Laps at Norrie Point: Omar finishes!

After a one-year hiatus due to a winter weather cancellation last January, our annual Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club “Fat Ass 50” race was held at Norrie Point. My old friend Charlie Sprauer and I (two old guys, below) have been organizing this race since 1996 (with only two weather cancellations, 2003 and 2018). We had a great turnout of runners (close to 100) with the usual small crew of 10-lap finishers. Notably, our own Omar Perez churned out all 10 laps in a very methodical fashion. I cautioned Omar against doing the whole thing, but darn it, now that he has done it I gotta say I’m really proud of him. Nicely done, Bro! Below are the complete race results.

Mid-Hudson Road Runners Club

Recover From the Holidays (Fat Ass) 50km run

Norrie Point, Staatsburg, NY

10 repeats of hilly, out-and-back road 5km loop

1-Justin Kouski (Westport, CT, 38) 4:11:50

2-Byron Lane (Stony Brook, NY, 51) 4:27:04

3-John Coughlin (Greenlawn, NY, 41) 4:32:45

4-Omar Perez (Poughkeepsie, NY, 24) 4:46:29 (9:13.3 pace)

5-Jeanine Armbrust (Staatsburg, NY, 53) 5:21:54

6-David Walker (Salt Point, NY, 50) 5:24:25

7-Jacque Schiffer (Olivebridge, NY, 54) 5:29:42

8-Stephanie Marden (Hyde Park, NY, 41) 5:31:38

9-Allison Lassoe (Sheffield, MA, 56) 5:57:06

10-Stacey Victor (Poughkeepsie, NY, 35) 6:22:31

Big Blue Doughnut

We had our first visit to the SUNY New Paltz indoor track with our sprinting crew on Monday afternoon. The Big Blue Doughnut is our home during the winter months. We’re hoping for a snowless winter and very little time inside. Other than the freak mid-November storm? So far, so good. Let’s keep that snow to the south of us!

Great way to start preseason

Catching up on some past news/photos with a few posts: Thanks to several members of our men’s track team for taking time out of their first night back on campus by volunteering last Thursday night at the Dutchess Outreach Lunchbox during dinnertime. Marist Athletics has committed to helping out at Dutchess Outreach each Thursday during the spring semester, and our men got the semester off to a great start. Neat!

Spartan Invitational: Shea Bohan, ECAC qualifier!

Well. Apparently the old coach running this blog is a bit rusty at the start of 2019. Apologies to senior captain Shea Bohan for the oversight in the results, as SheaBo's mile victory last night was an ECAC qualifier! For some reason, I thought the ECAC qualifying mark was 4:56.04 but it's actually 4:59.04 and Shea's time of 4:58.80 squeaked under that. So that's a great way to start the season! Sorry to one and all for this lapse and oversight and let's start filling up that bus for ECAC/IC4As!

Mile run

1-Shea Bohan 4:58.80 *ECAC qualifier!

39, 76 (37), 1:52 (36), 2:29 (37), 3:06 (37), 3:43 (37), 4:21 (38), 4:58.80 (37.80)

Spartan Invitational: Women's results and splits

We normally don’t pay a ton of attention to team standings, but here’s a cool factoid: Our women were third out of 22 teams with 59 points in this meet! Of course, taking the top four spots (!!) in the mile and three of the top five spots in the 3km (!) will DO that. So yeah, a good start to what we hope will be a great winter for our ladies. Kudos to our individual event winners (Shea Bohan in the mile and Gianna Tedeschi in the 3km).

Spartan Invitational

Hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC)

Friday, January 11, 2019

Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex

Women’s results

200-meter dash

14. Debbie Boerke 26.68

28. Camille McHenry 27.23

53. Grace Cepeda 28.50

400-meter dash

3-Debbie Boerke 58.91

28. Camille McHenry 1:05.64

800-meter run

4. Gianna Mastromatteo 2:20.98

36. Erin Flynn 2:42.38

Mile run

1-Shea Bohan 4:58.80 *ECAC qualifier!

39, 76 (37), 1:52 (36), 2:29 (37), 3:06 (37), 3:43 (37), 4:21 (38), 4:58.80 (37.80)

2-Denise Grohn 5:02.79

39, 76 (37), 1:53 (37), 2:31 (38), 3:08 (37), 3:46 (38), 4:25 (39), 5:02.79 (37.79)

3-Maria Smith 5:05.84

39, 76 (37), 1:53 (37), 2:32 (39), 3:09 (37), 3:47 (38), 4:26 (39), 5:05.84 (39.84)

4-Boushra Belkhir 5:23.31

40, 78 (38), 1:58 (40), 2:38 (40), 3:19 (41), 4:00 (41), 4:42 (42), 5:23.31 (41.31)

3,000-meter run

1-Gianna Tedeschi 10:08.33

38, 79 (41), 2:00 (41), 2:41 (41), 3:21 (40)

4:01 (40), 4:43 (42), 5:24 (41), 6:05 (41), 6:47 (42)

7:28 (41), 8:09 (41), 8:50 (41), 9:29 (39), 10:08.33 (39.33)

Kilometer splits: 3:21, 3:26, 3:21.33

4-Hayley Collins 10:17.48

39, 80 (41), 2:01 (41), 2:42 (41), 3:22 (40)

4:02 (40), 4:44 (42), 5:24 (40), 6:06 (42), 6:48 (42)

7:30 (42), 8:12 (42), 8:54 (42), 9:36 (42), 10:17.48 (41.48)

Kilometer splits: 3:22, 3:26, 3:29.48

5-Alexandra Bartolotta 10:37.38

39, 80 (41), 2:01 (41), 2:43 (42), 3:24 (41)

4:05 (41), 4:47 (42), 5:30 (43), 6:13 (43), 6:57 (44)

7:41 (44), 8:25 (44), 9:11 (46), 9:55 (44), 10:37.38 (42.38)

Kilometer splits: 3:24, 3:33, 3:40.38

10-Talia Cutrone 10:58.79

40, 82 (42), 2:03 (41), 2:46 (43), 3:29 (43)

4:13 (44), 4:58 (45), 5:43 (35), 6:30 (47), 7:15 (45)

8:01 (46), 8:48 (47), 9:32 (48), 10:17 (45), 10:58.79 (41.79)

Kilometer splits: 3:29, 3:36, 3:43.79

Spartan Invitational: Men's results and splits

The story of the meet for the men is as much as what does NOT appear below as what does. Senior sprint captain Josh Hindle endured a gash in his chin – he literally took one on the chin! – while stretching out freshman sprinter Jeremy Mooney … who happened to be all spiked up and ready to race in the 60-meter dash (where, by the way, he sprinted to a personal-best). Hindle had to go the ER for some stitches; he was fine, but we opted to sit him out of his scheduled events as a precaution. Let’s see, who else ISN’T in the results – Hogue (hip injury) and the 4x400 (Cole Z pulled hamstring on the anchor leg) and the DMR (birthday boy Sam Goldzweig DQed at the finish line for being a bit too aggressive with his elbows in trying to get that extra spot). Ah, such is the rust buster nature of the first meet back after break. There were a few solid performances, but mostly this is a launching pad for the rest of the season – which we hope will feature more strong finishes and fewer trips to the ER!

Spartan Invitational

Hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC)

Friday, January 11, 2019

Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex

Men’s results

60-meter dash

25. Jeremy Mooney 7.34

200-meter dash

32. Jeremy Mooney 23.74

40. Jon Green 24.21

400-meter dash

29. Pat Beglane 54.46

800-meter run

2. Brian Henderson 1:58.67

3. Matt Hawker 1:59.46

7. Christopher Tibbetts 2:00.11

19. Cole Ziskind 2:04.84

Mile run

4. Drew Burns 4:25.39

33, 66 (33), 1:40 (34), 2:13 (33), 2:46 (33), 3:20 (34), 3:53 (33), 4:25.39 (32.39)

7. James Moehringer 4:29.37

33, 67 (34), 1:40 (33), 2:14 (34), 2:47 (33), 3:21 (34), 3:55 (34), 4:29.37 (34.37)

12. Brendan Zeng 4:36.31

35, 68 (33), 1:42 (34), 2:17 (35), 2:52 (35), 3:28 (36), 4:03 (35), 4:36.31 (33.31)

19. Connor Levins 4:39.66

35, 69 (34), 1:43 (34), 2:18 (35), 2:53 (35), 3:29 (36), 4:06 (37), 4:39.66 (33.66)

3,000-meter run

4. Conor Stack 8:59.10

34, 71 (37), 1:47 (36), 2:22 (35), 2:57 (35)

3:34 (37), 4:08 (34), 4:46 (38), 5:23 (37), 5:59 (36)

6:36 (37), 7:14 (38), 7:51 (37), 8:27 (36), 8:59.10 (32.10)

Kilometer splits: 2:57, 3:02, 3:00.10

5. James Draney 8:59.55

34, 71 (37), 1:47 (36), 2:22 (35), 2:57 (35)

3:53 (36), 4:08 (35), 4:45 (37), 5:22 (37), 5:58 (36)

6:35 (37), 7:12 (37), 7:49 (37), 8:26 (37), 8:59.55 (33.55)

Kilometer splits: 2:57, 3:01, 3:01.55

11. Eamonn Beers 9:09.15

36, 73 (37), 1:49 (36), 2:26 (37), 3:02 (36)

3:40 (38), 4:18 (38), 4:55 (37), 5:32 (37), 6:08 (36)

6:45 (37), 7:22 (37), 7:58 (36), 8:34 (36), 9:09.15 (35.15)

Kilometer splits: 3:02, 3:06, 3:01.15

23. Matthew Ronan 9:34.90

34, 69 (35), 1:45 (36), 2:22 (37), 3:00 (38)

3:37 (37), 4:16 (39), 4:54 (38), 5:34 (40), 6:14 (40)

6:55 (41), 7:37 (42), 8:19 (42), 9:00 (41), 9:34.90 (34.90)

Kilometer splits: 3:00, 3:14, 3:20.90

24. Connor Fitzpatrick 9:35.27

34, 71 (37), 1:48 (37), 2:27 (39), 3:04 (37)

3:42 (38), 4:21 (39), 4:59 (38), 5:39 (40), 6:18 (39)

6:59 (41), 7:39 (40), 8:20 (41), 9:00 (40), 9:35.27 (35.27)

Kilometer splits: 3:04, 3:14, 3:13.27

30. Patrick Kutch 9:50.57

35, 72 (37), 1:51 (39), 2:29 (38), 3:08 (39)

3:45 (37), 4:25 (40), 5:05 (40), 5:45 (40), 6:25 (40)

7:06 (41), 7:48 (42), 8:29 (42), 9:11 (42), 9:50.57 (39.57)

Kilometer splits: 3:08, 3:17, 3:25.57

Spartan Invitational: Live streaming

We are currently on a bus/sitting in traffic on Route 17 in New Jersey, en route to Ocean Breeze for the Spartan Invitational, hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas College (STAC). The meet will be streamed live at this link, so check it out.

What’s next: First meet of 2019!

Our track team returns from the month-long holiday break this week, with our first meet on Friday afternoon/evening at Ocean Breeze. This intersession period is longer than normal, with the first day of classes not until Tuesday, January 22, so we’ll have two Ocean Breeze meets before classes begin. The first one, on Friday, is called the Spartan Regional Preview, hosted by St. Thomas Aquinas College. Next week, it’s back to Ocean Breeze for the NYC Gotham Cup on Friday, January 18. It’ll be great to have some of our athletes back on the track this week and back at practice after that.

Spartan Regional Preview

Ocean Breeze

January 11, 2019

Order of events
Updated on 1/9/19 ... start time is pushed back slightly, please NOTE

11:30 a.m.: Facility opens for warm-ups

12:45 p.m.: National Anthem

1 p.m., rolling schedule (men, then women)

60-meter hurdle trials

60-meter dash final on time

60-meter hurdle finals

4x800 relay

4x200 relay

Mile run

500 dash

400 dash

800 run

1000 run

200 dash

3,000 run

DMR

4x400 relay

Zoom! Ya! Ya!

Completing an indoor marathon was not on my bucket list. But if it were, I can now say that it is crossed off! On Sunday, I participated in one of the coolest and neatest running events I’ve ever done, the Zoom! Ya! Ya! Indoor Marathon in Northfield, Minnesota. Indoor marathon. Really? Assuming you haven’t nodded off yet, perhaps you have a few questions about a. why I would do something like this and b. why I would travel all the way to Minnesota to run 150 laps of a 282-meter indoor track and c. what’s with that NAME anyway?

The race was held at St. Olaf College, a beautiful D3 school about 35 miles south of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Our former assistant coach and great friend to our program, Erica Maker, is now the head women’s XC/assistant women’s track coach at St. Olaf, her alma mater. Soon after getting the job at her old school, she texted me about this race, figuring it would be right up my alley given my curious penchant for loop races (alert blog followers may remember that each summer I participate in an 8-hour ultramarathon on a 0.35-mile dirt track in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, pretty much the only “race” I do each year). All of us in our program certainly miss Erica, and it was great to see her husband Mike and wonderful son Jack – the Makers are great and dear friends to us. Erica is doing good things out there with the Oles and we are happy for her as she continues her coaching career.

As for the race name? Well, this will take some explaining. Apparently, the traditional cheer for all St. Olaf athletic teams is “Um Ya Ya” (sounds like OOM Ya Ya ... don’t ask me why or what that means). Race director Dick Daymont, an awesome guy who is the husband the now-retired St. Olaf women's XC/track coach Chris Daymont, explained that his co-race founder wanted to complete a race that started with the letter Z – so they came up with “Zoom! Ya! Ya!” Works for me!

Dick puts on a great event. He’s so enthusiastic about it; it’s his “baby” – an event he created and puts lots of energy into for the months leading up to the race and certainly on the weekend of the event. Members of Erica’s team act as lap counters – each runner gets their own official lap counter, and my finisher’s certificate (see above) includes each lap split. For a numbers geek like me, this of course is pure heaven. My individual lap counter, a senior named Katie, was so enthusiastic and awesome throughout the long morning. She cheered for me every single lap and provided me updates on which lap I was on whenever I asked.

I worked out a jog/walk formula that I tweaked throughout the morning. Because my “training” consists of only three runs a week in the 6-mile range and easy walking the rest of the time, I need to take great caution with an event like this, conserving my energy early on to avoid the very real possibility of bonking later. While my time was uncompetitive and relatively slow, I was proud to run “negative splits” – second half faster than my first half – and get through a marathon relatively unscathed on essentially no marathon specific training.

But mostly, it was great to do another loop race, support Erica’s team and see the Makers. And during my short stay in Minnesota, it was remarkably NOT cold! Again, assuming you haven’t nodded off or completely lost interest, below are my every 10-lap splits (I figured it would be brutally boring to post every lap split, but you can see them above if interested?!).

10 laps = 17:32 (17:32)

20 laps = 36:42 (19:10)

30 laps = 55:32 (18:50)

40 laps = 1:14:41 (19:09)

50 laps = 1:35:38 (18:57)

60 laps = 1:54:11 (18:33)

70 laps = 2:14:49 (20:38)

75 laps = 2:24:13 (half marathon)

80 laps = 2:33:47 (18:58)

90 laps = 2:51:54 (18:07)

100 laps = 3:09:59 (18:05)

110 laps = 3:27:14 (17:15)

120 laps = 3:45:22 (18:08)

130 laps = 4:02:46 (17:24)

140 laps = 4:19:50 (17:04)

150 laps = 4:36:05 (16:15)

First 13.1 miles = 2:24:13

Second 13.1 miles = 2:11:52

Welcome, 2019

New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are past us, thankfully. While we had a great holiday season, and I trust you all did as well, the end of it with the New Year’s celebrations are a bit weary for me (for those keeping score at home, I was in bed by 9:15 p.m. on Monday night). I consider it somewhat of a fraud of a “holiday” as it is simply turning the page on the calendar. Oh sure, it’s not like your typical new month, a new year is definitely more special than that. But as I wrote to our men’s team in my weekly training email, New Year’s is a time to restock and retool mentally for many of us, but it’s also business as usual for us in the track/running world. “Resolution” is just a fancy word for “goals” and that's what keeps us living and breathing every single day. Be Better is a resolution that we should strive for every single day of the year -- 2019 is no different. I urge all of our athletes (and all of us, really) to Be Better in 2019, so that we can lift our program (and ourselves) to new heights in this new year. So yeah. Happy New Year.

Capital punishment

Those of you whom I regularly text know that for years I will sometimes randomly lapse into ALL CAPS for no particular reason. Again, no particular reason, other than a stubborn case of immaturity and refusal to Act Like and Adult. Speaking of which? Our current leader, President Trump, our Tweeter in Chief, has made Random Capitalizations mainstream in his torrent of Tweets. (Note: This is not a Political Statement or a Political Post … so don’t start sending me Angry Texts!) And yes, for effect, he’ll go into ALL CAPS mode like me. But it’s the Random Capitalizations that drive wonky and nerdy journalism teachers (yeah, Those people) crazy. But now, in the “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em’’ spirit, I have begun to Randomly Capitalize words in my texts (and For Effect in this Annoying Blog Post as well?). Hey. Look. I get texts from Highly Educated and Well Respected students with “words” like “prolly” and “Imma” and “tryna” … so the Generalized Breakdown of proper grammar has reached epidemic proportions in our world now, hasn’t it? And, here’s the thing! No one much Cares about this anymore, do We? Even the good gray New York Times has given up; rather than Correct our president’s Tweets, they just quote them verbatim. Again. Who Cares. Right? OK. Enough. I’ll try to avoid such churlish behavior here in this Fancy Blog for 2019. We’ll see how that goes …

Last result of 2018: Katie Miale’s indoor 5km racewalk PR!

Congrats to senior Katie Miale who improved her indoor 5km racewalk PR by four seconds from last December at the Upstate Holiday Classic at RIT. Below are her splits and photos above courtesy of teammate Alexander Hogue. Also, note below that Katie is ranked 16^th in the USA at the 20km racewalk distance, based on Track and Field News final 2018 rankings. Here’s hoping she can keep the momentum going strong in 2019.

Upstate New York Holiday Classic

Rochester Institute of Technology, Henrietta, NY

Saturday, December 29, 2018

5,000-meter racewalk

5. Katie Miale 26:07.62

1:02.87, 2:01.03 (58.17), 3:02.38 (1:01.35), 4:04.16 (1:01.79), 5:05.64 (1:01.48)

6:06.18 (1:00.55), 7:08.87 (1:02.70), 8:09.58 (1:00.71), 9:11.98 (1:02.40), 10:15.02 (1:03.05)

11:17.34 (1:02.32), 12:20.54 (1:03.21), 13:22.31 (1:01.77), 14:26.15 (1:03.84), 15:30.06 (1:03.91)

16:33.87 (1:03.82), 17:38.26 (1:04.39), 18:42.86 (1:04.60), 19:46.19 (1:03.33), 20:50.26 (1:04.08)

21:55.44 (1:05.18), 23:02.66 (1:07.23), 24:07.32 (1:04.66), 25:11.70 (1:04.39), 26:07.52 (55.83)

Kilometer splits: 5:05.64, 5:09.38, 5:15.04, 5:20.20, 5:17.26

20K WALK (Track and Field News 2018 list)
1:32:09	Maria Michta-Coffey (OisWUSA)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:33:05	———Michta-Coffey	05/05	World Team Ch
1:33:56	Miranda Melville (SkechNYAC)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:34:26	Robyn Stevens (Skech)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:35:21.6	———Michta-Coffey	06/22	USATF
1:35:49	———Melville	05/05	World Team Ch
1:36:34	———Michta-Coffey	08/10	NACAC Ch
1:37:56	Katie Burnett (unat)	06/22	USATF
1:38:06	———Stevens	05/05	World Team Ch
1:39:31	———Burnett	08/10	NACAC Ch
**10 performances by 4 performers**
1:41:32	Amberly Melendez (NWU)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:43:47	Anali Cisneros (Juds)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:45:27	Melissa Moeller (unat)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:45:55	Katie Michta (WalkUSA)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:48:12	Meaghan Podlaski (unat)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:50:54	Jennifer Lopez (StAmb)	04/08	Kenosha
(10)
1:50:55.9	Lydia McGranahan (RWNW)	06/22	USATF
1:51:22	Chelsea Conway (Shore)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:54:52	Rachel Zoyhofski (unat)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:55:11.9	Stephanie Casey (unat)	06/22	USATF
1:55:47	Miriam Andablo (unat)	04/08	World Tm Tr
1:56:28	Katie Miale (Marist)	05/05	USATF-NJ
1:58:23.1	Sam Cohen (WRRT)	06/22	USATF
1:59:36	Maegan Allen (NEWalk)	04/08	World Tm Tr

Upstate lifting

Thanks to Rizz for sharing this photo of him, Stack and Drew Burns, as they prepared for a lift at a local YMCA after doing a track workout together in the Albany area. Great that our athletes make an effort to work out together as often as possible during the holiday break, and great that Rizz is still trying to crush these workouts as an alum.

Alumni reunion in New Paltz

As we were driving north from Florida, I got this awesome photo via text from Omar Perez – some of our Favorite Forever Foxes got together for some holiday socializing over in New Paltz. Great to keep those connections alive and well. Omar asked if this photo was “blog worthy” … well, of COURSE it is!

Holiday travels

For a creature of habit who craves routine, these past few weeks have been waaaaay out of my comfort zone. But! It’s all good, for sure. First, there was the convention in San Antonio – the last time I posted was from down there. Since then, there has been a lot of family time – no surprise there, the holidays – but also a LOT of time and miles along the eastern seaboard (I have a renewed appreciation for the awfulness of the I95 corridor from between New Jersey to Washington, D.C.). In what may become a new tradition, we visited family in the South – my sister and her family in Myrtle Beach, followed by my brother-in-law and his family in Fort Myers, FL. Spoiler alert: We did NOT fly; we DID drive (you probably already figured that out). A lot. More than 3,500 miles on a rental van in the span of a week. Every mile was well worth it, and fueled liberally by coffee (Pilot gas station coffee is surprisingly good!) and by Channel 29 on Sirius XM (Phish radio, which now supplants Channel 23/Grateful Dead as my favorite satellite station). Healthy doses of both allowed us (I did the vast majority of the driving) to make the 1,401-mile journey from Fort Myers to Hyde Park in one, mega, 23-hour cannonball run – starting at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday and arriving home at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, a trip that featured a nearly 50-degree drop in temperature (December in Florida vs. December in the mid-Hudson Valley … duh). Driving that long with five disparate personalities – one well-adjusted adult (my wife Heidi), three children at varying states of maturity, and me – had its challenges. I won’t bore you with the highlights and the battles, but one quote sticks out, from our youngest son, 13-year-old James: “Wow, I can’t imagine what this trip would have been like 20 years ago. Must have been so boring, like you’d have to read books and stuff.” Yeah. That. Instead, the passengers passed around the phone charger (hey, yours is at 56 percent, let ME have it now!) like the valued commodity it is on such journeys. We experienced warmth – the Florida sun in the mid-80s is glorious – of both the weather and of family. Will we do this trip again in future years, exactly as this time? Not likely. But some variation of it will be on the table for future Christmas/New Year’s celebrations, as we try to establish new holiday traditions. Photos: Above, our kids with their Fort Myers cousins; James and I entering our favorite southern restaurant; sign I saw while jogging on Sanibel Island!

Convention thoughts: Friends and votes

As I sit in the San Antonio Airport waiting for a flight back to Newark, some thoughts on a few days in the San Antonio area for the USTFCCCA Convention:

--It was great to catch up with Marist Running alum Julie Hudak, who was at the convention with her significant other Drew Gangemi, the head coach at Mt. St. Vincent in the Bronx, as well as our good friend Erica Maker, now the head women’s cross country coach at her alma mater, St. Olaf, but always a member of our Red Fox Running Family. We were able to intersect at lunch yesterday (see photo) as well as several other times during the week. Neat.

--Once again, in an effort to save some money, my roommate for the week was Canisius College head coach Nate Huckle. We share similar interests and sleep schedules, so this was a natural move. Always good catching up with Nate, as well as the other MAAC coaches in attendance.

--Apparently, when it comes to this convention, I have good timing. Back in 2016 and again this year, the only two times I’ve attended, there was hotly contested cross country legislation on the table. This year’s legislation elicited some of the most spirited and contentious debates of any in recent memory, according to coaches who regularly attend the convention. The proposed new format was narrowly voted down, which means the current regional format will continue for the foreseeable future – until another legislative change is inevitably suggested. To me, the legislative voting session is the primary tangible incentive to attend the convention. It’s the only way to vote on proposals – proxies are not allowed – and our voice needs to be heard. In this case, with the narrow scope of the vote, every ballot counted … even one from little old Marist College.

And with that? It’s time to leave the Alamo and head home for a few hours.

Training back home: Monmouth boys

Thanks to Marc Bakia (Smalls) for sharing this selfie of him, Sam Goldzweig and Brian Henderson from earlier this week at Manasquan Reservoir in Howell, NJ, where they got together to train. Looking forward to heading home later this morning.

Convention: Seeing the city

Usually with these conventions, everything is centered around the convention hotel and hall. Everything. Meetings. Awards ceremonies. Meals. Exercise. Etc. So there is no need to venture off site. This year's convention is nominally in San Antonio, but it's actually nowhere near San Antonio proper, which is about 30-40 minutes away (depending on traffic). So last night, it was great to connect with 2018 alum Sami Ellougani -- who actually LIVES right in downtown San Antonio and works down here. He was nice enough to buy me dinner and show me around on a beautifully mild night. Side note: It was funny to see the locals bundled up even more than me, wearing gloves and hats on a night when it was in the mid-60s. Anyway, the Riverwalk area of downtown is really cool, and it was even better with the holiday season lights, decorations and festivities. So at least for a few hours, I was able to actually get away from the convention and truly experience San Antonio and see Sami. Both were well worth the time and effort. 

Convention: Weather differences

So apparently it's cold back home. Here in South Texas ... not so much. Our convention lunches are held outside. The midday sun feels great. So does close to 70 degrees. I know. You don't want to hear this. Don't worry. In about 24 hours, I'll be landing in Newark and back there. Thanks to Elias for sharing me this photo of him, Kutch, Ronan and Moe at Suffolk Community College, where they did an indoor track workout on Tuesday, when it was extremely cold. This morning, in the hills outside San Antonio, I went for a jog outside. I was wearing shorts. Neat!

Conventional thinking

For someone who likes routine, early bedtimes and generally not straying too far from home – with the exception of track and cross country meets, of course – these next few weeks definitely will be out of my comfort zone. The first of the journeys begins today as I currently sit at Newark Airport awaiting a direct flight to San Antonio for the USTFCCCA convention. As you can surmise, I’m not a big “convention guy” – lots of meetings and socializing – but with the goading of my peers (especially in the MAAC), I have been convinced that it is important to attend. There are several new pieces of legislation on the table, which will have a direct impact on our program, and the only way to have our voice heard is to be here and to vote on them (voting is on Thursday). Plus, there are breakout sessions for both the MAAC and Northeast Region, which are important to attend. And there’s free food. And perhaps the biggest highlight will be making my boy Sami (Class of 2018, living and working in the Alamo) buy me dinner during the week. I left the house reluctantly this morning – an off week at home is like gold – but we’ll make the best of this week. And we’ll certainly enjoy the warmer temperatures!