Chillin’ with Chomps

During our recently completed vacation, my son Joey, his Godmother Mary and I traveled down to Saratoga Springs for the 4-mile Firecracker race on July 4 – an excellent event!

While there, we ran into our old friend and Marist Running Alum Chris McCloskey. “Chomps,” as he was known back in the day, is now running and racing for Albany Running Exchange (Hopkins does NOT approve!), and is quite possibly in the best shape of his life. Chris is in the final stages of preparation for the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon later this month.

How ironic is this? Chris was the guy who was always resisting the long-distance races in cross country – insisting he was a “speed guy” better suited for track. It is true; he was a record-setting middle distance runner during his time at Marist. He excelled at the 800, 1000, mile and 1,500, and was a key member of our relay teams back during that time. He was one of the fiercest competitors I ever coached. How intense was Chomps? He would snarl at me during interval workouts if he thought the rest intervals were "too long." I always admired his intensity.

The idea of running a marathon was probably repulsive to him back then. Now? He will be running a marathon after swimming two and half miles and cycling more than 100 miles. WOW! We are proud of Chris’s maturation as an endurance athlete. We wish him well in the Ironman. We know, given his toughness, that he will do great up there.