Amy Begley

Here is an article on letsrun about her. I suggest reading the whole thing.

But Hayward Field has been good to Yoder-Begley in the past. In her last race here in 2001, she won the NCAA 10K title by running herself to exhaustion as she collapsed on the track and needed two IVs to get her going again. And it was good to her again in 2008 as she once again pushed herself to the edge. Taking the lead with 3200 meters to go, and occasionally wiping sweat from her brow and on at least one occasion reaching for a cup of water from a track-side official, Yoder-Begley plowed ahead, Goucher right behind and Flanagan comfortably in third. With 1200 remaining, Flanagan and Goucher surged by. But despite 70 and 69 second laps by the two pre-race favorites that opened up a sizeable gap, Yoder-Begley was also able to manage to increase her pace. Needing 3:36 (72 pace) for the final 3 laps, she ran 73.9 and 73.9….and then surged home with a 67.3 final 400 to claim the third and final ticket to Beijing, 1.4 seconds under the Olympic A standard.

Coaching

Here is an interesting article about how to become a better coach. I think it is valuable to read and think about when looking at our program from all angles (athletes, parents, outsiders). As provided in the description of the blog, everyone is welcome to know what we do, but they have to be around us to truly understand how we do things.

If I as a coach, can answer more of the how type questions, the better our program can be. Joe Newton for example, has over 100 guys on his team. How does he keep the 100th guy motivated to keep working hard? Much of our success will depend on the how, because a lot of people know the what (there are still some who miss the boat however, but that is due to laziness). It seems like the great coaches are the ones who figure out both the what and the how in the right combination.

Alan Webb

One of America's top middle distance runners, Alan Webb, lives in Reston and trains on the W&OD. Feel special, very special.

LB

500 Mile Club

With a 6 miler today, Andrew Holleran joined the 500 mile club! Nice work Andrew, I will have your shirt for you tomorrow.

500 Mile Club Members:

Andrew Holleran
Manny
Matt G.
Andrew S. (edit: sorry Stella)

Will Smith

Go have a listen at youtube what he has to say about the secrets of life.

A preview...

Here are what I consider to be a few of the many intriguing paragraphs in Kenny Moore's Bowerman and The Men of Oregon book.

Before the war, that thoughtful teacher Lizzie Bowerman had sent a letter to Hayward. "I have asked my son which of his instructors he considered had done the most for him," she wrote, "and without a moment's hesitation he named you. I am sure there are many boys who feel the same as Bill does, and I hope they have told you so. You are a teacher who is a friend and who imparts a spiritual development and inspiration."

Bill had done as his mother had hoped. He'd told Hayward what he meant to him several times, in several contexts. So that week, as eulogy followed eulogy and masses of men that Hayward had escoreted from boyhood returned to voice their gratitutde, Bowerman was content that he had spoken while the man was alive to hear it.

He took from his scrapbook a photograph of Hayward, in shirtsleeves and suspenders, leaning on a hurdle. He had it framed behind glass, to preserve what Hayward had written on it: "Live each day so you can look a man square in the eye and tell him to go to hell!! ' Bill' Hayward." Then he hung it in a little alcove outside his office door, where he would see it at the beginning and end of the day. And where anyone waiting to speak with him might pause and reconsider.

Dreamers of the Day

This, therefore, is a faded dream of the time when I went down into the dust and noise of the Eastern market-place, and with my brain and muscles, with sweat and constant thinking, made others see my visions coming true. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible. - T. E. Lawrence

You will find the XC schedule link posted on the left hand side of the page along with a link here.

The first week of practice isn't over and I am getting excited about this fall. Today we had 8 guys at practice and hopefully there will be a few more freshman next week after school gets out. It was hot out to start the week, but hopefully most of that is behind us for a while. As a quick aside, it is very important for the guys to keep up on their hydration all summer. I know I get busy and neglect to eat/drink enough (and properly at that) sometimes.

We are currently just logging miles. We will start to do maybe one workout a week once we get into July, but the key for now is just to run. Some of the guys who took more time off than others are noticing that they lost some of their fitness that they built up during the season. The quote I started the post with is quite true. The race for the VISC championship has already started, and we are doing our dreaming during the morning. By the end of October, if we stay true to our plan, we will be dangerous out on the course. I also feel some of the guys might have to start thinking about how high they can place as well. It is possible we might have 2-3 guys in the top 10 if things went really well in my opinion. It should be interesting to come back and read this post in November.

The first flapjack Friday is this Friday!

It is a great day to be a knight!

Coach