Here for the Party

One year ago today, Zach, Jacob, and I stopped all whole distance team in the first bay of the locker room to reveal was then known as “the surprise.” We went through our whole semi-rehearsed “Picture This” unveiling. Announcing at the end that the surprise was a team blog titled the Milk Table.

In the first post ever, we asked that you guys hang in there while the Milk Table got off the ground. You have done so much more than that. The support, encouragement, energy, and excitement have been incredible. Thank you so much! For running, for reading, for commenting, for taking pictures, for everything.

Happy Birthday Milk Table!

Now, A look back at the first year:
The Milk Table Year One- By The Numbers
68,736 Words
19,500+ Page Views
481 Comments
147 Posts
119 Pictures
104 Likes on Facebook
52 Milk Table Shirts
51 Followers
49 International Page Views
32 Awards
8 Sunday Conversations
4 Blog Masters
3 Hall of Famers
3 Babies
2 Many Miles & Memories to count
1 Awesome Year

For more memories click here to reread the first week of posts.

Today’s practice found the DeSmet distance team at Creve Coeur Lake. The guys ran anywhere between 30 and 50 minutes around the scenic park. A DeSmet favorite, the crewers of CC Lake were in action this morning. For me, I had a 70 minutes on the elliptical which I knocked out at DeSmet before meeting up with everyone else. 70 minutes seemed daunting, but the time flew by because I was joined by none other than Taylor Swift.

After the run, strides, and core were complete, we celebrated by singing happy birthday and eating cupcakes. The delicious Disney Princess cupcakes (with rings!) were a huge hit. We had Jasmine, Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora, and Belle. Jasmine seemed to be the most popular and I guess that means she’s the hottest Disney Princess. If you disagree, comment who you think it is below.

Quote of the Day: “Where’s the clapping?”- Michael as his group was in the middle of on one of their strides. Since I couldn’t do strides, I was cheering the other guys on. Michael was upset that I didn’t clap for them after I clapped on the pervious stride. I made it to them by giving my best slow clap their next time by.

Joke of the Day: “She’s a boy most of the movie!”- Someone (sorry, I’m not sure who it was). People were upset that Mulan wasn’t on a cupcake.

Best Dressed: Scherping, Waller, and Patrick. All three of them wore their Blog Shirts today not even realizing that today was its birthday. Very Festive. It the first time we’ve ever had three winners on the day, but it’s a special day. Some guys had it on yesterday. Good work, but you missed by a day.

Kinda Cold for Spring Break

The highlight of today was the appearance of to alumni who are currently running at the collegiate level. Andy McWhorter (’09), Bellermine, and Zach Boyle (’10), Maryville, both are on spring break this week. They came up to DeSmet to catch up with Tbone and the team and get their run in. It was a lot of fun to see these guys and get a chance to hang out with them.

Today’s workout included an AE run on the Chasselle courses and core. It was chilly but another solid day for the distance squad. And of course it was ended with a tasty, refreshing carton of chocolate milk.

Scherping and I extended practice with a good weights session. Building up strength so we’ll be ready to run some fast times late in the season. It ended up being a long practice, but we know it’s these extra things that will help us reach our potential and put us in position to go after some school records. Scherping is eyeing the 800m record (1:55.68) which was set back in 1997. It’s a good drop from last year, but Brian is a totally different person, way more fit than he has ever been. I’m going after the record in the 1600m (4:17.1) set in 2002. We’re both super excited to be in this position. Keep it locked into the Milk Table to follow all the action.

I should also mention that two of three distance relay records could be broken this year—the 4x800 (7:57.5) from 2006 and the DMR (10:58.6) from 2009.

Check out these either new or updated posts:
Ellipticarty (weekend practices) – added today
Sprinter Like Me (Potter’s position) – added Friday
Let’s Go! – New picture
Legend of the FET (final winter post) – completed!

Quote of the Day: “Coach, is the baseball team still too good to use their own field?”- Zach Boyle, HOF

Joke of the Day: During core.“What’s this?!?” [throws it in the grass]- Seiler. “Hey! That was my watch.”- Scherping.

Ellipticarty

Because of the Freshmen El Camino retreat, we were on an odd practice schedule this weekend. We went Friday at 1:30. It was awesome. We had the whole place to ourselves. Not a ball in sight. The guys headed out for a nice early afternoon Spoede and finished up with some strides.


Saturday
This day is dedicated to those of us who are a little dinked up.

Three guys on the team spent all or at least the majority of their time in the weight room on the elliptical or bike. It was Seiler, O’Connor, and Abernathy. Usually the having to be on the elliptical is no fun, but today was different. We had an Ellipticarty. It was awesome. I ellipticized for 65 minutes. Jacob spilt his hour between the elliptical and bike and Matt did the same for his 40 minutes. We had the place pretty much to ourselves. This meant there was nothing to watch, but we could set the radio (Y98 then JoyFM) and talk without the slamming of weights. We had fun while going absolutely no where. Hussman who also falls into this category came in to hang out with us for a bit.

Matt and Jacob were just using this day a chance to give their bodies a break for the pounding of running. Both have had a little something bothering them, but it’s of no concern.

On the other hand, my situation is a little different. If you haven’t caught on, I have yet to participate in the running part of practice this year. I have been ellipticizing all week and haven’t actually ran for a couple weeks now. This started when I felt some minor pain in my leg. Coach and I decided to play it very cautious because it matters that I can run later in the season. We didn’t want it to get worse before it got better. I had it checked out with the doctor on Thursday and found out I have tibialis posterior tendinopathy It’s tendinitis which was good news. I will be back next Monday after some therapy sessions to strengthen that tendon this week. By that time, I will also have some rocking custom orthotics to help my flat feet and over pronation which are part of the reason I got tendinitis.

I’ve missed running. But I missed being with you guys even more. I can’t wait to get back out there. I’m feeling strong and ready to go.

Quote of the Day: “I don’t know why I thought I could balance both of the weights there.”- Jacob commenting on when he dropped the ten pound dumbbells off the stationary bike. Before that he was getting in a quality double workout—riding the bike and curling!

Best Dressed: Justin Potter. Sometimes looking good means knowing what to wear when. That’s exactly what Justin did. He was well aware of what was going on at DeSmet this weekend and dressed for the occasion. He wore his green (the unofficial color of 2010 DeSmet) El Camino shirt from last year.

Sprinter like Me

Finally track season is here. After three months of training, it is time to get back to practice every day.

This year however, I won't be practicing with the distance team on a daily basis. After the over whelming questioning feedback on Facebook Monday night by recent alums, I'll break it down. The coaches think it will be best for me to train with the sprinters. In years past, we have had one guy who had primarily trained with the distance team make the switch to all sprints during their Senior track season to primarily run the 400. But those guys' main event was not the 800, so I still have so distance blood in me, and will be doing longer workouts than they did.

On Monday when the team was split into groups, and I stayed, I got a lot of surprised looks and questions from the sprinters. I thought it was funny. Tim Pickel asked if I was a sprinter or a hybrid. I'm a hybrid for sure.

It turns out sprinters run fake ins and outs. I got laughed at and congratulated for "winning the warm up" after I ran the entire straight away. I'v been doing ins and outs for a lot of years, and I have never stopped half way like all of them did, and I defiantly don't plan on starting now.

There are a couple other differences. One is I have gotten way more breaks this week then I have before. The other guys were laying on the ground ready to die when we did a ladder today, and I was ready to roll. Also the easy days. In the past I would do a 5 time run and be ready for the workout the next day. This week the sprinters did hurdle mobility drills and then watched youtube videos of the drills we do every day. I think the mobility drills were useful since I'm not very flexible.

I plan on starting to use my old friend the elliptical in the mornings next week. Michael Callahan jokingly asked Thursday if I feel like I can just show up anytime I want to after I walked over while the distance guys were doing core. Yep I do. I'll be around at practice and at Dynasty Club (first Milktable Dynasty Club mention?).

I wish I could still be a "distance guy" but this is what will keep me in one piece for the next 3 months. And in the end I want to do what will keep me healthy and hopefully allow me to go back to State. I feel great after 5 practices and am very, very excited about the team we have this season.

Round Two

The Spartans headed out for day two of the track season to a beautiful pre-Spring day. After getting better acquainted with the new stretching routine the distance team found some relief in the return of skip drills!

All warmed up the group headed out for another fun run in the sun while the rookies stayed back at the stadium to participate in the talent seeking pentathlon offering those new to track a chance to find their true niche.

Upon arriving to the ever loved Malcolm Terrace park it was deemed too muddy for us so after a single exploratory loop we headed back out onto the roads (safely of course) to round out with a Graeser loop.

Back at D World the team took care of some Core action reunited with the wounded before cheering on the freshman, team wide, mile time trial showcasing the future of the sport.

Quote of the day: "I like that group there." - Mr. Vitello gesturing towards Senior Varsity soccer studs and rookie track stars Michael Schwendeman and Andrew Struttmann

Joke of the day: “I was hoping coach would let do the pentathlon again. I got placed in the wrong event last year”- Michael Callahan

-Padre

Let’s Go!

Today’s the day: the start of track.

As always we started off the season with a full team meeting in the cafeteria. Coach Russo stressed the importance of being a team and working hard together. He reiterated that this is the most talented team he’s had in 10 years of coaching. But talent is just the start. So, Let’s Go!

To the shock of the distance squad we started with a two lap warm-up. Hopefully later in the week we will bump it back up to 4 laps like last year. We were on a new stretching routine that might take some time to get used. It had an awful lot of lunges and not enough skipping and we all know how great skipping is.

When the distance team broke away Coach Traughber talked about how we were starting a process of improvement. He also mentioned that everyone has to take some more responsibility this year since he is the only distance coach.

The top group lead by seniors Goetz, Scherping, and Seiler, all beginning their final season as a Spartans, had a Spoede. They picked up as if there wasn’t an offseason. Jacob won a close battle of GTTG (Guess the Temperature Game). They also had a little run in with some Chaminade runners. I was on the track with Little OC for a couple miles. Like any distance runners, we spent the first day of track talking about cross country—last year and the upcoming season.

There was a great atmosphere today. Everyone seemed pumped and really excited for the season. It was so great to have everyone together again. A nice, fun day that should be the slightest glimpse of what’s to come.

A shout out to Coach Traughber who ran a marathon in Ohio yesterday. He ran a PR of 3:16:15. Way to go T-bone!
On the Milk Table side of things, Welcome back! We're so glad to be blogging again after a long offseason. Be sure to scroll down and check out what was posted over the winter. Cross country was awesome and we hope to keep it going through the track season. Thanks again to everyone for all of your support!
Remember: Run Read Comment Repeat.

Quote of the Day: “We’re too good to screw this up.”- Coach Russo during the team meeting.

Joke of the Day: “Our gym is bigger than their whole school.”- Martini talking about L’École Culinaire. That came up because we were talking about weird schools to run college cross country at. This one of a few really good ones from Nick; he brought his A game for opening day.

Best Dressed: The first title of best dressed this season falls to a seasoned veteran of the award Mr. Kevin "Freaking" Abernathy sporting the bright green Big River Running Company Winter Distance Camp shirt with complementary new running shoes. It could also be noted that his blue leg sleeve matched his shorts blue stripe. Excellent all-around coordination. Stay Classy Kabes.

Celebrating Success

With the track season nearly upon us, there was a last recognition of the past cross country season. Saturday marked the Annual St. Louis Track Club Banquet. For the 18th year, the Track Club honored the All-Metro High School Cross Country Teams. I attended the banquet with my parents and Coach Traughber.

Banquet consisted of a good dinner followed by awards and a guest speaker. SLTC gave out its Volunteer of the Year (Jackie Corn) and Lifetime Achievement Awards (Jerry Kokesh). Jerry was part of the beginning of the St. Louis Track Club and then spent six years as the President of the Road Runners Club of America. He now balances his running with biathlons (yes, the sport that combines cross country skiing and rifle shooting) and is a manager of the US Biathlon Association. Jerry could not make the banquet because he was in some European country. He seems like a cool guy that really loves running.

Next Ben from Big River talked about each of the high school runners that made the All-Metro team as we came up to receive our awards. In a typical fashion, I was first; this time not for my last name but because I was the only Honorable Mention boy. Also there, were rivals Cushing, Mazar, Lambert, and Holmes. My SLUH counterpart, Tim Rackers, was not there to receive his top runner award because he was skiing. The rest of the boys All-Metro team was up of guys from Class 3 and Illinois.

The girls’ side was headlined by FSU bound Nerix Hall standout, Colleen Quigley. Also on the Girls First Team was friend of the Milk Table, Krista Menghini. For those of you who don’t remember, Krista is the cross country/ volleyball star from St. Joseph’s Academy. It was her second time on the All-Metro team, but the first time she was able to attend the banquet in full. She is headed to SIU to play volleyball and hopefully run track. Elise Vioxx, Cor Jesu’s top runner and a friend from Big River’s Winter Distance Camp, made the 2nd team despite getting injured during the season.Krista & Kabes
Rae Morhmann was the guest speaker. She’s ran a marathon in all 50 states. That’s probably the only thing that can top collecting all 50 state quarters while selling chocolate milk. Her story and speech were great. The part I remember the best is that when she was going through a hard time see started to run. She said, “It was empowering!” That’s what running does.

I had chance to talk with different people when the night ended. The runners mentioned above as well as Ben and Coach Porter from SLUH. The whole night was a really cool event and a lot. A nice opportunity to hang out with other top runners and get honored for our hard work.

Here comes Track!