Dinner Tonight

I have had a few questions about dinner tonight. As I informed the guys at practice this week, we are going to Joe's (a pizza/pasta place) after practice. I would imagine we will be done there around 5:30ish. That is largely just a guess. I know the girls team is also going, so in theory there could be 30-60 of us there, and that might do some weird things in terms of service. Joe's isn't more than a 1/2 mile to a mile from O'Connell and we will carpool there. I will also have my cell phone handy so if any of the guys need to call and give updates on when to be picked up, we can do that. Also, if parents or anyone else would like to join us, they are welcome to.

The address is:

5555 Lee Hwy
Arlington, VA 22207

Also, I apologize if I have been slow on the google chat feature. I have been busy the last two times someone has used it, and I would like to think that is not the norm. I will try to be more careful about putting up my away status in the future.

Blog Features and More!

If you are new to the blog, you might not be familiar with all of the content as some other people are. I have added a lot of content over the past 9 months or so.

Google Chat - "Chat with Coach Butler"
Whenever I am signed into my google account, a green indicator light should appear next to my name. If you click on this "chat badge", google will send me a message a guest on the site would like to chat with me. So if you ever have any questions, this is a great tool to use. I would ask you identify yourself if you can, so I can figure out who I am talking to!

The Archives
If you look at the bottom left of the page you will find the archives for the blog. They are organized by month and display the title of the post. If you are looking for old posts, this is a good place to look.

Information Links
Towards the top/middle of the left side, you will find an area titled "Information". Under it is a bunch of links to google documents with a variety of information. The schedule, contact information, and general training information can be found there.

I would encourage you to poke around the site a little bit and see what it has to offer. There are some pictures, neat links, and more to be found.

A new feature I just created a link to is a "Google Group", which is like a message board. I am not sure how it will work, but the general idea would be for parents to use it to coordinate their actions, instead of having to use a "reply all" for a bunch of emails. If it is ineffective, I completely understand, but thought it might be worth a shot.

I also have created a new search option on the left side. In theory, if you type in a word, it will not only search the blog for relevant info, but also any sites I have linked to through the blog.

Feedback is always welcome.

Coach

Woot Mp3 player

If anyone is looking for a cheap mp3 player to run with, this might be a good choice. What is nice about electronics is they are becoming "disposable". I no longer have a giant fear about my mp3 player being stolen or getting wet in the rain! 2 gb for $19.99 plus $5 shipping at www.woot.com.

Upward trends, Snickers, Practice

The season is getting into full swing. Ideally I would write a long post about all of the great things going on, but I don't have the time. In a lot of ways, that is a very good sign. I will probably expand upon, and repeat this many times throughout the season, but I think the guys are much better as a team then they were when I started 8 months ago.

If I needed any more evidence, this Saturday was a perfect example of what I am talking about. The guys had an EXCELLENT hill workout on Saturday. At the end of practice I like to recap who had good workouts or impressed me, and normally 2-3 guys stand out. Saturday, the whole team stood out. From Drew leading the top guys up the hill and deciding to do 10 total (there was a quasi option to do from 8-10), to Keith hammering out a few repeats with the top guys, to the 5-10 guys working hard to stay bunched up and stick close to the top 4-5 guys. I know I forgot someone, as I didn't mention everyone's name!

"Off the track" Saturday was a great day as well. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher were great hosts for the guys! The highlight for me was pulling up and seeing a huge banner saying "Fire up Knights!" in the front yard. There was a ton of food and even a surprise from my own mother. A huge thanks to the Fletchers.

My mom is an avid reader of the blog and a big supporter of the guys. She probably knows just about everything there is to know about the team! Using the Snickers "Get Some Nuts" video as a starting point, she made some new wrappers for some Snickers and mailed them to Mrs. Fletcher. The included the motion "O", "It is a great day to be a knight!", and listed the key ingredients to the OCDP like "dedication, pride, and NUTS".

I could comment on the Olympics, but this is getting long already.

Practice is at 12:30 all week (I am assuming school gets out at 12:00 or close to it).

It is a great day to be a knight!

Coach

500 Mile Club!

The 500 mile club keeps growing. Gardner welcomes Moran into the club.

Bela Karolyi

I love listening to this guy. I don't care what he is talking about. He could be talking about paperclips and lint for all I care. He is always fired up.

Dream Big

Lomong is living his dream out, which is simply awesome if you ask me. This is a must watch. (HT: Letsrun)

Week in Review

For the guys who came to the optional runs this week, things went really well. The new guys continue to make a lot of progress, and the older guys are starting to focus in on getting ready for the big season they are about to have. I am very optimistic about the season as I write this. One week until official practice!

Next week there will be optional practice at the park just down the street from the high school at Charles E. Stewart Park (on Underwood) at 8:00 still. Friday we will have mandatory practice at the high school. Please remember to get in all forms and physicals asap.

A big thanks goes out to Mrs. Fletcher for providing us bagels this morning. Another big thanks goes out to Mrs. Stella for bringing us some Gatorade despite the fact Andrew is home sick (get well Andrew). Due to their efforts and other variables, Flapjack Friday happened once at the start of summer and not since then! If anyone has a problem with this, or with us eating bagels, for dietary reasons or just to be surly, please feel free to contact me so we can resolve any and all issues. Awesome. Thanks.

It is a great day to be a knight!

Coach

Warm and Fuzzy

If we ever start feeling too warm and fuzzy about how we are doing, we can always go look at what the rest of the state is doing. Here are the results from AAA last year. To get into the top 20 you need to break 16. If I were a freshman I would start thinking 3+ years down the road already about being able to compete with these teams. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of ahead of us this season, but the long term goal of the OCDP would be to have the ability to compete at this level.

Also, be sure to watch the video linked in the previous post.

1  #669 Jason Witt          SR Midlothian              4:53.2   15:10.92    1 
2  #698 Thomas Porter       JR Mountain View Hi        4:56.9   15:22.41    2 
3  #664 Miichael Hammond    SR Midlothian              4:57.0   15:22.76    3 
4  #941 Brian Landry        12 Thomas Jefferson HS     4:59.0   15:28.70    4 
5  #745 Joe LoRusso            Oakton                  5:00.5   15:33.52    5 
6  #661 Brayden Burleigh    FR Midlothian              5:01.7   15:37.16    6 
7  #744 Neal Hendricks         Oakton                  5:02.9   15:40.96    7 
8  #251 Nathan Richards     SR E.C. Glass High         5:03.1   15:41.53    8 
9  #241 Lewis McPherson     SR Douglas Freeman         5:03.3   15:42.07    9 
10  #254 Leoule Degfae       JR Edison High School      5:03.5   15:42.82      
11  #535 Robert Peavey          Kellam High School      5:03.7   15:43.28      
12  #323 Douglas Fenstermac  SR Gloucester High         5:03.9   15:44.12   10 
13 #1042 Blake Theroux       SO Western Branch H        5:04.1   15:44.69   11 
14  #397 Nathan Puckett      SR Hermitage               5:04.5   15:45.93      
15  #690 Brian Welch         SR Mills Godwin            5:05.2   15:48.03      
16   #36 Ben Dejarnette      JR Atlee                   5:06.1   15:51.01      
17  #938 Evan Heflin         12 Thomas Jefferson HS     5:06.3   15:51.44   12 
18  #935 Brian Davenport     10 Thomas Jefferson HS     5:06.3   15:51.63   13 
19  #255 Tihut Degfae        JR Edison High School      5:07.1   15:53.97      
20  #820 Davis Barry         SR Patrick Henry (A        5:07.2   15:54.24      
21  #785 Tyler Simmons       SR Osbourn Park Hig        5:08.8   15:59.37   14 
22  #466 Ted Richardson      SO James River (Mid        5:10.0   16:02.86      
23 #1062 Charlie Waltrip     SR Woodson High School     5:10.5   16:04.68   15 
24 #1045 Chris Werner        JR Western Branch H        5:10.7   16:05.04   16 
25  #694 Stephen Henry       SR Mountain View Hi        5:10.9   16:05.94   17 
26    #9 Luke Noble          JR Ablemarle High S        5:11.1   16:06.41   18 
27  #660 Darren Barlow       FR Midlothian              5:11.2   16:06.68   19 
28  #758 Seth Cunningham     JR Ocean Lakes High        5:11.3   16:06.98   20 
29    #8 Anthony Kotelac     SO Ablemarle High S        5:11.3   16:07.19   21 
30  #764 Drew Paisley        SO Ocean Lakes High        5:11.5   16:07.58   22 
31  #245 Chris Woody         SR Douglas Freeman         5:12.4   16:10.31   23 
32  #743 Brian Hendricks        Oakton                  5:12.4   16:10.59   24 
33  #697 Daniel Porter       SR Mountain View Hi        5:12.7   16:11.28   25 
34  #881 Abiy Mohammed       SR Stuart                  5:13.0   16:12.29      
35  #934 Aaron Bernstein     12 Thomas Jefferson HS     5:13.7   16:14.63   26 
36  #208 Griff Ashooh        JR Colonial Forge H        5:14.0   16:15.32      
37  #784 Josiah Renton       SR Osbourn Park Hig        5:14.1   16:15.70   27 
38  #267 Cameron Shaver      SR Forest Park High        5:14.2   16:16.12      
39  #693 Chris Brown         SR Mountain View Hi        5:14.3   16:16.46   28 
40  #477 Stuart Steen        JR Rams                    5:14.4   16:16.70   29 
41  #478 Martin Wester       SR Rams                    5:15.3   16:19.57   30 
42  #749 Chris Weil             Oakton                  5:15.5   16:20.06   31 
43  #244 Alec Ward           JR Douglas Freeman         5:15.6   16:20.55   32 
44  #777 Richard Arena       JR Osbourn Park Hig        5:15.7   16:20.84   33 
45  #701 Ryan Yingling       SR Mountain View Hi        5:16.7   16:23.67   34 
46  #759 Caleb Doan          SR Ocean Lakes High        5:16.9   16:24.43   35 
47  #943 Alex Witko          11 Thomas Jefferson HS     5:17.0   16:24.71   36 
48 #1037 Kyle Jacobs         SO Western Branch H        5:17.3   16:25.83   37 
49  #219 Booth Hornsby       JR Deep Run                5:17.5   16:26.43   38 
50  #470 Jared Berman        JR Rams                    5:18.3   16:28.91   39 

A few quick notes.

Drew got his 500 mile club tshirt today.

We had a good group of guys at practice today, the guys are starting to look fit.

Matt G. broke his longest run record by half a mile, so the new record is 12.

I put up a few pictures from Camp Fitch on the left hand side. Be sure to check out the luxurious bathroom.

UPDATE: IF YOU HAVEN'T SCHEDULED YOUR PHYSICAL AND YOU STILL NEED ONE BE SURE TO DO THIS ASAP. A few of the guys have recently found there is a long wait to get in at the doctor. Better to be safe than sorry.