Hello again and welcome back. This weekend we traveled out to RimRock for the annual race in Lawrence, Kansas. It was a blast as usual and we raced well, while sticking to the usual traditions. We started out Friday morning with a jog before school because we left right after school so that we could arrive to the hotel before nighttime. During school the varsity team got introduced at the fall pep rally as the crowd gave an especially big cheer for our young one, Austin Del Roso.
After school we packed up our things and got on the bus for the long car ride to Kansas. Our bus driver was definitely the best driver of my three RimRock trips. We never got lost once and he was speedy and avoided traffic. While snacking on Matt's ginormous box of fruit snacks along with our own candy and snacks the team got involved in an intense card game of 31. Glenn and Austin managed to make it to the finals as I witnessed them cheat the entire time from the back seat as I battled my Calculus homework. I prevailed and so did the two cheaters as MC became angry when he finally realized what was going on.
At the hotel I roomed with Matt. Nick and Austin decided to come and chill in our room before bedtime for an hour as we frantically searched the channels for a Harry Potter movie (its a tradition). Unfortunately we didn't find one but we settled on The Roast of Charlie Sheen, which was quite hilarious.
In the morning both Matt and my alarms didn't go off for some reason so Coach T had to call us on the land line to wake us up. I left my pillow at the hotel by accident as I rushed to get ready. It was my favorite pillow and I miss it a lot. Anyway, we were met at the race by esteemed alumni Jacob, Alex, Drew, and Matt's older brother Andrew. It was great to see them again because we always enjoy the alumni. During the race Nick finished first with a big PR of 16:55 and I also PRed, finishing 2nd with a 17:10. Matt and Sully were right behind me at 17:15 and Austin came in around 17:23. Good work boys!
After the race we took our picture on the big dirt pile. Its another tradition. We decided to go shirtless and race shorts so that we could look the same. The JV gathered at the bottom of the mound as the alumni took the pictures with Dr. Callahan's camera. Hopefully I can get some of those pictures to show you soon.
Quote of the Day:
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Sunday, September 25, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
A Blast from the Past
I'm proud to announce that we have a special post today from our former Bulldog and enforcer, JC Madey. He is a great a runner and a great friend and I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did.
Although Im no longer a part of the De Smet Cross Country team anymore, I just wanted to say a few words. These words come before one of the biggest races of the year…RIM ROCK. And read all of it, I know its long…you have a lot of time to think in college.
I went on my longest run of my young college career (1 hour, 3 minutes). Granted it wasn’t very long, I encountered a phrase that really hit home to me; a phrase that I believe I like to live by, and one that I did live by during cross country days
First my background: My nickname was the bulldog. Who came up with it I don’t know, and honestly I don’t care. The meaning behind it though is what counts. I gave everything I had day in and day out. Whether it was grueling tempos, a Bender 40 when it was nearly 95 degrees, or out there on race day, I gave it my all. That’s what being a Bulldog was about for me. I knew I wasn’t a talented runner based on my background (baseball….yeah I know I was the TEAM TOOL). When I started I was also out of shape, having never run more than 3 miles in my life at one point. Even based on the sheer company of teammates I had (Abernathy, Seiler, Potter, Scherping, Matt O’Connor, Waller, Martini) and even those who came before me (Connor Callahan, Gibson, Lawder, Bender, Boyle) I knew it would be hard for me to compete, yet alone make a splash as a top 7 runner.
Going back to my run today, I found a war memorial, for all of those who have fought for this country, in both foreign and domestic wars. In the middle of this memorial lies a quote from Winston Churchill; a quote I believe I lived out“If you’re going through hell, keep going”.
I can’t count you all the times I wanted to stop doing the tempos, take a break on a 141 and back, or just quit running overall (in the beginning of course). The point being, I didn’t give up. Not only this, but I pushed harder. I knew I would never run a 16:00 5k, I knew I’d never run a 5:00 mile. What I did know is that if I worked my butt off day in and day out, I could not only make a splash in the top 7, but I could be a top 5 runner. That I did. Granted I was only the 5th place runner most of the time, I knew I succeeded. Saying that, I knew while holding this spot on the team, I had to work even harder. Many people say that your team is only as good as its weakest link. I was that last link many times. It didn’t matter if I had to gruel out an extra mile, an extra set of strides, or my favorite, an extra workout session, I had to get “my moneys worth”
Now where does this tie into you runners currently on the team. Well for some of you, it Rim Rock Weekend. I remember last year’s race, and how John Waller went as hard as he could for as long as he could to push the pack and keeping us together (this earned him ROW honors). This race marks a good test of where you are. Are you good enough to compete in MCC, Districts, Sectionals, and State. How far are you willing to push yourself through this race and the rest of the season to make sure your team get to Jefferson City? This is where you can experience that hell, and come through with flying colors (cough cough…a Bulldog).
As for the rest of you, how far are you willing go to get to a varsity position. As far as I know, Austin is a literal definition of a Bulldog….Soccer and Cross Country, IN THE SAME SEASON. He goes through hell every day. But are you willing to take your tempos seriously to get better? Are you willing to take you long runs and recovery days as days to get better?
This is the point where you guys have to make this decision. Are you all willing to put it on the line for each other for the betterment of the team? Are you willing to put in that extra ounce of energy you didn’t think you had to get better as a runner? I promise if you decide to work hard for the rest of the season, this team will achieve great things, from the freshmen to the seniors. Strive to get better each day, one second at a time, and before you know it, you’ll have your opportunity to shine. Push as hard as you can, and you’ll get much more right back.
Gentle, I challenge you to go through hell and back. You don’t win a 110% award for taking it easy. Challenge yourself, and great things will come.
Good luck at Rim Rock this weekend. And good luck the rest of the way.
Sincerely
John C. Madey
Class of 2011
Bulldog
Although Im no longer a part of the De Smet Cross Country team anymore, I just wanted to say a few words. These words come before one of the biggest races of the year…RIM ROCK. And read all of it, I know its long…you have a lot of time to think in college.
I went on my longest run of my young college career (1 hour, 3 minutes). Granted it wasn’t very long, I encountered a phrase that really hit home to me; a phrase that I believe I like to live by, and one that I did live by during cross country days
First my background: My nickname was the bulldog. Who came up with it I don’t know, and honestly I don’t care. The meaning behind it though is what counts. I gave everything I had day in and day out. Whether it was grueling tempos, a Bender 40 when it was nearly 95 degrees, or out there on race day, I gave it my all. That’s what being a Bulldog was about for me. I knew I wasn’t a talented runner based on my background (baseball….yeah I know I was the TEAM TOOL). When I started I was also out of shape, having never run more than 3 miles in my life at one point. Even based on the sheer company of teammates I had (Abernathy, Seiler, Potter, Scherping, Matt O’Connor, Waller, Martini) and even those who came before me (Connor Callahan, Gibson, Lawder, Bender, Boyle) I knew it would be hard for me to compete, yet alone make a splash as a top 7 runner.
Going back to my run today, I found a war memorial, for all of those who have fought for this country, in both foreign and domestic wars. In the middle of this memorial lies a quote from Winston Churchill; a quote I believe I lived out“If you’re going through hell, keep going”.
I can’t count you all the times I wanted to stop doing the tempos, take a break on a 141 and back, or just quit running overall (in the beginning of course). The point being, I didn’t give up. Not only this, but I pushed harder. I knew I would never run a 16:00 5k, I knew I’d never run a 5:00 mile. What I did know is that if I worked my butt off day in and day out, I could not only make a splash in the top 7, but I could be a top 5 runner. That I did. Granted I was only the 5th place runner most of the time, I knew I succeeded. Saying that, I knew while holding this spot on the team, I had to work even harder. Many people say that your team is only as good as its weakest link. I was that last link many times. It didn’t matter if I had to gruel out an extra mile, an extra set of strides, or my favorite, an extra workout session, I had to get “my moneys worth”
Now where does this tie into you runners currently on the team. Well for some of you, it Rim Rock Weekend. I remember last year’s race, and how John Waller went as hard as he could for as long as he could to push the pack and keeping us together (this earned him ROW honors). This race marks a good test of where you are. Are you good enough to compete in MCC, Districts, Sectionals, and State. How far are you willing to push yourself through this race and the rest of the season to make sure your team get to Jefferson City? This is where you can experience that hell, and come through with flying colors (cough cough…a Bulldog).
As for the rest of you, how far are you willing go to get to a varsity position. As far as I know, Austin is a literal definition of a Bulldog….Soccer and Cross Country, IN THE SAME SEASON. He goes through hell every day. But are you willing to take your tempos seriously to get better? Are you willing to take you long runs and recovery days as days to get better?
This is the point where you guys have to make this decision. Are you all willing to put it on the line for each other for the betterment of the team? Are you willing to put in that extra ounce of energy you didn’t think you had to get better as a runner? I promise if you decide to work hard for the rest of the season, this team will achieve great things, from the freshmen to the seniors. Strive to get better each day, one second at a time, and before you know it, you’ll have your opportunity to shine. Push as hard as you can, and you’ll get much more right back.
Gentle, I challenge you to go through hell and back. You don’t win a 110% award for taking it easy. Challenge yourself, and great things will come.
Good luck at Rim Rock this weekend. And good luck the rest of the way.
Sincerely
John C. Madey
Class of 2011
Bulldog
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Our First 5K
Hello again and welcome back. I again have a lot to cover in a limited amount of time so I will try to touch on the finer points of the last two weeks. First of all I promised Tom that I would describe the dead deer so this will be explained once and then never mentioned again because it gives me the creepers just thinking about it. About a week and a half ago during our first Bender 40 of the year we came across a dead deer in the ditch on the side of Ladue Road. I smelled the deer from a good 200 yards away which was possibly one of the worst smells imaginable. Anyway, the head of the deer was stuffed up the sewer drain hole and the deer was laying on its back with all four of its legs hanging straight up in the air. There was a large hole in the stomach of the deer with a swarm of flies were going inside and out of the animal. It was quite disturbing.
On happier news Monday was our last tempo workout of the year with our workouts from now on switching to 5k pace. During a 6:20 morning practice Austin, Nick, Matt and I finished a 5 continuous mile workout in 29:30. It was pretty awesome as Coach Tom led us to a record pace for all of us. Hopefully that workout will pay dividends in the future as we were able to stay together for the entire workout. Nice work boys!
Thursday was our first 5k race of the year at our home course, Parkway Central. Without Austin, Nick led the back finishing first for De Smet with a 17:25. Collin Sullivan ran an impressive 17:31 beating Matt O'Connor and myself. I came in at 17:39 right in front of MC. Our spread between our number 1 through our number 5 runners was extremely small and hopefully that will help us as we move forward. The pack of Nick, Matt, and I were in good position for two miles, but then we ran out of gas during the final mile as I dropped from 15th to 30th. Don't worry we'll figure it out next week at RimRock. Hopefully Jacob and Potter (whom we saw at the football game) we be at the RimRock race next Saturday and I am very excited to see them again. That's all for this week, thanks for reading and I'll make sure to try my best to update this weekly from now until the end of the season!
On happier news Monday was our last tempo workout of the year with our workouts from now on switching to 5k pace. During a 6:20 morning practice Austin, Nick, Matt and I finished a 5 continuous mile workout in 29:30. It was pretty awesome as Coach Tom led us to a record pace for all of us. Hopefully that workout will pay dividends in the future as we were able to stay together for the entire workout. Nice work boys!
Thursday was our first 5k race of the year at our home course, Parkway Central. Without Austin, Nick led the back finishing first for De Smet with a 17:25. Collin Sullivan ran an impressive 17:31 beating Matt O'Connor and myself. I came in at 17:39 right in front of MC. Our spread between our number 1 through our number 5 runners was extremely small and hopefully that will help us as we move forward. The pack of Nick, Matt, and I were in good position for two miles, but then we ran out of gas during the final mile as I dropped from 15th to 30th. Don't worry we'll figure it out next week at RimRock. Hopefully Jacob and Potter (whom we saw at the football game) we be at the RimRock race next Saturday and I am very excited to see them again. That's all for this week, thanks for reading and I'll make sure to try my best to update this weekly from now until the end of the season!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Labor Day
A lot happened this week so I will again make sure to touch again on the more important details. Wednesday was our first race of the season and we did not run very well in the 102 degree heat. Our new sophomore, Austin Del Rosso, was the exception, finishing 9th with a 10:32. Matt and I were able to crack the top 20 with finishes of 15th and 19th. I got dizzy halfway through and had trouble keeping my pace. We ran well for one mile with Matt, Nick, Austin, and myself in the top 12 , but then our pack broke. We finished fourth to Marquette, Eureka, and Mehlville. That's all I'm going to say about this meet because we definitely didn't live up to our potential. Like I said, we lost to Mehlville.
However, we were able to respond on Friday morning's continuous tempo workout. Our pack of Nick, Matt, Austin, and myself were able to stay together for five miles of continuous tempos, with a three minute break in between the third and fourth miles. We ran all five miles under 6 minutes and coach told us that we ran 17:32 pace for the first three miles. This showed myself that running is almost all mental concentration, so I hope that our good results in the tempo workout will continue over into our first 5k September 15th at Parkway Central. After school on Friday our practice was canceled because of an excessive heat warning. Our varsity team lifted weights and then Coach sent us home for a three day break over the Labor Day Weekend.
Final Notes:
1.)Nick, Matt, and myself were honored by receiving recruitment letters from Fontbonne University to run for them.
2.) My friend/log run partner/co-worker Claire Minnick finished an impressive 2nd in the girls varsity race.
3.) Today is Kevin Abernathy (Kabes) birthday. Happy birthday Kevin!
4.) Pictures were provided by Alex Potter.
However, we were able to respond on Friday morning's continuous tempo workout. Our pack of Nick, Matt, Austin, and myself were able to stay together for five miles of continuous tempos, with a three minute break in between the third and fourth miles. We ran all five miles under 6 minutes and coach told us that we ran 17:32 pace for the first three miles. This showed myself that running is almost all mental concentration, so I hope that our good results in the tempo workout will continue over into our first 5k September 15th at Parkway Central. After school on Friday our practice was canceled because of an excessive heat warning. Our varsity team lifted weights and then Coach sent us home for a three day break over the Labor Day Weekend.
1.)Nick, Matt, and myself were honored by receiving recruitment letters from Fontbonne University to run for them.
2.) My friend/log run partner/co-worker Claire Minnick finished an impressive 2nd in the girls varsity race.
3.) Today is Kevin Abernathy (Kabes) birthday. Happy birthday Kevin!
4.) Pictures were provided by Alex Potter.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Ready to Rock
Hey guys, welcome back! Its been a long and busy week for me so this is my first opportunity to blog this week. Our biggest new this week is that Austin Del Roso has decided to play soccer and run cross country. He's one of our best runners, if not our best runner so we are all very excited about his decision. Tuesday was the two mile time trial to decide which ten guys get to run varsity in our first meet next Wednesday. Austin won the race with an outstanding time of 10:34. Austin was followed by Matt (10:38), myself (10:39), and Nick (10:42.) Other varsity qualifiers include Sully, MC, Trunko, Husmann, Glenn, and possibly Potter. Anyway, it was about 96 degrees when we ran so I thought it was impressive performance for us.
Last Saturday was the annual pancake breakfast at Coach's house. Liz made some great pancakes including numbers with our individual places on the team, how clever! The lightning that day forced us to run sprints down the sidewalk covered strip mall in front of the Big River Running Store. It was quite an interesting run, and was my first practice ever in four years that was affected by lightning.
Today we headed over to the dreaded Conway Park for four miles of continuous tempos, with a 30 second break in between the second and third miles. Our group of Nick, Matt, Austin, and myself ran amazingly. I'm so proud of those guys. We worked really well together motivating each other through the hard workout. In the last mile, when Matt started to slow down, we showered him with encouragement to stay with us all the way to the finish. We ran 11:55 for the first two miles and 11:40 for the second two. MC and Sully weren't far behind at 12:12 and 12:09. With that said, I'm pumped for our first meet this Wednesday at 4:45 at Fenton Park in the Nike Kickoff Two Mile Classic. I think we're going to kick some butt.
Before leaving for college, Jacob, Kevin, and Potter (HOF class of 2011) met with myself, Glenn, and Nick about blogging for the upcoming year. Although unfortunately I will not be posting everyday, I assure you readers that the blog is in capable hands and that we will continue through the cross country season. Stay tuned for posts from Glenn and Nick possibly. The alumni and my former teammates parted for college with firm handshakes and they gave us a digital camera for our blog this year. They will be missed for all their hard work on and off the cross country course!
Stay tuned for post meet updates and thanks for reading.
Last Saturday was the annual pancake breakfast at Coach's house. Liz made some great pancakes including numbers with our individual places on the team, how clever! The lightning that day forced us to run sprints down the sidewalk covered strip mall in front of the Big River Running Store. It was quite an interesting run, and was my first practice ever in four years that was affected by lightning.
Today we headed over to the dreaded Conway Park for four miles of continuous tempos, with a 30 second break in between the second and third miles. Our group of Nick, Matt, Austin, and myself ran amazingly. I'm so proud of those guys. We worked really well together motivating each other through the hard workout. In the last mile, when Matt started to slow down, we showered him with encouragement to stay with us all the way to the finish. We ran 11:55 for the first two miles and 11:40 for the second two. MC and Sully weren't far behind at 12:12 and 12:09. With that said, I'm pumped for our first meet this Wednesday at 4:45 at Fenton Park in the Nike Kickoff Two Mile Classic. I think we're going to kick some butt.
Before leaving for college, Jacob, Kevin, and Potter (HOF class of 2011) met with myself, Glenn, and Nick about blogging for the upcoming year. Although unfortunately I will not be posting everyday, I assure you readers that the blog is in capable hands and that we will continue through the cross country season. Stay tuned for posts from Glenn and Nick possibly. The alumni and my former teammates parted for college with firm handshakes and they gave us a digital camera for our blog this year. They will be missed for all their hard work on and off the cross country course!
Stay tuned for post meet updates and thanks for reading.
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Tour de Creve Coeur
Hello there Milk Table followers. I would first like to apologize for the lapse in recent blog posts. School has started this week and I've been very busy. Today was our weekly long run of 10 miles. Although Coach Tom had to work today, we were joined by T-Bone who ran the entire 10 miles with us. He's pretty legit now. Anyway, the heat today was almost unbearable today at 96 degrees with little to no wind. We were able to survive with the four water breaks in the shade that refreshed both the mind and the body.
We started today's run by playing a game where we acted like we were riding in the Tour de France. We split the run into different stages and awarded the classic jerseys to the runners in our group. After breaking away from the Pelaton (JV and freshmen) the lead pack of myself, Nick Martini, Sully, and MC opened with in a torrid pace of 7:30 that we maintained for most of the run. Matt took stage one and quickly earned the green jersey for being the best sprinter on the team. I battled back to take the hilly stage two to grab the jersey of the Mountain King (white with red polka dots). Sully with his consistent effort was able to take the yellow jersey for the overall best time, and we awarded MC the young rider's jersey (white) for hanging in their tough. As you can tell, we have a lot of free time to try and entertain ourselves during these long runs that help make the time pass quickly.
Tonight is the Back to School Bash at De Smet so I will be signing off now to go and help set up. Stay tuned this week for final posts from Kabes and Padre and an update on tomorrow's pancake breakfeast at coach's house. Thanks for reading. Stay Classy!
Matt O'Connor
MC and Sully
Me
We started today's run by playing a game where we acted like we were riding in the Tour de France. We split the run into different stages and awarded the classic jerseys to the runners in our group. After breaking away from the Pelaton (JV and freshmen) the lead pack of myself, Nick Martini, Sully, and MC opened with in a torrid pace of 7:30 that we maintained for most of the run. Matt took stage one and quickly earned the green jersey for being the best sprinter on the team. I battled back to take the hilly stage two to grab the jersey of the Mountain King (white with red polka dots). Sully with his consistent effort was able to take the yellow jersey for the overall best time, and we awarded MC the young rider's jersey (white) for hanging in their tough. As you can tell, we have a lot of free time to try and entertain ourselves during these long runs that help make the time pass quickly.
Tonight is the Back to School Bash at De Smet so I will be signing off now to go and help set up. Stay tuned this week for final posts from Kabes and Padre and an update on tomorrow's pancake breakfeast at coach's house. Thanks for reading. Stay Classy!
Matt O'Connor
MC and SullyMe
Monday, August 15, 2011
One Super Run
Today we returned to practice after the Alumni Run on Saturday for a nice aerobic endurance (A.E.) run. Coach Tom joined Nick, Matt, MC, Sully, and I for a Super Spoede. We were also accompanied by Coach Traughber's magic watch that makes sure we stay exactly on pace for our run. Alumni two-mile champion, Connor Callahan, ran with us for the first mile of the run before he broke off from the pack and sped into the distance. Shortly after Connor disappeared, Nick found an old rusty knife that he carried with him for the remainder of the run. I began to tease Nick about how we look like a group of thugs, because we were running around without our shirts on and carrying a knife.
Shortly after passing Villa School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Nick also found a hubcap. We decided to take turns carrying it for the four miles remaining in the run by switching carriers each mile when Coach's watch beeped. The sytem worked out quite well, with Nick carrying the first mile, myself the second, Matt the third, and Coach Traughber bring it home in the final strecth. We left the knife and the hubcap at Nick's stash of treasure that is located near the school. Coach Traughber joined us for the reaminder of the run after our waterstop at Villa. Coach is training for the Boston Marthon, and has greatly improved his endurance with a lot of hard work. Good luck Coach! ...the boys are cheering for you.
One of the more entertaing parts of the run occured when we stopped for water at our usual spot on Olive Road. We were met as usual by Coach Williams, but we were suprised by his grand eterance in a rental moving truck. The truck looked exactly like the moving van from Toy Story 1, and we joked about placing a sofa and plasma t.v. in the back of the van and turning it into a De Smet Cross Country lounge on wheels. All kidding aside, we wish Coach Williams the best of luck as his family makes the transition into their new home. While on the topic of coaches, Coach Russo brought his two kids to practice today. We all laughed as we watched them play tag on the football field, while Coach Russo tried to keep them from getting trampeled by the soccer team.
After practice we were joined by Kevin Abernathy, and we began to discuss the summer training shirt for this year. We threw out many ideas including Donkey Kong, Harry Potter, and Batman. We have decided to go with a batman shirt that is yellow with black lettering. This shirt will be in memory of former De Smet runner Jacob Seiler, who love Batman and justice. Here is my design for the shirt, but it is by no means the final copy. Designs will be shown to Jacob tommorrow, who will ultimately get the final say on the shirt.
Quote of the Day: "Nick put that knife away the children are watching" by Coach Tom as we passed a schoolbus full of children on the way to their first day of school.
Shortly after passing Villa School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Nick also found a hubcap. We decided to take turns carrying it for the four miles remaining in the run by switching carriers each mile when Coach's watch beeped. The sytem worked out quite well, with Nick carrying the first mile, myself the second, Matt the third, and Coach Traughber bring it home in the final strecth. We left the knife and the hubcap at Nick's stash of treasure that is located near the school. Coach Traughber joined us for the reaminder of the run after our waterstop at Villa. Coach is training for the Boston Marthon, and has greatly improved his endurance with a lot of hard work. Good luck Coach! ...the boys are cheering for you.
One of the more entertaing parts of the run occured when we stopped for water at our usual spot on Olive Road. We were met as usual by Coach Williams, but we were suprised by his grand eterance in a rental moving truck. The truck looked exactly like the moving van from Toy Story 1, and we joked about placing a sofa and plasma t.v. in the back of the van and turning it into a De Smet Cross Country lounge on wheels. All kidding aside, we wish Coach Williams the best of luck as his family makes the transition into their new home. While on the topic of coaches, Coach Russo brought his two kids to practice today. We all laughed as we watched them play tag on the football field, while Coach Russo tried to keep them from getting trampeled by the soccer team.
After practice we were joined by Kevin Abernathy, and we began to discuss the summer training shirt for this year. We threw out many ideas including Donkey Kong, Harry Potter, and Batman. We have decided to go with a batman shirt that is yellow with black lettering. This shirt will be in memory of former De Smet runner Jacob Seiler, who love Batman and justice. Here is my design for the shirt, but it is by no means the final copy. Designs will be shown to Jacob tommorrow, who will ultimately get the final say on the shirt.
Quote of the Day: "Nick put that knife away the children are watching" by Coach Tom as we passed a schoolbus full of children on the way to their first day of school.
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