Motivated to Succeed

Woke up this morning to pouring rain. Went to BART to make some copies. Went running on the bike path. Did 3.10 miles in 29:30 in the rain. Felt pretty good while I was running. Saw one person walking his dog, but other than that I didn't really see anything worth mentioning.

At about 11:15 I headed up to North Adams. The race was slated to start at 12:30pm. Found a place to park to make a hasty exit from N. Adams after the race. Went and secured my bib. What a nice surprise to see the Wahconah coach again as well as to pick up my bib and see it was #92 and not #1. I walked back to the car and then went for a warm up jog of about .5 miles. Goal today was hopefully to get 26 minutes or so. Knowing that I have not done any speedwork, or any real miles for that matter, I hoped this was doable. Stretched lightly and then lined up.

THE START - I knew the start was downhill and that typically people start too fast. I tried to hold back and found myself near the back going down Main Street on the way out to the Curran Highway. Mile 1 is pretty downhill, with the exception of the bridge. Ended up blowing through a 7:28 first mile. Oh no! 

Mile 2 is always slower, because there is a long uphill of about 250m or so. Caught four or five people here as they started to slow. Ran through the second mile in 7:58

Third mile was just about trying to keep it together as it was all slightly uphill and then up and over the bridge again. Saw a few of my students and they waved/shouted encouragement to me. I realize now that I am a trail runner for a reason - I hate having people looking at me while running. I am too self conscious.

Add to that the fact that I was wearing a women's raincoat and it made for some nice headgames. Tried to get back into the race. Ran a 7:58 third mile as well.

Picked it up on the way into the finish line. Felt really good overall.

Don't know my place yet, as it was a small race, but hopefully in the top 100. Beat my goal by nearly 2 minutes!

Total Time: 24:04 Total Distance: 3.10 miles Average Pace:  7:46!

4:30 PM - Went running with Emm once the sun came out a bit. Harry and mom stopped by as Harry was over in Springfield visiting a campus in his college search/quest. We went around the block. Though Emm said she was taking it easy, we seemed to be steadily picking up pace as we went. My goal was just to try to hang tough and not implode. Splits were: 9:05, 8:41, and 5:55 (8:35 pace for the .7). Ran 2.75 in 23:41, good for  8:46 pace!

Note: Today was the first day I've ever run 3 times in one day. 

Ran with the cross country team after school. Really bummed by the low turnouts. Not really digging the fact that everyone but Chris and Dylan is not pulling the grades they should be. Oh well. Pushed Dylan on some tough .75 mile repeats out to the third bridge and back. Really pushed it in the first and second time. Teaching him how to pass with authority. Felt good. At one point we hit 4:30/ mile and 3:58/ mile. We were flying. Cooled down around the field with the team.

Total Time: 30:00 Total Distance: 3.6 miles Average Pace: 8:20/ mile 

3 miles easy at practice with a couple quick 400s. Felt pretty good. Only a few kids coming to practice, but the neat thing was that we are in the paper!

Friday October 7, 2011

ADAMS -- Berkshire Art and Technology Charter Public School (BART) cross country coach Benn Griffin was chatting to one of his fellow coaches during a recent county meet.

"[The coach] was telling me he had a young team, only one senior," said Griffin, chuckling. "I said, ‘One senior?' I have one freshman. The rest are 6th through 8th grade. That's young!"

Competing in the very tough Berkshire County High School Cross Country League is a rugged row to hoe for any local school. At BART, it's even a little more difficult.

For one thing, the school offers only three late buses per week. With several of his runners from out of town, Griffin has to limit the team to only three

Also, BART does not have enough property to lay out a 3.1-mile cross country trail, so the team has no home meets, although Griffin is trying to figure a way around that. He hopes that by next year, the school will be hosting a meet, although exactly where is up in the air.

Then there is the continuity issue. Griffin understands fully that he probably won't have too many junior or senior runners on his team anytime soon, if ever. This is due in large part to the rigorous academic commitments at BART with which students have to contend.

Seniors are required, for example, to take at least one college course per semester. Griffin had a senior who was planning to come out this fall, "but his college course was on Wednesday night, which is when our meets are. All he would have been doing is practicing, not competing, and he didn't think it was worth it."

There is also a team rule specifying that if a runner, for any reason, misses three practices, he or she must sit out the next meet. The runners agree that the rule is a good one.

"It fosters a commitment to the team," said freshman Dylan Quinn, the team's "elder statesman" from Cheshire.

"It keeps you out of trouble," agreed Alexis Lesure, an 8h grade student from North Adams.

So Griffin and his (very) young charges practice three times a week by running around Russell Field in Adams, and travel to every meet in which they must compete.

But there is a camaraderie among the BART runners, who say they are often encouraged by the runners from other teams on their efforts.

"People on the course sometimes encourage me," admitted 7th grader Samantha Beveraggi of North Adams, who reports she is "53 inches tall", which is 4 feet, 5 inches, for those doing the math.

"The runners on the other teams are supportive," said her teammate Morgan Covert, a 6th grade student from Adams. "Competing against them pushes you to improve."

Griffin has eight girls running and five boys. The minimum required for a school to score as a team is five runners. And for a while, he only had two boys, so the BART boys did not score in their first four meets. This week, he hopes to have all five running to enable his team to score

The girls have won two meets and hope to improve on that record in the coming weeks.

But realistically, Griffin is working toward seeing his runners improve. And most have. Beveraggi, for example, has improved her personal time by more than seven minutes since her first meet this fall. Chris Doubiago, an eighth-grader from Adams, has lopped several minutes off his personal best, as well.

Still, there is some potential here, admitted Griffin. If his runners continue to improve, and in some cases, grow a little, who knows what may happen in two or three years?

"Well, yeah," said Griffin. "If I can keep maybe half these runners for a few more years, we could have something." 

Hiked Mt. Greylock with the entire school today as part of "Mountain Day". Beautiful weather. Temp in the low 50s to high 40s with a steady wind which kept things cool. I went ahead and hiked most of the way sans clan, as my Griffin Horned Owls took off from the gun, true trail warriors, leaving their clan leader in the dust. I hiked up with Stephan and Nathan, and boy did they make me smile. I feel lucky to teach these two. Two of the things they said during our adventure that will stick with me are:

"Hike life to its fullest."

"Conquer what's in front of you!"

If we follow their words, I think we can all be successful :) 

10:00 AM - Blue skies with some low-lying fog this morning as I headed out to the race up at Monroe-Dunbar by Florida Mountain. This has been my favorite race the last two years, and today marked the third consecutive time I laced up (or velcroed in this instance) shoes on my feet and headed off down the trails. I got there a bit early and was able to sign in, get my shirt (first time they have given me one here) and go for a warm up. I headed off down the trail and did a mile each way, though got lost on one tricky corner on the way back in and ended up significantly downhill from where I should have been, along the crick. I later would help one of my other fellow runners as they too got a bit lost on this same corner as we were coming in. Thankfully I remembered and was able to yell to him. I think ever since I got lost on my first trail race at Curly's, that I have made a special cognizant effort to pay attention to my surroundings. Total warm up was 23:00.

THE RACE - Didn't know what to expect going into the race. My longest run going into today was two weeks ago at Brock Trot in Lenox, MA. It's been a long, slow, painful process trying to get back in shape. It's amazing how years worth of fitness can be lost in just a couple months! Glad I have not been sick as of yet this year however, knock on wood.

I started off in the back of the back. Saw my friend, Laura Clark was here at the starting line. I think she has run this race every year since about 1999. Settled into an easy jog, knowing that the first mile or two are inherently slow. Most of the second mile consists of switchbacks which all but the top couple runners must fast hike. My legs however, felt dead. I couldn't find my water bottle or holder this morning as I was running around trying to get ready. This made for a rather long race. I had taken a couple swigs of water, but with aid stations only at mile 3.6 and 7, this was going to be a long race.

Popped out onto the trail and fire road after two miles. My feet hurt a bit. This was my longest trail run in my KomodoSPORTs. At the aid station they had the smallest shot glass sized dixie cups I've ever seen. I threw back 5,6,7 shots of gatorade maybe and took off into the woods again. I let a few people go past me that were hiking/jogging faster than I was. The part from 3.6 miles to 5.6 miles are always my slowest. Got cut up a bit on my legs. Then a quick right and down I went plummeting towards the bottom.

Running in Vibrams you really start to notice how much you take for granted wearing running shoes. You feel every little rock, root, pebble running in Vibrams. Hence I had to significantly shorten my stride and slow my pace. It was still fun, still an adventure though. I was getting increasingly dehydrated as temperatures quickly climbed into the 70s. It was 82 by the end of the run. I was wearing two shirts, a smaller green wicking type, and a long sleeve blue Champion one. I was urged to take the latter off, but my self-consciousness got the better of me and I would not allow myself too. Not until I'm under 200 lbs anyways!

I knew by the second aid station I was never going to come near to my last two years' performances in the 2:01 range. I was already at 1:55 when I got here. It was simply a matter of running it in to the finish line.

Crossed the first and second stream crossings, no problem, aside from sand that got into my shoe and caused 2 blisters during the last 5k. Helped a guy at mile 9-10 back track so he didn't get lost. Jogged into the finish, making sure none of the two or three runners right behind me passed me. I knew today was going to be a slow day for most, as Laura always runs 2:19-2:22 on this course each year. This year she ran an astounding 3:11, for 92nd place. I think it was not a day for the light hearted or unprepared. Oh well. I finished, I am smiling now, and I have some cool war wounds to show for it. Celebrating the ability to go for a jog is an awesome feeling.

Finished in 2:35:13, good for 75th place overall of 94 finishers. 

6:30 PM - Left big toe was a little sore walking around today at work. Decided to see if shodding it in Vibrams would help. Did .5 miles on the treadmill easy enough in 4:30 with no real pain. Then headed to the track and did a nice easy run in the fading light. Thinking about Howard Zinn's "A People's History" today. That Critobal Colon was one egotistical jack*ss, eh? Felt pretty good. Liked people watching - boys playing soccer in the dark, a powerwalking lady who stayed for all but my final two laps, and a late comer, who looked like he was trekking across the Himalayas, complete with walking stick, funny fur hat, and parka. It was warm today, 82 for a high, but had cooled into the low 60s by the time I ran. Felt good. Splits were: (9:50, 9:45, 9:20, 8:50, 8:37). Nice negative splits!

Total Time: 55:30 Total Distance: 6.2 miles Average Pace:  8:57/ mile

Ran at practice. Tried to push the kiddos around the field a bit. Only 6 runners for a turnout. I wonder if I am slowly killing them 1 by 1. Our numbers seem to be failing us at the end of the season! Right calf/achilles a little sore. 3 miles in 27 minutes.

Long anniversary weekend in Boston. To make a long story short: Drove out on Friday evening from Pittsfield to Lindsay's place, but got lost when we got there. The GARMIN was telling us to go in a roundabout the size of a large car. Took an extra 20 mins but finally got there.

Saturday: Went into the city and parked. Found a sweet $10.00 lot and walked a mile or so to the aquarium. Spent the morning there, then over to a Panera for lunch before going and walking to catch the T to go to the concert. Emm got us tickets to see "Boyce Avenue". We love their acoustic music. Well we get there around 3:30, but decide that's too early, so we walk to Starbuck's to get a coffee and tea and see an "occupy" demonstration going on with a cool rally. Police officer was a tool and said "You going to cross the road or just gawk at these losers". Wanted to punch him square in the kisser! Walked back down and stood in line for 2 hours as the temperature fell. Couldn't believe how many people were lined up. We seemed to be "old" though. A lot of middle/high schoolers. Finally get in there and try to score a couch only to find they have all been taken to the "VIP" section. We sit through two opening acts, each an hour long, and finally Boyce Avenue comes on around 8:30 or 9 only to say "We know we became popular for our acoustic covers, but we are going to play our rock and electric originals" (translation: we won't play our good music, we'll just play crap!). We walked out after 30 mins. Getting home sucked. We got backwards on the T, entered the wrong side of the station, then my card wouldn't work so I had to buy another pass. Had to walk about 2 miles in the cold to the parking garage. Finally got home around 12:30 in the morning. Emm had planned a surprise for me. 3 wedding albums of all of our 500+ pictures, as well as a small cake made just like our wedding one. But we were so tired and exhausted she simply said "Happy anniversary. I'm going to bed.".  

Sunday's Race: Got up and watched "Super Troopers" with Emm as she got ready. Headed out to the race, which didn't start until 11:30. Found a parking spot about .5 miles away and walked down to the starting line. We had gone the day before to get our bibs, since there were over 2k people. Smart decision! We went for a 10 min warm up jog, then made it back to the starting line about 8 mins before the gun went off. What I found out afterwards in the race is that this is a very popular and classy race. It is chip timed, and they go with your chip time for race position instead of gun time. I like this for non-elites. Instead of appearing a couple mins slower than you actually ran, it is transparent as far as how long it took you to cover the distance. I don't have exact splits but we started off conservative, and first mile was slow (8:30ish) trying to get through traffic. We did a lot of running along the sidewalk, just as in Turkey Trot. Saw one scary thing, a young girl having an asthma attack. Saw her after the race though so I know she is okay. Second mile was fast, sub 8:00, and finally kicked it in with the third mile in the low 7:00s. Emm hung tough like a champion, gritting her teeth, and grabbed my hand as we crossed the finish line. Loved this. This was the highlight of my anniversary weekend. Can't think of a better way to spend an anniversary. If we could do this every anniversary I'd be a very very happy hubby! Cooled down to the car, and then back home to get caught up on work! 

Finished in 23:48, good for 409th place overall out of 1808 finishers, averaging 7:40/mile. Loved this race! 

Sun came out. I was feeling under the weather and stayed home to try to recover and get caught up on grades/lesson planning, etc. Not feeling it lately. Have an appointment at the doc's to get checked out for depression and high blood pressure. Scary stuff when you are only 25 years old! Anywho, went out to Lenox with Emma. We stretched and hopped onto the Burbank trail and ran to the summit and back, but had to cut it short because the light was fading. Daylight savings time needs to happen soon because there is not enough light in a day any more!

Total Time: 29:50 Total Distance: 3 miles Average Pace: 9:56 

3:45 PM - Practice with the "pioneers" after school. There is real support gaining behind our run up Greylock next week, as well as in choosing a mascot for the school team. Many people think that "pioneers" is an adequate representation, as it embodies who and what our runners are all about. What do you think? Had about 8 runners show up for practice today, which was good. Tomorrow is our last dual meet of the season. Have been getting a lot of great feedback as far as my race reports are concerned. Going to copy and paste to my log so I have a copy forever. Also going to compile little xc booklets with the course maps, results and my write ups. I think it would be a fitting celebration, as well as printouts for overall improvement on the team during the season, and a closing thoughts section from their dear old coach. I love these kids, even if they give me gray hairs!

Total Time: 27:00 Total Distance: 3 miles Average Pace: 9:00/ mile 

3:45 PM - Feeling like fall finally! Sunny, to partly cloudy with temp in the mid to upper 50s. Took the team of nine today and went to the Adams cemetery for hills. Trying to work on their speed! Got to the cemetery and had managed to lose one of my runners, Chris. Figured that he was back at the school and had decided not to come. When I heard that he had not stayed and was no where to be seen, my heart sank. On top of this I heard he had had an argument with his girlfriend earlier that day, and of course I jumped to conclusions and expected the worst. Ran as fast as I could to the field .6 miles with my phone. Then back .6 miles. Turns out he had been outside looking at plants and bugs! Just my luck! Glad he was okay though in all seriousness. 

Total Time: 29:10 Total Distance: 3.5 miles Average Pace: 8:20/ mile

3:45 PM -  Hard work paying off. Had one runner, Kylee show up today. As we got changed and headed out the door in our matching team hoodies, Ben K. (principal) came over and said "Benn can we talk for a second." I was like "oh boy. pink slip? stern talking to? what now?" He held out his hand and said "Just wanted to tell you how much it means to see you going for a run on a Friday afternoon with one cross country runner. You are making the difference". If that doesn't fuel your fire, I don't know what will! I had a really nice chat with my sixth grader about the perils of littering to the ecosystem and our shared interest in saving the planet, one piece of litter at a time. She is my hero!

Total Time: 33:00 Total Distance: 3 miles Average Pace: 11:00 

9:00 AM - Drove to Spa Park today from MA for the Great Pumpkin Challenge 10k race. It is a 5k/10k held on the roads through Spa Park. Same course as the Keys' Run I found out. Didn't think it would be as hugely popular as it was. Over 1800 runners yesterday. Glad I brought both my Vibrams, as my blue KSOs are getting sent to the Vibram cemetery. 6 holes in the bottom of them! Too many people as the first 5k was run with the 5k runners. Tucked in nicely and used it as a progression run. 

Ran the following splits: (9:06, 8:40, 8:19, 7:48, 7:53, 7:58) Last two were with significant uphills. Really felt good, considering haven't done many long runs this year. Trying to get in shape for Stockadeathon in a few weeks. I think for Stockadeathon the key will be to stay relaxed and go nice and easy the first half of the race. I'm a Clydesdale after all! We don't like speed! Cooled down at the end. My time didn't get recorded because I couldn't attach the chip to my Vibrams. However a friend who works for ARE recorded my time in the results for me :). Yay!

Cooled down 2 miles around the course and to the car. Then out to Karavalli for Indian food with Tara, Jonn Stanley and Momma Grifff. Then to Virgil's for coffee.

Finished in 146th place of 516 finishers in a time of 51:16, good for 8:15 a mile. 

Total Time: 51:16 Total Distance: 6.22 miles Average Pace: 8:15

Total Time for all miles today: 1:25 

Ran an easy 3 miles in 27:00 in the Vibram KSOs. Average pace was 9:00/mile. Trying to keep some miles in here. Last week of xc practice with the kiddos.

3:45 PM - Ran with the cross country team. 3.5 miles in 30:00. Average Pace: 8:34/ mile. Felt pretty good. A little nervous. Turnout has been low at the end of the season. Only 5-6 runners a practice. I hope we all make it!

3:45 PM - Ran after school with the cross country kiddos. Last practice of the season! County championships are on Saturday!! Excited and sobering at the same time I think. We'll see how it goes.