July 2018

The dog days of summer.  We tend to think of this phrase and relate it to the temperatures outside being hot and oppressive.  So hot, dogs that would normally be out prowling around just lie around trying to stay cool. I certainly thought that’s what it meant and was leaning towards using the new found heat and our lack of acclimatization to it as the main point of this coaches corner.  So as I write this on June 21st, the first day of summer, I looked up the meaning.

And it has nothing to do with heat, or even dogs for that matter.  It dates back to Egyptian and Greek times and the stars of the night sky.  It refers to the ancient Greek calendar and the dog star, Sirius. The dog days are the days the dog star, Sirius, rises in the night sky, this year between July 3rd and August 11th.  For the Egyptians, the arrival of the dog star often meant flooding both a destructive and restorative process. For the Greeks however, the time period often meant drought, famine and hardship, so Sirius kind of got a bad rap while providing a timeframe for worry warts to start planning on.

While not quite time for Sirius to show up in the night sky, my “dog days” have started already.  The kind that the first interpretation of dog days, those hot, difficult summer days we usually envision. Once school gets out I begin my second career as a farmer.  Rewarding work for sure however the “change of pace” comes with difficulties regarding my running. Much more physical than my job as a teacher, the adjustment from being out in the field, walking upwards of ten miles before noon (often carrying bulky things), the first few weeks of “summer vacation” is spent trying to get used these new physical demands and having my running suffer for a short period.

Eventually I get used to the new demands and my running levels out.  Getting in workouts is easier and not being exhausted all the time makes training a bit more pleasant.  But I have to go through that period before I feel like myself again.

The other interpretation, the one grounded in Greek and Egyptian mythology about destructive forces, is it’s usually sometime in July that I end up with some sort of accident that puts a major damper on my running.  A number of years back I had a nasty turn of events with a 2 ton tractor, a large tire and me being in its path that set me back about a month. That was followed the next year by a mysterious locking knee leading to a broken elbow and six and a half weeks on a stationary bike (another name for a torture device) and “aqua running.”  Two years ago saw me blow out my right ankle but stepping on an easily avoidable ostrich egged sized and shaped rock that I somehow didn’t avoid. And last summer making a field goal attempt style kick to a non moveable boulder I somehow didn’t see hidden by three wispy pieces of grass with the result being a broken big toe.

Don’t get me wrong.  As a teacher I CAN’T wait for school to be out and being on summer vacation.  However there is a bit of trepidation when I lace up for my run wondering if it will be this run where the summer bad luck will befall me.

Maybe this year will be the year I make it through unscathed.  I certain seem to have no control over bad luck so I might as well throw caution to the wind.  No matter how much I try not to focus on it, I still seem to let the concept creep into my subconscious  until it’s also showing up in my conscious state. I vow to try to ignore it but time will tell whether I can forget about it or the injury bug just stays at bay.

I’ll see you out there.

Coaches Corner June - 2018

Well summer is finally here, I’m just over a week away from school being out and I find myself behind writing the Coaches Corner this month.  May has been the culmination of a lot of irons in the fire for me, with the track season winding down, school winding down, our local running program finishing up and the one race on docket happening over Memorial Day weekend.  

The month came to a satisfying end with two excellent outcomes from two very different races 24 hours apart.

The first was my Mascenic 4x800 meter team won the Division 3 State Championships title.  Made up of one freshman, one sophomore, one junior and one senior, the boys took the race by the throat from the start, opening up a substantial lead from leg one, and held that all the way to the finish.  Having the boys go all in on a team title was rewarding, as we tend to go after individual titles in the spring and focus on the team title for cross. Each guy did their job, and their excitement was recognizable.

The second was at the Pinelands Trail Festival the next where I was slated to run the 25K.  The race went well for me, and while I didn’t set a PR or anything, my latest rash of injuries were kept at bay and I was able to finish strong and felt really good.  But that’s not the satisfying part.

Also entered in the 25K, along with my wife, a bunch of friends and former runners, were my two kids and a friend of theirs.  As an eleven year old, a twelve year old and a fourteen year old, they were noticably the youngest entrants in the race. Under trained and overwhelmed, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t see them “done” when I came through the finish area.  The race consists of two loops, one of 16K and the other 9K, and I almost thought I might get done the 9K and they’d be there, finished after 16K.

But no, the report was they had come through the exchange zone 18 minutes before I finished and were out on lap two.  I figured I had about and hour until they finished so I relaxed for a while, changed my shirt and my shoes, and headed to the food tent to get some vittles and head out towards the finish to cheer the girls in.

As I turned from grabbing my refreshments I practically ran smack dab into my oldest daughter Victoria.  Before I could think I blurted out “What are you doing here?”, amazed she had already finished. She looked a little bewildered and said she had just finished.  When I asked about her sister Amelia and her friend Gracie, she said they weren’t far behind. I rushed her along so we could go cheer the girls in, took three steps and ran in to them as well.

Not only had they not slowed down over the last brutal 9K, they had smiles on and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Both events gave me cause to stop and reflect about their performances.  While in some ways the accomplishments are similar. Both were running events where focus and determination were important.  Both were a testament to all the time and effort they had put in as athletes leading up to race day. But in many ways they were vastly different.  One race was done in just over 8 minutes, while the other took more than three hours. One was about owing to your team mates to push as hard as you can, the other about sticking together  and helping each other no matter how hard it gets.

Seeing the same satisfaction, the sense of accomplishment on the faces of the athletes from these vastly different events was the same.  Both “teams” had set a goal, brought all their collective nerves, confidence and running history to the table, and in the end, were victorious. 

While individual success eludes me and my own running these days, I get the opportunity to share my experiences with my younger athletes in an effort for them to benefit from what I’ve learned over the years.  And there are times I get to have them share their experiences being successful with me.

See you out there!

Coaches Corner May - 2018

With the warmer weather finally? upon us, it’s time to think forward towards the summer and fall racing season.  Stripping down from running pants, long sleeves and hat and gloves is something I’m looking forward to more than I can ever remember.  This was a tough winter for me. Bunged up and trying to build back some consistency is a hurdle in itself, but being constantly frozen while sweating to death really grated on my nerves.  I mean, just last week during our first track meet we had some rain, three different kinds of snow and a touch of sunshine.

And talking about racing, the only goal I have been focusing on is the Pinelands trail 25K.  I’m looking forward towards a Memorial Day weekend and some camping, and lots of trails and field running that is the Pinelands Trail festival.  With 5Ks and 10K events on Saturday, and 25K, 50K and 50 miles of awesomeness on Sunday, the event makes for a great weekend of running and for me, the kick off of summer.We’ve been doing the race for 6 or 7 years now, camping in Freeport and enjoying the best of what Maine has to offer.  I don’t actually get to land until Sunday due to other commitments, but we make the most of our overnight and the girls go up on Friday with friends. The whole thing has a laid back, relaxed vibe to it right down to the beer garden, BBQ and hay bales and John Deere awards for prizes.

I haven’t really looked ahead from there as track and other summer commitments start to stack up and I’d like to avoid any major conflicts.  There’s also a trip to Alaska where I’ll spend 5 days in the home town of Allie Ostrander, 2017 NCAA champion in the steeplechase. She started what’s called the Salmon Run series in Soldatna to benefit river conservation in the area.  While I’ll miss the series by a day I hope to run the course and just see what the race is all about. I’m hoping to run the spit in Homer as well, as it juts almost 5 miles out into Kachemak Bay, about as far west as you can go in the continental US.

I also hope to get to a bunch of the MAGPie (Monadnock Area Grand Prix) series races but I haven’t committed to them due to scheduling.  I definitely want to get to Run for the Honey as I missed it last year, and of course the Viking 5K. I’ll be timing the HoFall 5K and I’ll run the course beforehand.  While I don’t have the others on the schedule I’ll be making some game day decisions add a few more to the list.

And of course we have our Jack Murphy 5K fun runs for ten weeks in the summer.  Starting on June 21st and running for the next ten weeks, the Jack Murphy runs allow runners of all ages to show up, run a relatively straight forward and easy course, and the best part is it is all free!  The start and finish is at the South Meadow School in Peterborough with the run to begin at 6pm.

Also available to runners of the area is a run in New Ipswich we call the Grinder.  The just under 4 mile course climbs an infamous 1.3 mile hill used by the Mascenic cross country teams in their training and provides a staple hill workout for them throughout the summer.  Anyone is invited to join in, running the hill as hard, or easy as they like. The run goes off on Monday nights at 6pm, starting on June 11th. The kids made a video of the workout which can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gUaQTkuF5U

Other things on my horizon is the Caddyshack Classic 5K on June 16th at the Shattuck golf course in Jaffrey.  Run on the back nine with views over to Monadnock, the Caddyshack has to be one of the area’s most scenic runs.  Run on the cart paths with no pavement whats so ever, the unique race has a cross country feel and a breakfast brunch to follow.  Sign up at: https://www.active.com/jaffrey-nh/running/trail-run/caddyshack-classic-5k-trail-race-2018

The one other run I’m getting excited about is this year’s Baby Barkley.  As the snow melts, the trails clear up and the vegetation starts to fill in, I’m gearing up to get the 2018 version of the course configured and set up.  I’ve taken three of the checkpoint GPS coordinates with twelve to go, we’ve got a look out for the appropriate book titles and the pre and post preparations are underway.  We didn’t set out to make the course harder, just less easy. My right hand man Reckless Rob and assistant course setter Mayhem Meli have scrutinized the details and are eagerly awaiting race weekend on August 3rd through 5th.  A video on last year’s race can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1zWqapGvn8&t=18s

For more information and an invite, email me at msmith@mascenic.org

If you haven’t pinned down your summer racing season I encourage you to look into the MAGPie series or any of the outings mentioned here.  Maybe it’s time to change things up, try something outside your comfort zone if this never-ending winter’s weather wasn’t outside of everyone’s comfort zone.

See you out there.