Picnic Time

Today the Varsity squad met up with the coaches at Forest Park for an important workout and to solidify a tradition. The workout was the renowned Oregon 8. The tradition was the Oregon 8 Picnic.

Following the trend of the month, it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We were so happy for this because it was miserable last year. We warmed-up to the visitors’ center and passed some Ruggerfest action on the way. Instead of the normal back-and-forth skips we did skips in a straight line across the oasis.

The workout was altered from the Oregon 8s of the past. It was no longer 1200 5k 1200 5k 1200. This year coach cut the 1200s and the first 5k was at tempo pace. So not as super extreme as it once was but definitely not a walk in the park. We ran on the MCC highway course, 3 mile loops (with 400 splits!!) plus the 200m finish. Everyone was right on pace for the first 5k. Scherping lead the pack as he only had to run the first one. After the 15 minute break, we headed back to the line for a second 5k. It was a battle but we all buckled down and ran this one faster. A successful day on an important workout.

After the cool down, it was time for the 2nd Annual Oregon 8 Picnic. The Oregon 8 Picnic was created by DeSmet XC greats Joe Gibson & Blake Bender last year. Everyone brings something and then we eat and hang out for awhile. Last year we had plenty of food, but the poor weather cut the picnic short. This year it was an overwhelming success as we ate our fill and had a blast. Chocolate Milk, sandwiches, fruit, chips, brownies, Rice Krispie Treats, and Gatorade. Coach Traughber stayed around for awhile as there was no way he could pass up on this good stuff.
Quote of the Day: “One more mile till the picnic!”- Coach Traughber as Abernathy came through the 2 mile of the second 5k.

Joke of the Day: “200s? That’s child play. We’re starting with tempos.”- Coach Traughber in response to if Hannah was going to be running 200 repeats soon.

Best Dressed: Kabes edged out O’Connor as in the words of Coach Russo he was able to match non-school issued gear. Matt had the old school DeSmet uniform. Kevin started with light-weight sleeves that matched his shorts. For the workout he stripped down to the Boyle-tribute MST shorts and the sleeveless Nike top that matched the stripe. Big time for the big workout.

How about a 400?

Yep. It’s that time of the year. T-Shirts Relays. This year with a slight modification; we ran two heats of a 4x400 Relay.

The importance of T-Shirt Relays was illustrated in Potter dusting off the spikes for the first time all year as there was no way his was missing out on this. Everyone got out there and pounded out their one lap regardless of how weird it was to reduce our racing distance by 4600m. It was exciting and a lot of fun.The Top Three Teams
After all the excitement had ended, everyone headed out for a Mosley. Up front we had a big game of See-Ya going by the time we made it to Olive. Waller ran a solid 400 but that didn’t help him here as it was a big struggle. After practice we had a nice full team dinner in the cafeteria.

Check back tomorrow for a recap of the Patriot Invite—the secret meet that Madey, Scherping, and Seamus ran in today.

Quote of the Day: “I want Potter to run with the big dogs.”- Coach Traughber when he realized Potter wasn’t on the line for the start of the first heat.

Joke of the Day: “Bees?!? Where?!? I’m allergic!” Vieth after kabes called “Bs” as in B-Skips during the warm-up.

Best Dressed: Sometimes to win best dressed it’s not about what you wear, but what you when. And Patrick LaBelle knew this as he took the Traveling Trophy in the late stages of the draft. The Traveling Trophy is a jacket the has made an appearance in the T-Shirt Relays for the last 3 years. Coach Williams entered it and Boyle won it. It then moved in the hands of Jacob Brock before LaFever claimed it. As you can see below, it was the perfect fit for Patrick.

SURPRISE!

Today was a very exciting day overall. First off, it was the Daddy returning to his team for the first time since last week. It was nice to have him back, as today’s workout would not have been nearly as fun without him.

For starters, everyone had 1000s at 5k pace at Conway Park. The excitement started right on the warm up on the way to Conway, as lying on the side walk was a dead snake, which made Seiler almost jump out of his already too short shorts.

After our normal stretch routine, everyone got ready to dominate their 1000s. The Top Group nailed their times every time. All the groups followed in suit, which made today for a pretty successful day. Coach could not have been more pleased with the way the workouts turned out.

After we finished with the workout, coach took the Top 8 out the back way of Conway. This seemed quite weird to me, as I had honestly never known there was a back entrance to the park (even though I have ran there too many times) where we were led out to Ladue Road for a cool down. BUT WAIT! Instead of taking the normal right turn back on Ladue to get to De Smet, he led us right onto Ladue Hill, where we were surprised with 4 hill sprints. Seeing as it was my first workout back from injury, I did the first one, and then cheered the boys on the rest of the way.

After a sneaky operation of getting water from the Montessori School on Ladue and not getting caught trespassing, the top group headed back on a cool down, which happened to make Matt O’Conner very happy, as it was a Cor de Ville, which passes by his alma mater of St. Monica.

But the boys were not done there! After a good stretch, the Top 8 headed into the weight room for the every exciting Upper Body Weight Lifting Circuit. Although hard and always humbling, the boys managed to grind through it, which earned them a nice ice bath after practice. This ice bath, seeing how tough and long the practice was today, included a round of SILKY FREEZE ICE CREAM!!!

All in all, it was a great practice, and it looks as though everything is coming together just in time for the District race in a week. Keep it up boys, hard work pays off!

Quote of the Day: “It smells like someone pooped on popcorn.” Nick Martini remarking about the aweful smell on Ladue road heading back to De Smet.

Joke of the Day: Kid in Emerson Lobby “Hey put some shorts on.” “They’re at your mom’s house!” Matt O’Conner finally getting to dish out the joke of the century.

Best Dressed: Team Shirts. Anyone who wore a team shirt wins today. This includes the summer training shirt as well as De Smet running shirts. These types of shirts were seen in multiples today, which made the beginning of practice that much more awesome!

The Bulldog

Hannah Loraine Traughber

Ambush

First off the team would like to give a shout-out to Mrs. Lamping for bringing us bagels and Gatorade's after practice

Today everyone on the JV team had the same run 55 minutes

It was me, Pribe, Beers, Sullivan, Waters and Potter in a group and we eventually merged with Michael Callahan, Vieth, Glen Mcgann, Jimmy Reed and Steve Placht. Now Creve Cour Park as always was freakin sweet. Especially all the dirt gravel side paths right alongside the asphalt path. It was on one of these that me and Potter discovered the bridge of Teribethia. After a water and bathroom stop me, Potter, and Pribe got separated from the rest of the group.

We saw some Canadian ducks (geese) and ducks along the way although Pribe insisted factually that they were geese not Canadian ducks as Potter said they were. Then we saw an Australian squirrel which was really just a extremely small dog. Then we had 4 by 200s at at mile pace at the end of our run. There would be more but I promised Alex Potter to keep it family friendly.

The title is confidential.

Best dressed Nick Martini with his McDonald's’ hat

Quote/joke of the day “ Do you want me to magically stop being a loser, and get girls”-Collin Sullivan when Vieth asked his group why they didn’t hang out with public school girls?

Pat "Foglamesh" Callahan

Sunday Conversation - 100th Post

"Hey guys. Yea, this is it. The big surprise. A blog! Oh yeah. It's going to be awesome. It's the biggest thing since twitter. Zach and I are like really excited about this and think it will be only a matter of time before everybody enjoys reading and commenting on these posts. You're going to find a little bit of everything in here. There'll be stuff about practices and races, pictures and links, along with other random stuff that we think you guys will like."

On Wednesday March 10th, 2010, Kabes posted this as the first ever blog post. On Sunday October 10th, 2010, The Milktable has hit 100 posts. Naturally, the 100th post is a Sunday Conversation with co founder, former Blogmaster, and 2010 Hall of Famer Zach Boyle.

AP: How is college treating you?
ZB: Fantastically! The college schedule has been by far the best thing to happen to me since chocolate milk. Waking up at 11 for class has given me a new approach to life and really opened my world to a opportunity for napping.

AP: Tell me about the Maryville Cross Country team. Have you traveled anywhere yet?
ZB: We are a young team with freshmen and sophomores making up the majority of the team. We are also very geographically spread out with runners from California, Nebraska, Minnesota, Alabama, and New Jersey (fist pump). So far our biggest trip was to OSU where we got to run against some awesome DI schools and specifically German Fernandez, a 8:34 Two miler. Our next big trip is to Arkansas and we finish our season up in Wisconsin at the footlocker course at Kenosha.

AP: How is it different than De Smet?
ZB: 6k’s, 8k’s, and 10k’s Oh my! The biggest difference is the race distance. It’s a shock the first time you come through the 5k and realize that you still have another 2 miles to go. And with our first 10k coming up this weekend it’s going to get even tougher.

AP: What do you miss most about High School Running?
ZB: I miss the big team. In college our whole team is about 12 guys which has its advantages but I loved doing workouts with the big team and having the freshmen cheer on the seniors and vice versa.

AP: What is the most important lesson the De Smet running program taught you?
ZB: Time management by far. You can have a lot of fun in college and forget your actually here to go to school and get an education but having gone to DeSmet and going through the running program I learned a lot of time management skills that are coming in use now.

AP: YOU are the 100th blog post!
ZB: “DO I GET A CAR?!?!?! No? … But Oprah did it!”

AP: In all honesty, did you think it would get this far on that wet April day when you and kabes were scheming this up?
ZB: To be honest no. At the time we talked about extending it over summer and into cross country season the following year but our first goal was to make it through track season and as a writer that first year I remember a couple of nights where it was difficult to find the time, or energy, to write up a blog post and thought that maybe this won’t last. However, due mostly in part to Kabes the Blog is alive and stronger then ever!

AP: Your vision for the Blog when all current Blogmasters step aside?
ZB: I see two possible outcomes. 1. Younger members see the importance of the blog and step up to carry on the tradition or 2. (and more likely) The blog falls into the wrong hands, anarchy ensues while the villains terrorize the world wide web, al gore gets involved somehow to make a documentary about it and Foglamesh must come in to save humanity.

AP: Have you brought out the flag shorts? And on average, are your shorts the shortest of anybody else's on the team as they were at De Smet?
ZB: I have busted out the short shorts and to my astonishment I’M NOT ALONE! A fellow teammate Phillip Beam, originally from West Plains, has the Mexico flag shorts we make sure to coordinate these regularly. I always strive to have the shortest but there is some stiff competition though they do love the retro green and the business pinstripe shorts are a crowd favorite.

AP: How do you feel about T-Bone having a daughter?
ZB: Score Liz-1 T-Bone-0. I see Liz having the time of her life dressing up baby T in a variety of girly dresses which I will allow as long as she lets T-Bone start having her begin training shortly.

AP: See you in Jeff City in a few weeks?
ZB: Sadly I will be in Kenosha Wisconsin for our conference Meet but not to worry I will be receiving updates during the race so no slacken… Fools!

Advice as the playoffs begin?
ZB: Get your rest! Injuries have been a problem this season and now with shorter practices you should use the time to SLEEP. Also stay hydrated and do what ever T-Bone tells you he’s a smart guy.

AP: Kobe or Le Bron?
ZB: Its ALL about Dwayne Wade, ALL the time!

Congrats to Zach, Kabes, and Jacob Seiler who started in the blog 7 months ago. I'm counting on 100 more!