. Katie Messina 24:36
147. Erin O'Reilly 25:14
198. Jackie Gamboli 26:10
225. Julie Hudak 27:33

Men: 16th out of 43 teams in the region, 462 points

10km
61. Matt Flint 33:09
64. Adam Vess 33:10
106. Will Griffin 34:02
114. Quimes DelaCruz 34:09
117. Tim Keegan 34:13
126. Curtis Jensen 34:21
129. Conor Shelley 34:24

Times were obviously affected across the board by horrendous course conditions. But this meet is about place, as always. Times mean nothing.

More analysis and photos to come later ...

Quick regionals recap

It was a muddy, muddy day at Franklin Park.

On the women's side, we finished a solid 17th, a six-spot improvement from 2008. We should be proud of this as a program, all the while knowing we are capable of several spots better. Nicely done, ladies!

On the men's side, we finished a very disappointing 16th. No way to sugar-coat this one, fellas. It was a trainwreck: A combination of bad timing in terms of recent illnesses, subpar performances and horrendous course conditions. They joined forces to create the perfect storm (no pun intended) of a somber 16th-place showing. Such is life.

What's next? One more meet. We move on to ECAC/IC4A. We have a lot of school history here. Our mission is to run with pride and prove ourselves at this meet.

On the women's side, we are in the University Division -- where we should challenge for some of the top positions individually and as a team. It all depends on which teams declare that event.

On the men's side, we are in the Championship Division -- where we have been competitive in the past. We should aim for the level of excellence our previous programs have achieved at this meet.

I will follow up with complete Marist-related results from regionals, as well as some mud pictures if they are able to be developed, from the $5.99 disposable camera I bought at the Star Market this morning.

Good night, everyone.

From the hotel

Team members that have been around me for the past few days know how excited and thrilled I am to have this new, Marist-issued laptop. Well, here I am in the Marriott Newton, Room 135 (yes, Phil: The heat is cranked at 80 degrees!) -- blogging from my fancy laptop. Cool. Very cool.

The meet tomorrow is going to be a bit messy, I think. The weather forecast is for heavy rain and wind, the remnants of the hurricane/tropical storm that has ravaged the East coastline. Oh well, that's cross country biz ...

In other random news: Our coaches meeting was at the BU track. So of course Chuck and I enjoyed a great pizza dinner at T Anthony's, the famous food venue of choice for generations of tracksters.

Also: I was thrilled to hear from Captain Janzo that the remainder of the team that did not make the trip due to the untimely and ridiculous cancellation of today's JV race met and did a fine workout at the Cator Loop. Lesser men would have been disheartened and stopped training, or at least lost their motivation to train. Not our beloved Running Red Foxes, who remain fired up and committed to a strong, end-of-season effort at ICs/ECs next Saturday.

More details on race times for next week in a future post. Hope to have good alumni and family support there.

I will not be able to post from the bus on the ride home, so I'll get the regional results and stuff up here as quickly as I can.

For those tracking the festivities Saturday online:

Men's race, 10km: 2:30 p.m.
Women's race, 6km: 3:30 p.m.

Friday's JV race at Franklin Park canceled

I have started to spread this unfortunate news.

We will fill everyone in more at practice in a few hours. This changes some things logistically and in terms of training. We will figure it out and go from there.

It's too bad but it could not be avoided for a variety of reasons.

We will talk ...

We can talk about track ... next week

A small pet peeve of mine for years is when team members start discussing a future season while a current season is ongoing. In our sport, where there is always another season, another race, another goal, this is common and not necessarily a bad thing. It means you care.

However: One season at a time! We can only focus fully on the season we are in. At least, that's the way I look at it.

Now, having said that ... after the Regional Weekend in Boston, I will allow one and all to start thinking and talking about track goals. That would be next week.

This may seem like I am breaking my own rule, and technically I am since we have ICAAAA/ECACs next week. However, after this weekend, the training is pretty much done. We will just do light training next week as maintenance for the final xc meet down at VCP for 2009. IC4A/ECAC is a meet steeped in tradition, overall and for our program. And so when we go, we play for keeps. Just like we do in most every other meet. Right? Right.

But because training will be very light, you can start switching your mental focus -- for a few days, at least -- to track. However, come late next week, for those that are racing (that would be MOST of you...), it's back to cross country thoughts for a few more hours and days.

OK? Deal?

Good.

Bowdoin Boys

Last Friday, I was down at Bowdoin Park for the Section 1 state qualifying meet. Presumably, I was there for recruiting purposes. And I was. It was a productive day. The thing I was looking forward to most was seeing some of my old Marist runners in action as high school coaches.

I was bummed out to hear that Gilby Hawkins is coaching modified this fall and thus was not at the meet. But I did see Pool from Dover (still Mr. Sunshine, as always), Pat Driscoll from Tappan Zee and Joe Scelia from Brewster. A few Brewster boys are looking at Marist. Although I was not able to see them race because I had to hustle back north for my own team's practice, I was glad to catch up with their coach.

Joe looked great, but he was really nervous as he knew his boys' team was in for a dogfight in the Class A race. As I was winding up my team practice, I heard via text that Joe's Brewster team won the sectional title. I also heard that Pat's TZ girls romped in their race.

Congrats to Pat and Joe on their team titles! Great to see them having success in the coaching ranks. Best of luck, men, to your respective teams at the states -- which this year is up near the North Pole, from what I can gather.

Got me a laptop!

For team members reading this who were at practice yesterday ... you know how excited I am about my new, Marist-issued laptop. Very, very cool. This means I can now type up splits and other track-related nonsense on bus trips home from meets, when, as we all know, the DVD player on the bus is always broken. Right? Right.

Anyway, this fancy laptop (I'm posting on it now!) has an internal wireless card, meaning I can grab some WiFi on the road as well.

Congrats to Walsh on correctly answering the Pink Floyd trivia question. It is from the "Animals" record, which in my humble opinion was the finest work by the band.

Trying to get healthy here in Poughkeepsie. We'll do our best ...

Big man, pig man ...

Well, a lot of folks at Marist are freaking out about the various strains of flu circulating through campus, and with good reason: There are a lot of students getting sick.

College campuses -- and college athletic teams -- can be breeding grounds for such nasty viruses. Is this year worse than most? Hard to say, but don't ask me this question now (I know. I posed it.) ... because we've had our fair share of the flu or whatever ravaging our team pretty much all fall.

Unfortunately, it continues to work its way through the squad, and we have a few more guys home nursing their ailments. Hopefully, we'll get them back here soon and in time for championship season. But most importantly, we pray for their return to good health -- running aside.

Lastly, a free Marist Track T-shirt to anyone who gets the Classic Rock reference in the title of this post (hint: Ha-ha, charade you are ...)

Pass the Purell ...

Texting in my class

In the interest of full disclosure: While I teach my fancy "Track and Field Coaching" course each Tuesday and Thursday morning at Donnelly Hall ... yes, my cell phone is on, ready to receive calls and texts.

The reason is simple: If someone from my family (or my kids' school) needs to get hold of me in case of emergency, I need to be reached. It has happened.

Sure, you all can be wise guys and text me now when I am in class. I'll be sure to give you an extra interval or three in the next workout!

OK. I'm posting out of nervous energy as I watch the Yankees in Game 6 of the World Series. Go Yankees.

Stop texting in class, already!

More than once, I have been texting with a team member (I won't give up names here, to protect the guilty), and then it dawned on me. Hey, wait! They are in NIGHT CLASS!

I felt like an accessory to a crime: Texting in class. Apparently, it is not a big deal for many of you on the team. And from what I hear, it's not a big deal to a lot of professors out there.

Well, I'm here to say this, as an old-school guy: It does not seem right or appropriate to be texting -- me, or anyone -- while in class. There. I just had to get that off my chest.

Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on this.

Maybe Morrie had it right after all ...

Below are the complete results from last Friday's MAAC meet -- for those that have not found them online yet, and so they are part of the permanent record for future reference and archival purposes on this blog.

These results have been analyzed and sorted through many times by us here at Blog Central -- at practice, in person, etc. No need to add a lot more commentary here, except to say this (and, as a way of explaining the title of this post ...):

The Mitch Albom book, "Tuesdays With Morrie," is about the best and most important book published in my lifetime. If you have read it, I suggest you re-read it at least once per year. If you have not read it, do yourself a favor: Buy a copy online or at a used bookstore. Read it. Re-read it.

Anyway, in the book, the main character (Morrie) is at a basketball game at the college at which he teaches. The cheerleaders are all cheering: "We're Number One! We're Number One!" Morrie calmly walks up to them and inquires: "What's Wrong With Number Two?"

In our case, there is nothing at all wrong with Number Two. In the MAAC, that is. Finishing runner-up to Iona is as good as it gets on the men's side. On the women's side, we are not quite satisfied with being #2 each year. But this year, it was as good as it could have been.

The bottom line: We can control two things, and that is our preparation and our effort. We cannot control our conference affiliation and the level at which the teams in our conference compete.

I am proud to be associated with a great group of athletes on both squads, and I look forward to what the future brings.


Men's Team Standings

1. Iona 17
2. Marist 57
3. Rider 115
4. Manhattan 125
5. Fairfield 141
6. Loyola 147
7. Canisius 168
8. Niagara 200
9. Siena 266
10. St. Peter's

Marist Individual Results

7. Adam Vess 26:14.2 - All-MAAC
10. William Griffin 26:36.9 - All-MAAC
11. Matthew Flint 26:41.9 - All-MAAC
14. Arquimedes DelaCruz 27:00.2 - All-MAAC
15. Conor Shelley 27:04.8 - All-MAAC
18. Timothy Keegan 27:17.2
21. Nick Webster 27:21.4
28. Zak Smetana 27:38.8
34. Sean Nestor 27:51.9
36. Matthew Janczyk 27:59.6
37. Patrick Duggan 28:00.0
39. Sam McMullen 28:04.3
40. Thomas Lipari 28:05.4
57. Curtis Jensen 28:37.5
61. Brian Townsend 28:46.0
62. Mike Nicoletti 28:46.4
69. Ryan Brown 28:58.1
74. Billy Posch 29:18.8
79. Greg Masto 29:34.5
85. Matt Panebianco 29:43.5
87. Joel Moss 29:49.9
99. Colin Johnson 30:13.3
104. Ryan Fitzsimons 30:27.7
118. Brendan Green 31:46.8
123. Luke Shane 32:43.0
125. Michael Holinko 33:09.3

Women's Team Results

1. Iona 27
2. Marist 56
3. Canisius 66
4. Loyola 94
5. Rider 144
6. Fairfield 157
7. Manhattan 214
8. Niagara 243
9. Siena 258
10. Saint Peter's 261

Marist Individual Results

2. Addie DiFrancesco 22:51.8 - All-MAAC
8. Brittany Burns 23:53.8 - All-MAAC
9. Kathryn Sheehan 23:54.6 - All-MAAC
16. Jackie Gamboli 24:38.6
22. Erin O'Reilly 24:48.4
30. Julie Hudak 25:02.3
34. Jillian Corley 25:14.8
46. Brianna Crowe 25:36.2
50. Kelley Hanifin 25:42.3
51. Sarah Keating 25:42.6
56. Kara Lightowler 25:52.8
58. Sarah Parsloe 26:03.1
59. Laura Lindsley 26:05.2
64. Katie Topalian 26:19.9
67. Dayna McLaughlin 26:32.2
75. Allyson O'Brien 26:47.9
77. Rebecca Denise 27:00.1
79. Shannon Farrell 27:02.3
90. Dana Boscarino 27:25.1
94. Kelley Gould 27:48.6
97. Rachel Lichtenwalner 28:04.1
99. Elizabeth O'Brien 28:15.5
101. Rachel Bremer 28:21.9
104. Colleen Smith 28:48.7
110. Meaghan Lass 29:45.7
119. Daria Kowalik 30:46.1

Video of the MAAC meet

If you are interested, click this link for a pretty cool video from Friday's MAAC meet.

NYC Marathon today

Congrats to the following three Marist Alumni who ran strongly at today's New York City Marathon:

Mike Guarascio: 2:55:56. 661st place. G was proudly representing the Greater Boston Track Club and, of course, the Marist Alumni Racing Team. Nicely done, my friend!

Sean Hopkins: 2:57:48. 791st place. 13.1-mile split: 1:27:56.
Chris Camp: 2:58:59. 908th place. 13.1-mile split: 1:27:49.

Notice the splits and the finishing times. Close race between Hopkins and Camp. Of course, a little history and perspective is needed here. Back in their college days, while sharing a few (well, maybe more than a few) Barley Pops, somehow they got to discussing who might be a better post-collegiate marathon runner. A ridiculous bet was hatched. Four years after graduation, they would go head-to-head (mano-a-mano?) at the NYC Marathon. The winner would get to slap (punch?) the non-winner in the face.

I know. Very mature, right?

So at the halfway mark, Camp had the slight edge. But Hopkins closed a little stronger. As of this writing, the Winning Slap had not been delivered. But don't worry. It's Hopkins. He will deliver. Perhaps he already has!

Great job to all three alums, all of whom finished in the top 1,000 of the field.

In addition on Sunday ...

-- Brian Sheehan, dad of women's team sophomore (and All-MAAC runner!) Kathryn Sheehan and big supporter of our program, finished strongly in 3:13:05, 278th in his age group. He had to overcome a ridiculously slow start in the crowd (23:33 first 5km!), but worked his way through for the strong finish (his 13.1 split was 1:37:46). Nicely done, Mr. Sheehan!

-- Erin Duggan, sister of men's team junior Pat Duggan, completed the race in 4:26:31. Members of the Duggan Family are also avid supporters of the Running Red Foxes. Congrats on the finish, Erin.

Fan Mail

It happens, like clockwork, every year.

Some angry local driver calls the College to complain about those skinny runners with Marist shirts on.

Oh, they are jaywalking across Route 9! Oh, they are running five abreast up West Cedar! Oh, they are so dangerous and they are disrupting traffic!

It always trickles down to me, and I am told to have a word or three with my athletes. I get annoyed and frustrated that the only "recognition" we get is negative, despite the countless hours and miles we spend methodically removing the rubber from the bottom of our running shoe soles through our hard-earned miles.

And then, the other night, I got this email. It made me smile, and I share it with you here tonight.

Subject: Second place finish at your conference meet

Peter, the hard work of your runners paid off. While on my way to work the afternoon shift at Mid Hudson Bridge, I have seen your runners practicing over here in Highland. You surely have them working hard. By all means please have them keep up the good work. And best of luck for the rest of the season. Richie Matthews, Red Fox Club and Mid Hudson Bridge.

Thoughts on the MAAC meet

Overall, it was a great day for our program at Friday's MAAC Meet at Van Cortlandt Park. For the first time in many years, the men and the women finished 2nd at the meet.

For the men, it was seventh time in program history (and fifth in a row) that we have finished second to nationally-ranked Iona College. This is a badge of honor for our team, and you guys (past, present, future) should be proud of this accomplishment. Here is a breakdown of our 2nd-place finishes to Iona through the years:

1998: 70 points
2003: 60 points
2005: 73 points
2006: 52 points
2007: 61 points
2008: 55 points
2009: 57 points

For the women, our relatively young squad really stepped up -- running with toughness, maturity and depth -- to get the job done. Our top three runners (Addie DiFrancesco, Brittany Burns and Kathryn Sheehan) placed 2nd, 8th and 9th. Fantastic. What made the meet complete were our Fab Freshmen -- Jackie Gamboli and Erin O'Reilly. When their classmate, Katie Messina, went down with an untimely ankle injury, they stepped up and closed strongly, enabling us to outrun Canisius for 2nd place (56 points to 66 points). It was awesome.

By the way, Katie really tried her best to tough it out with the turned ankle, but she had to stop before the back hills as the discomfort was too much. Her tenacity and courage were very much admired and appreciated. The great thing about a team is that teammates will pick you up, and that's what happened on this day.

On the men's side, we had 5 All-MAAC performers (Adam Vess, Will Griffin, Matt Flint, Quimes DelaCruz and Conor Shelley) for the first time in school history. Overall, it was not a great meet for us top to bottom, but we got the job done.

A note on the finishing times, for alumni and those interested in history: They are essentially meaningless.

In the women's meet, the 6km course was about 109 meters long. However, at least the course was the same as previous 6km course at VCP. It was long simply due to the massive construction project at the park.

The men's course bears no resemblance to the traditional 5-mile VCP layout that we have run for generations. Too bad. It was long, windy, tougher and much slower. The course measured at least one-tenth longer than 5 miles, from what I could gather.

In addition, the hills were compressed, with the Back Hills and Cemetery separated by just about 1000 meters. So yes, the times were really slow. Too bad, it would have been nice to see where this team stacks up in the history of the program at VCP. Oh well, that's life.

Strategically, many of our guys went out too hard for the first flat 2 miles. And they paid, big time, in the back hills. This is uncharacteristic of our team. Live and learn. We will be MUCH smarter at IC4As in a few weeks.

Again, great day for the program. I am proud to represent both the women's and men's teams, and we did an excellent job on this day.

I will follow up with complete results and additional commentary when possible.

Here's hoping no one looks like THIS on Friday ...

Since I'm not on Facebook, I asked Quinn to send me his vintage MAAC Moustache photo, this from the MAAC Championship 4x400 team of yesteryear.

Truly a hideous MAAC 'Stache. Nicely done!

Again, hope to see some of you on Friday at VCP.

Weather report

Nasty day today. A little preview of indoor track, as it was a straight distance day (no workout). Thus, many men and women did laps around the McCann Track. Others ran on the treadmill. Still others did a combination of McCann Laps and campus mile.

Wet. Cold. Nasty. I'm glad we were not working out today.

Fortunately, Friday's weather for VCP and the East looks good. Sunny/partly cloudy, mild but not too warm, high around 60. Sounds good to me!

Again, as a reminder to alums, family and friends: Women at 2 p.m.; Men at 2:45 p.m. Hope to see you all there.

MAAC moustache

It happens like clockwork three times a year.

At practice, the men's runners start looking a little scraggly in the face. In some cases it's quite humorous watching these uneven, ungainly patches of seemingly random facial hair. I begin to wonder what the deal is and then I remember:

MAAC moustache time!

In the days and weeks leading up to whatever MAAC Championship is in season (cross country, indoor track, outdoor track), the boys try (usually in vain) to grow their MAAC moustaches -- I guess in an effort of solidarity, team spirit or whatever. Kind of like NHL players who grow their "playoff beards." Right, Phil?

And while it's technically called "MAAC moustache," several of the boys try to grow full beards, goatees ... or, if I remember correctly, one year Hopkins got a killer, circa-mid-1980s mullet for a MAAC Championship in the past. Or maybe it was ICs?

Anyway, when did this MAAC moustache tradition start? I do not remember. I do remember Quinn having some of the more creative fu manchu style moustaches ready to rip for whatever MAAC meet was upcoming.

So parents, alums, friends, beware. That's not the New York Islanders getting off the bus at VCP on Friday, but rather your favorite, scraggly Running Red Foxes.

Programming note, for those interested: The MAAC meet is Friday at VCP. Women at 2; men at 2:45. Weather is looking pretty good. The park is a mess with construction, and parking could be tough as the Heps (Ivy League Championships) are going to be there as well, before our fancy races.

Plan accordingly, and hope to see you there. Feel free to sport a MAAC moustache of your own. Me? I just shaved this morning, but I'll have some growth ready for Friday.

Toenail talk

OK. More than one blog follower sent me this link to a New York Times article about ultramarathon runners getting their toenails permanently removed. So I figured I'd do a short post on it.

Pretty disgusting idea, wouldn't you say? In case you are too lazy to read it, some hardcore ultramarathon types have their toenails permanently removed by having "acid poured onto a nail bed for permanent removal." Lovely. Sounds like fun, huh!

The folks that sent me the link know that I dabbled in ultras for a few years -- a handful of 50Ks, a couple 12-hour runs, a 40-miler on my 40th birthday. But I am/was nowhere near hardcore enough to do this.

For a long-distance runner, toenails can be a bit of a nuisance. My good buddy and longtime coaching compatriot (and now blog follower!) Phil has some of the ugliest toenails I've ever seen. Sorry, pal. It's true! Me? I have a pesky, right big toenail that keeps getting black-and-blue, then falls off, then regrows. My wife is grossed out by it, and with good reason. It's pretty gruesome looking.

Yucky toenail syndrome is seldom a problem for collegiate distance runners. If and when it is, however, I would certainly NOT recommend the acid treatment. I think our men and women agree on this: If they were to spend additional money on mangling their bodies, they'd much rather get tattoos.

Memo to men's team members: We need CARS for practice today! We only have one van. Thanks, and see you then.

Sponge Pete answers ...

Thanks to Harris and Prinz for chiming in on the Big Sponge Theory. Good to hear from you both. As always.

Prinz posed the following, interesting question:

Why is 4x400 with 1 minute rest a bad workout? Why is a good workout?

It is a tough question to answer in a vacuum, but in the spirit of discourse here is my take on it for Prinz.

Why is it a bad workout? Probably because the runner (most likely a highly-trained male) will salivate over the low volume of the workout and drill it way too fast (sub-60?), given the insanely short rest break. So, in DanielsSpeak, that guy will be doing rep work with thresh recovery. THIS IS A BAD COMBINATION! Terrible.

Why is it a good workout? Done correctly, this workout could give a highly trained miler type the confidence to run race pace while tired and not fully recovered. It can also teach said miler the restraint to run the first 400 of the workout (and thus the race) at close to goal race pace, which will feel relatively comfortable.

As with most workouts, if the coach puts good thought into it and then the athlete executes it properly, it will have some training benefit. However, here in the real world, coaches are not always perfect in their judgment and athletes certainly are not perfect in their execution.

It's all part of the fun, isn't it?

Thanks again, guys, for thought-provoking stuff.

Flu shots will be available

Hello Team: I received the following email regarding flu shots ...

For those athletes that reserved a flu shot in September: The flu shot clinic will be held on Wednesday, October 28th in McCann from 5-7 p.m. I will let you know the specific location in McCann as I am notified.

As a reminder: Athletes that did not reserve but now want a shot can go to the open flu shot session on the same day from noon to 4 p.m. in Room 348A of the Student Center to receive a shot. They will be required to pay the fee (approximately $15) but should obtain a receipt for future reimbursement.

Any questions about this, call, text, email or see me at practice.

The Big Sponge Theory

As many of you know, for the past three fall semesters I have taught a special-topics physical education/science class here at Marist College called “Track and Field Coaching.”

Now, before you snicker and make jokes: This is a 2-credit, academic-based class. A few blog readers and followers are “alums” of this class (or maybe are in this class right now! … future alums of the fancy class), and they can attest to the fact that I try to challenge the students with a lot of work.

To wit: Along with perfect attendance, requirements include 10 1-page papers, a 5-page midterm research paper and a final project in which students must map out and detail a training program for a team for an entire season or training cycle. The goal is to make the students ready to coach a track team if needed.

I’m happy to report that Marist alum DJ Paulson, who was in my first class back in 2007, will be coaching locally at Beacon High School, where he teaches. He said he will be using our class textbook as a reference to help him. This is great! Good luck, DJ!

Anyway, I’ve been trying to do some new and creative things with the class this year. We have weekly fun “quizzes” as a way to get through the material. And I’m trying to incorporate everyone in the discussions, branching out and away from the text a bit, as we have a few non-track folks in the class.

We just completed a short block on distance running. Some of the class discussions were wide-ranging and interesting. One topic that came up was the subject of overtraining as it relates to college athletes. It’s a relevant topic and one that generated a fair amount of healthy discussion.

This led me to trot out my “Big Sponge Theory" on collegiate distance runners’ training. I’ve tried to impart my “Big Sponge Theory” on previous teams and eras of Marist Distance Running. Mostly, the theory was met with apathy at best, ridicule at worst. But I am undaunted, and I keep hammering home the same ideas year after year in hopes someone will get something out of what is said. And in fairness, several current team members seemed to grasp the concepts espoused in the “Big Sponge Theory.”

Of course, being the buffoon I am, I had the whole class giggling, laughing and generally making fun of me by starting my theory with a reference to a “big-ass sponge.” Not smart on my part! Giggle-giggle. Chortle-chortle. Laugh-laugh.

OK. Now that the “b-a sponge” line is out of the way, and perhaps the longest intro in history of blogging is done, I would like to share the Big Sponge Theory with my friends in the blogosphere. Here goes:

Imagine your body, a distance runner’s legs and body, is a Big Sponge. A Big Sponge. OK. Got that? Now, each time you go on a training run, imagine that the training load is represented by water being poured onto the Big Sponge that is you.

An easy distance run is a slow and steady drip of water onto the sponge. It gets ABSORBED (key word) relatively easily. During base training, which consists primarily of easy distance runs, that slow and steady drip onto the sponge keeps the sponge nice and moist. A nice and moist sponge is GOOD. A nice and moist sponge is the GOAL.

Now, any Quality Days mean that a large volume of water is being poured onto your sponge. A long run? A lot of water. Note that even if the long run is at an easy pace, it is still a Quality Day and still represents a lot of water. A hard, hammering distance run? A lot of water. Hill repeats? Tempo? Fartlek? Intervals? Buckets and buckets and buckets.

So here’s the Big Sponge Theory: Those quality days (or Bucket Days) need to be spread out, or else your sponge will be oversaturated, your legs and your body overtrained. If, after a quality day of any sort, you follow that up with a few easy days (slow drips), that allows the Big Sponge to ABSORB the water. And this is what keeps the sponge (and you) healthy, strong. This is where the advances in training, fitness and ability come; in letting that sponge ABSORB those bucket days and stay nice and moist. And remember: A nice and moist sponge is the GOAL.

If you over-saturate the sponge, it will be soaked. It will not be effective. It will be useless. Much like an overtrained body.

The message, then, to the overzealous (usually hot-shot freshmen trying to prove themselves) collegiate distance runner is this: Don’t oversoak your sponge. Don’t hammer every day. Let your body recover between hard efforts. If you hammer your recovery days, you are pouring more water than needed onto that Big Sponge. Then, the next day when we are doing some sort of Quality Day, the downpour continues. Eventually, the sponge, and you, become ineffective. Feckless. It can take days and sometimes weeks for that Big Sponge (you!) to dry out and return to the coveted nice and moist stage.

And remember: A nice and moist sponge is the GOAL.

Does this make sense? Is this long-winded? Did I just waste your time and my blog space? I hope not. It makes sense to me, and I hope you can take a little something out of this.

Just call me: SpongePete, SquareCoach.

Run. Rehydrate. Run Some More!

Wonder women at Spackenkill

Talk about surreal! Just a few days after delving into winter for a day out at Penn State, today I was out at the Spackenkill High School track for a delightfully sunny and warm day with the women's team.

Coach Chuck was under the weather and could not make it to practice. I dispatched the men's team off to Vassar Farm for some light threshold (thanks to Captain Vess for organizing and orchestrating the workout without their Old Man Coach), and went over to the Spack Track for Chuck's prescribed torture: 3x1600, 1x800.

As many of you know, I'm not a big fan of track workouts during the cross country season. This is mostly because the idea of bringing men over to the track gets me nervous. "Restraint" is not in their vocabulary. The women generally do as they are told when it comes to workouts; as a result, going to the track is not as potentially harmful for them.

Well today, the ladies were lights-out great on a warmer-than-normal day. I was extremely impressed. I told several of them after the workout that this could prove to be the greatest assemblage of women's distance runners we have ever had; and trust me, we have had some great ones in the past.

But that's a subject for another day, perhaps. For now, it's great to see the hard work and progress our women's team has made. From the beginning of the season to now. And for the returning women, from last year to this year.

Nicely done, ladies. Let's close out the championship portion of our season in strong fashion.

Men's splits from Albany

Hello men! Below are the 2-mile splits from Albany, as best as I could get them. Good news/bad news about the splits. Good news: There were no injured runners to help me take the splits down. Bad news: There were no injured runners to help me take the splits down.

That's more good news than bad. But given the chilly temps and my frozen digits, I did the best I could. Here are the splits (in parenthesis after the results), with some short commentary as well as warranted.

Men's varsity results

2. Conor Shelley 24:39.8 (9:48). Nice PR, dude!
4. Will Griffin 24:53 (9:55). Excellent neg split effort on tired legs.
9. Quimes DelaCruz 25:20.3 (10:08). You continue to impress. Nicely done.
14. Tim Keegan 25:27.8 (9:55). Considering your recent illness woes, this was a strong and positive effort.
18. Nick Webster 25:36.4 (10:08). A little sluggish, still good.
41. Sam McMullen 25:54.2 (10:20). Strong breakthrough effort. You looked great!
60. Tom Lipari 26:08.1 ((10:30). Nice bounce-back race. You will peak at the right time this year.
82. Matt Janczyk 26:24.6 (10:25). Let down after breakthrough at Paul Short. Negative energy.
122. Zak Smetana 27:04.3 (10:30). The Albany jinx continues.

Men's Purple Race Results

2. Sean Nestor 26:14.0 (10:22). Great bounce back from your injury.
4. Mike Nicoletti 26:27.1 (10:35). Great job considering you were less than 100 percent.
6. Pat Duggan 26:31.3 (10:30). Solid effort but not as good as previous two.
8. Brian Townsend 26:49.7 (missed it?). Really excellent progression. Nice job.
9. Matt Panebianco 26:50.8 (10:40). Another strong effort.
11. Billy Posch 26:55.6 (10:42). Flat. Can be better. Will be better.
13. Colin Johnson 26:57.2 (10:44). Breakthrough. Perfect race.
14. Mike Keegan 27:01.2 (10:44). Breakthrough. Perfect race.
19. Ryan Brown 27:11.3 (10:57). Strong effort.
29. Ryan Fitzsimons 27:23.0 (11:02). Perfectly executed.
34. Joel Moss 27:38.7 (10:56). Solid effort.
61. Will Schanz 28:21.5 (11:01). All things considered, pretty strong.
63. Greg Masto 28:24.7 (11:02). Went out too fast! Otherwise pretty good.
72. Brendan Green 28:51.2 (11:15). Wow. Wow. Wow!
101. Luke Shane 30:38.7 (12:01). Strong PR.

Note for women's team followers: I'm pretty sure Chuck got the splits as he darted into the woods for the mile and got to the 2-mile mark as well. As a team on the women's side, I thought we showed a lot of depth and for the most part, everyone ran very aggressively early (getting out fast) and strong late. A good meet on which to build.

Solid day at Albany

Our women's team placed 2nd at the UAlbany meet on Saturday and the men won for the second consecutive year. The weather turned out better than we could have hoped. It was cold, but sunny/partly cloudy and dry. A far cry from what a few of us experienced at Penn State the day before!

Click here for complete results.

On the women's side, we had a tight pack behind our lead runner, Addie DiFrancesco. In addition, we had seven women under 19:00 and 15 women under 20:00. All noteworthy.

On the men's side, we patchworked some varsity guys who were going to run at Penn State along with the guys who were scheduled to run at UAlbany. Conor Shelley had a strong PR up front, Will Griffin ran a strong race. Freshman Quimes DelaCruz continued to impress with his 25:20. Sam McMullen dipped under 26:00 for the first time.

Way down on the list, but no less impressive, Brendan Green lopped two (2!) minutes off his previous 8km PR and broke 30:00 for the first time. In fact, he broke 29 en route!!! (28:51.2).

There were many more highlights and I'll try to get more details in the coming days.

This was a good meet as we head into our championship season.

Women's results

6. Addie DiFrancesco - 17:56.9 - 2nd fastest time in school history for 5k XC
17. Kathryn Sheehan - 18:21.0
23. Brittany Burns - 18:25.0
29. Katie Messina - 18:35.8
34. Erin O'Reilly - 18:41.7
46. Julie Hudak - 18:50.5
47. Jackie Gamboli - 18:50.9
77. Jillian Corley - 19:17.3
82. Sarah Keating - 19:21.6

Women's Gold Race Results
Laura Lindsley - 19:22.6
Sarah Parsloe - 19:38.1
Dayna McLaughlin - 19:44.8
Kara Lightowler - 19:48.5
Allyson O'Brien - 19:49.8
Briana Crowe - 19:56.5
Rebecca Denise - 20:12.6
Kelley Hanifin - 20:32.2
Colleen Smith - 20:44.8
Lauren Pica - 20:54.0
Katie Topalian - 20:56.9
Kelley Gould - 21:03.9
Shannon Farrell - 21:09.6
Rachel Lichtenwalner - 21:25.6
Dana Boscarino - 21:29.3
Rachel Bremer - 21:39.3
Elizabeth O'Brien - 21:47.2
Meaghan Lass - 22:32.4
Erin Quadros - 23:11.2
Daria Kowalik - 23:39.3

Men's results

2. Conor Shelley 24:39.8
4. Will Griffin 24:53
9. Quimes DelaCruz 25:20.3
14. Tim Keegan 25:27.8
18. Nick Webster 25:36.4
41. Sam McMullen 25:54.2
60. Tom Lipari 26:08.1
82. Matt Janczyk 26:24.6
122. Zak Smetana 27:04.3


Men's Purple Race Results

2. Sean Nestor 26:14.0
4. Mike Nicoletti 26:27.1
6. Pat Duggan 26:31.3
8. Brian Townsend 26:49.7
9. Matt Panebianco 26:50.8
11. Billy Posch 26:55.6
13. Colin Johnson 26:57.2
14. Mike Keegan 27:01.2
19. Ryan Brown 27:11.3
29. Ryan Fitzsimons 27:23.0
34. Joel Moss 27:38.7
61. Will Schanz 28:21.5
63. Greg Masto 28:24.7
72. Brendan Green 28:51.2
101. Luke Shane 30:38.7

Bridge May Be Icy

I saw this sign way too many times in the past 30 hours, as we futilely drove to and from Penn State for a meet that was canceled due to a freak October snowstorm.

Trust me, it snowed. A lot. The course was covered in about 3-4 inches this morning. The big issue were downed trees all over the course. They were snapping as we stood there. So that would not have been a good idea to run, with limbs coming down on hordes of runners. The decision was a no-brainer. It was a tough situation for the Penn State meet folks and they handled it quite well.

The plan now is for some (but not all) of the varsity guys from Penn State to run at UAlbany in the morning at that Invy. We will sort out the details in the next few hours.

Suffice it to say I am tired. I just got done with a roughly 10-hour van roundtrip with a group of, shall we say, energized young men. It was a fun and memorable trip, but a bit stressful plying the hills of Central PA through heavy snow, sleet and rain. I have a newfound respect for truckers, because I felt like one these past two days.

Look for a full race report after the UAlbany Invy -- either Saturday afternoon, evening or Sunday.

Dress warmly, boys and girls. It's gonna be COLD. But at least, no measurable snow, from what I can gather.

Cool down, schmool down?

Holy smokes!

My good buddy, old Marist alum (from the 1970s!) Marty McGowan sent along the following New York Times article that basically says COOLING DOWN IS A WASTE OF TIME.

How can this be?

This flies in the face of everything I have thought and believed about cooling down!

Of course, being an avid "non-stretcher" it does make sense to me personally. But I'm still not certain it is sound advice.

However, one part of the article was particularly disturbing. It said that after hard exercise, when your muscles produce lactic acid, that lactic acid is then turned into glycogen for your muscles. This is good, right? However, IF YOU COOL DOWN, the beneficial process is LOST because that energy is needed for your cool down. Crazy? You bet!

What do you all think of this? Should we stop cooling down? I think not, but it is certainly food for thought.

My goodness.

Hicks PRs at Albany

Marist alum and current medical school student Steve Hicks had a strong, personal-best run at the Mohawk-Hudson River Marathon in Albany on Sunday.

Steve placed fifth overall in 2:33:45, an average of 5:53 per mile. He placed fifth overall in perhaps one of the most competitive marathon fields there in recent history. Last year, Steve was second overall in 2:37:13. So Steve PRed by about 3.5 minutes! That's great. He was hoping for a sub-2:30, but I'm still proud of this strong new PR time.

According to the race results, Steve went through the first 13.1 miles in 1:14:20. That's quite peppy, but again he was in a race with some fast runners and he was aiming for sub-2:30. He slowed in the second half of the race to 1:19:26 -- still a strong effort.

Steve is now a teammate of Mike Melfi (class of 99) with the Syracuse Track Club, and they will be running fall cross country races together. Pretty cool: Two Marist running alums from different eras now joining forces on the same team.

Nice job, Steve. Recover quickly and keep running strong.

Parenti's impressive half-marathon debut

Got a text from Marist alum Nate Parenti, who informed me of his extremely impressive half-marathon debut Sunday at the Staten Island Half Marathon. Nate placed 17th overall out of more than 3,000 finishers in 1:17:34.

Check out the official race result line here:

PARENTI NATE M27 307 MAAL BROOKLYN NY 17 17 7 1:17:34 5:55 1:17:34 35 76.3 %

Notice the MAAL? That stands for: Marist Alumni Racing Team!

Thanks, Nate, for noticing that pull-down on all New York Road Runners (NYRR) races. And note to other alums in NYRR races: Use that pull-down so that you are proudly representing the MART. Or MAAL, as the New York Road Runners calls us.

A short note on Parenti: As many of you know, Nate and I rarely saw eye-to-eye during his time at Marist. Once he left Marist, he constantly lobbied for me to give him a MART singlet. I declined his requests, until he completed his degree.

Once he completed his degree, I gave him the MART singlet, with a stern warning: Wear it with pride and show up to races ready to race. He has more than heeded this advice.

Yo, Parenti: I'm proud of you, buddy. Nicely done! I hope you stick with it, and I hope you keep getting faster.

Joe T. PRs at Hartford

From yesterday:

Joe Tarantello (class of 08) ran a PR in the marathon at the Hartford Marathon. Joey Tat placed 27th overall in 2:56:24 (6:44 pace) on a less-than-perfect marathon day.

It was a bit warm and humid early on, and then the wind was whipping around later in the day. Joe was hoping for close to 2:50 on this day, but given the conditions he did a tremendous job and I'm proud of him.

Rolek rocks in half marathon

This post is a few weeks' overdue. Our boy Mike Rolek (class of 08, former 10km school record holder) ran a sizzling 13.1 at the Newport Liberty Half Marathon in Jersey City, NJ, a few weekends ago.

Mike was using this as a hard training run, but it turned into much more than that. On a wet course with a lot of turns, Mike ran 1:10:23 (5:22 pace) and got third overall. This comes on the heels of a very strong 20km in New Haven a few weeks prior.

Mike is training hard for the Philly Half Marathon later in the fall. His goal is to break 1:10 at Philly. He's almost there.

Weather watch

Hello men:

Another beautiful day has dawned in the mid-Hudson Valley. However, as the calendar marches through October and hurries its way toward November, keep in mind that the Weather Gods may not be as kind as they are now. To wit:

-- Friday's forecast for State College, PA (Penn State) is calling for damp and cool conditions, with highs only in the mid-40s.
-- Saturday's forecast for Albany, NY (UAlbany) is calling for similar conditions.

Keep this in mind as we proceed through the week. The heat and humidity are, for the most part, a thing of the past. It's going to be chilly and probably stay chilly, for a while.

Mile repeats by the watch

Nice job in the mile repeats at Bowdoin Park today. It was actually a bit humid and the rain stopped for us.

Coach Chuck ran a few of them with Group 3 and did a great job with it. Interestingly, he noted with his fancy Garmin watch that the thing beeped about 5 seconds before he reached my end-of-mile cones.

This indicates that wheeled measurement is not 100 percent accurate -- especially if the dorky coach (me!) does not walk the tangents as you run them.

Given all this, keep in mind that most of you all ran a pretty strong workout today.

As noted today, those of you that drilled the 3x7 min tempo a bit too hard on Tuesday perhaps paid the price a little today. It's OK. It happens.

Those of you that are going or went home ... have a great weekend. We shall reconvene on Monday.

Unusual, off-beat personalities ...

As if on cue, shortly after my Prinz post yesterday, Wantagh's own Quimes DelaCruz showed up at practice in an old Marist sprinter speed suit! He proceeded to run the 8-mile bridge run. In a speed suit.

That's got to be a first, to my recollection.

Perhaps the Q-Man thought he was at wrestling practice (he was a good wrestler at Wantagh).

Anyway, to each his own.

As long as his running shoes are not worn and he is working hard, he can wear whatever he wants (within reason) to practice.

Mile repeats in the rain later today, at Bowdoin. Women's team did a nice job on the hill workout yesterday at Bowdoin.

A new altitude for Prinz

As promised, a Marist Running post/update on Marist Alum Sean Prinz.

Like Walsh, Prinz is a proud Wantagh man. Our current freshman Quimes DelaCruz is continuing the quirky Wantagh-Marist connection/tradition. And that is: Unusual, off-beat personalities who are serious, hard-working runners.

I don't think I am hurting anyone's feelings or taking too many liberties by labeling Prinz, Walsh and now Quimes as "unusual, off-beat personalities who are serious, hard-working runners."

Anyway, when I was talking with CT a couple weeks ago, he mentioned to me that Prinz was in Columbia. At least that's how I heard it. My first thought was: "What's this? My counter-culture boy has gone Ivy League? How can this be?"

Of course, being the idiot that I am, I was wrong.

Not Columbia. Colombia.

Yes. The country. In South America.

At altitude. Serious altitude.

Prinz has relocated there with his Significant Other. During the past year, he has taken on a renewed seriousness to his training and racing. Moving to the serious mountains of South America will enable him to enhance this.

Without further ado, here is some of what Prinz told me via email. From Colombia:

I'm living in Armenia, Colombia, which sits about 5500 feet and on my run east I get up to 9000 feet in about 40 minutes. I was at 9000 feet in the Bogota and did some hills that got me above 10,000 and those runs hurt. I was sucking wind at 8 minute pace (Editor's note: I suck wind at 8-minute pace on the flat roads of Poughkeepsie!). I have access to the Internet and I'm keeping my logbook on gmail documents. Rolek, Walsh, and most importantly quasi-coach Hopkins have viewing privileges. Let me know if you want access to see it as well to follow along and chime in from time to time (Editor's note: Yes Sean, that would be cool).

I'd be more than happy to have a cover story on the Marist Blog (Editor's note: Here it is!). I saved up for about six months and my girlfriend saved her wads and wads of cash from bartending weekends during school that we have a nice nut we don't mind cracking traveling the world for 6 months. We are currently based out of Colombia and leaving in mid-October to head to Ecuador, then Peru, then Chile all the way down the Pacific. Plan is to head back north along the Atlantic.

The goal is to build one hell of an aerobic base while I'm away and see if I can ever break 15 for 5k before I'm 30 or in this lifetime.

I'm off for a run...I'd like to say an easy 10, but no runs feel easy these days.

Awesome. Thanks, Prinz.

Safe travels, and keep running strong in your pursuit for the sub-15:00. I think you can do it!

More Paul Short numbers, thoughts

Several team members were wondering about their splits from Paul Short. Thanks to freshman Will Schanz, who was recovering from injury and did not run, we have a lot of splits from the meet. It was very difficult and hectic, so we couldn't get them all, but Will (and Lipari) did a great job with them.

Here's what we've got ...

Varsity race, 5km splits

Conor Shelley: 15:35
Tim Keegan: 15:41. Yup. Out too fast.
Will Griffin and Matt Flint: 15:44
Curtis Jensen: 15:49 (guess)
Nick Webster: 15:53
Quimes DelaCruz: 16:00
Zak Smetana: 16:13
Sam McMullen and Pat Duggan: 16:20

JV race, Mile and 5km splits where available

Sean Nestor: 5:12, 16:27. Still too fast but getting better.
Matt Janczyk: 5:18, 16:30. Perfect. Absolutely perfect!
Mike Nicoletti: 5:18, 16:36. Nice, strong race.
Billy Posch: 5:18, 16:36. Ditto.
Brian Townsend: 5:18, 16:40 (not sure of that). Very solid effort on your road to recovery.
Matt Panebianco: 5:18, 16:53. Excellent.
Kyle Havard: 5:18, 17:06. Decent, solid effort.
Joel Moss: 5:26, 17:06. Tremendous. Nicely done.
Greg Masto: 5:26, did not get 5km. Best xc race in a long while.
Ryan Fitzsimons: 5:35, 17:21. Breakthrough effort.
Ryan Brown: 5:27, 17:21. Strong and solid.
Colin Johnson: did not get mile, 17:00. Very good!
Mike Keegan: Missed them both, but you still ran great!
Brendan Green: 5:32, missed 5km. Great job.
Mike Holinko: 5:32, missed 5km. Decent effort and time.

WOMEN'S ANALYSIS

Chuck and I just exchanged some emails this morning and a lightbulb went on in my head. This year's women's team is very reminscent to the 1998 men's team. I know this doesn't mean much to most younger readers of this blog.

That team was the best in school history up to that point, in large part due to three fantastic lead runners in Mike Melfi, Ben Hefferon and Greg Salamone. After that, we had a big gap to our 4th and 5th. Same is the case with the women. The goal with this women's team is the same as it was with that men's team back 11 years ago: Close that gap!

We believe this can be achieved. We had a strong pool of "pack" runners who are definitely capable of closing that gap. That will be the goal at our next two meets, UAlbany and MAACs.

Our remaining schedule, for those keeping score at home:

Friday, 10.16: Penn State National (varsity men only)
Saturday, 10.17: UAlbany Invitational (rest of men's squad, full women's team)
Friday, 10.30: MAAC Championships, VCP
Saturday, 11.14: NCAA Regional, Franklin Park, Boston
Saturday, 11.21: IC4A/ECACs, VCP

Hope to see some alums and many parents/family/friends at some of these events.

Paul Short analysis, men's results

While watching the meet on Friday and thinking about it afterwards, my first thoughts were: "Geez, we got our butts handed to us out there; but I think we still ran OK?" It was weird. Times were fast. Places were not great, in the varsity race.

It took Hopkins to put it in perspective best in a text he sent me over the weekend:

"So all things considered, no Girma, Raucci or Vess, this year's team placed 5 spots higher against stiffer competition."

All true. And all makes me feel a lot better about things.

Now look: You can only judge the team that is out there. The reality of the matter is Girma/Raucci are done for xc, and it was our decision not to race Vess. You can "what-if" results till the cows come home (Well, if we had Vess, we would have ... ) but that can sometimes be unproductive and frustrating.

I'm proud of the team we trotted out there. And as Hopkins pointed out, we did a pretty darn good job overall -- much better than last year. And last year's team was pretty good!

Justin Harris, who was there coaching his SUNY New Paltz team, also made a valid point. Our (Marist) style of racing is not very conducive to a track-meet style of meet like Paul Short. At PS, you gotta get out and stay out. If you try to run even-paced or smart pacing, you are stuck way behind. While you can make it up somewhat, on a relatively fast course with no chump runners, you aren't gonna be gobbling up a lot of places over the final 3km.

So, the quick analysis goes like this.

In the varsity race, the following guys ran really well: Curtis, Quimes, Zak, Sam, Duggan. Web had a nice bounce-back race after a little detour with a hip injury. The rest of the varsity guys ran well, solid, decent. Not great. Not awful. Left us yearning for more.

In the JV race, I would say top to bottom everyone ran really well. Some more than others. But in general, extremely strong. I was very, very pumped after this race!

Good heavens. Practically the entire team PRed and I am still picking things apart. I guess that's a good thing.

We have a lot of season to go, fellas, and a lot of goals to hit.

Stay healthy. Stay strong.

Run. Rehydrate. Run some more.

Gold Race (Varsity) results

Conor Shelley 24:47 (personal best)
William Griffin 24:49 (personal best)
Matthew Flint 24:52 (personal best)
Curtis Jensen 25:05 (personal best)
Nick Webster 25:25 (personal best)
Tim Keegan 25:28 (personal best)
Arquimedes DelaCruz 25:29 (personal best)
Zak Smetana 25:57 (personal best)
Sam McMullen 26:17 (personal best)
Patrick Duggan 26:19 (personal best)

Open Race Results

Matt Janczyk 26:00 (personal best)
Sean Nestor 26:18 (personal best)
Billy Posch 26:21 (personal best)
Mike Nicoletti 26:39 (personal best)
Matt Panebianco 26:56 (personal best)
Brian Townsend 27:07
Kyle Havard 27:19 (personal best)
Joel Moss 27:20 (personal best)
Michael Keegan 27:23 (personal best)
Ryan Brown 27:24 (personal best)
Colin Johnson 27:29 (personal best)
Ryan Fitzsimons 27:41 (personal best)
Greg Masto 28:02
Mike Holinko 29:30
Brendan Green 30:55 (personal best)