I Found One!

With the Ladue Meet cancelled on Saturday Coach Traughber had to have a handful of meetings with groups of guys to go over the new plan he came up with over the weekend. Most of the guys who were scheduled to race at Ladue will be racing tomorrow at Vianney. “The Pack” minus the Bulldog will be running the 4xMile (Waller, Matt OC, Martini, and Seiler). The sophomore duo of Glen McGann and Justin Potter, who pretty much tied in the 2 mile last week, will be running the mile. And seniors Abernathy and Goetz will be in the 2 mile.

As for practice, the guys racing tomorrow had a nice easy Greaser. The hot topic of course was the Good Friday storms. We got the rundown off all the craziness from our Bridgeton resident, Seiler. J Potter won GTTG guessing correct with 65 degrees.

Anyone who’s name was not mentioned above was on the track with coach for a workout. These guys had 800 repeats at 2 mile pace which can be a pretty tough workout especially near the end. But that’s the point, you have to stay on pace despite being tired just like the last part of races. Del Rosso, Callahan, and Sullivan were leading the way and all looked very strong running the whole thing on pace.

After stretching and getting chocolate milk, we had some Easter Monday fun. A team Easter Egg Hunt. The rules were simple: each senior had a team and there were eggs containing quarters, dimes, and nickels hidden within the stadium. Whichever team got the most money would win a prize.
Seniors quickly grabbed underclassmen to form their teams and toed the line at the door to the stadium. Having hid the eggs, I was not participating in the hunt. “Runners take your marks. Get set. Go!” and everyone ran off to all parts of the stadium in search for eggs and glory. After 10 minutes of egg hunting, everyone gathered back up and counted eggs. We were 4 eggs short. Knowing the prize was still up for grabs everyone headed back out. Higgins found the toughest egg with the help of some “hot and cold” hits. Scherping, who hadn’t found any eggs, found two of the final 4. More amazingly he found the one that was hid in our hiding spot from our April Fool’s Day joke and he was the only one not there. I found the last egg when counting and cleaning up the eggs afterwards. It was hidden in the tall bush just to the left of the main door to the track.

Finding 5 of 10 quarters, Team Potter brought home the most money with $1.45. Team Seiler found the most eggs—10. Both teams were awarded a bag of gummy bears for their tremendous achievements. Lots of fun! And to T-bone’s liking, no one got hit with any baseballs. Woo!

Quote of the Day: Kabes- “We’re having an optional team Easter Egg Hunt after practice. It’s going to be aweome.” Seiler- “And by optional he means mandatory.”

Joke of the Day: “We’re trying out some sprinters in the 2 mile.”- Coach Traughber when he was going through lineups. The whole team stared at him for a moment, confused. Someone spoke up, and coach said he meant the 800.

Best Dressed: For his dashing good looks and creative genius kabes gets today’s best dressed. He didn’t let the dreary weather dampen his Easter spirit as he wore light blue shorts and s yellow shirt. To top it off he had on a brand new white running hat that he had just received as a gift. The yellow shirt was the meet shirt from the 2007 Midwest Jesuit Invitational. For the first time we had both the correct print (yellow) and the misprint (teal) at the same practice. Wild!

ps: Be sure to scroll down. A handful of new posts have been put up in the last couple days. And let us know what you’re thinking; leave us some comments.

Easter Sunday Conversation

After the threat of rain caused the meet to be canceled, we thought we would raise every one's spirits on this Easter Sunday. So, Sunday Conversation is back with Coach Garwitz.

AP: Tell me about what you do on a day to day basis through your job
RG: My job is to take care of the "Big Rivers" in Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky region (and Pittsburgh too). That is, my accounts are all running specialty stores. As a Nike tech rep, my job requires making sure running stores in my area are up to speed on Nike product and that they pull out a Nike box more than the competition when fitting a runner for shoes.

How do I make this happen? By offering staff clinics on the technical aspects of footwear, apparel, and accessories such as the new Nike + GPS watch (I have it on my wrist as we speak). Or by teaming up and supporting running stores with grassroots events such as high school track/xc meets, spike nights, ladies nights and group runs among many others. Another big part of my job is to provide feedback to the big-wig Nike product team about what the trends in the industry are. So for example, if Brian Scherping were to tell me that Pink is the new color for guys and 20 of you agreed and so did 1000 other high schools around the nation, I would send that information to the powers that be in Oregon and they would make Pink spikes (no, seriously).

AP: How is it different than Big River?
RG: Well for one, Nike is a much larger company obviously, so there are big differences there. And now I am on the other side of things, the brand, as opposed to a store that carries many brands. The two jobs are more similar than most would think. I still talk to runners every day. I still talk about running shoes. In fact, there are days when I will visit one of my accounts and simply work the floor and sell shoes like the old days. But, this job does require a lot more travel than Big River which is actually pretty fun.

AP: What is the coolest thing you have gotten to do through your job?
RG: Travel and meet new people. Among the places I have been since I started in February: Portland, Eugene (University of Oregon), Memphis, Chicago, Louisville, Lexington (UK), Cleveland, Cincy, Boston, Ann Arbor (U of M) and Pittsburgh.



During my job training in Oregon, we would wake up every morning and run on a wood chip trail that circles the Nike campus. There is also a 400 meter track that is in the middle of the woods. And for you football fans, Clay Matthews gave the entire Nike team a pump up speech (his hair dazzles in person as it does on TV)!

AP: Who is the coolest person you have met through your job?
RG: Unfortunately Clay Matthews talked to a big crowd so I didn't personally meet him. So...I would have to say Tobie Hatfield who is the creator of the Nike Free. Though not job related, I also bumped into former World Champion Boston Celtic Dee Brown at the airport.


AP: How is high school running similar and different between St. Louis and Columbus?
RG: You know it is hard to say. There are far less private schools here, so the teams tend to be a bit bigger. The obvious difference is they are not as cool as St. Louis schools. I guess I can't answer that question yet.

AP: Tell the people about the whole Boston experience. Leading up, race, and immediately after.
RG: Wow where do I start? Everyone who has been there says Boston is the World Series of Running. The whole experience far exceeded my expectations. I hardly slept the night before and itched with anticipation. Even though the gun goes off at 10 a.m., I was up before sunrise hopping on a bus that drives you 26 miles outside of town. Then you sit on a high school soccer field just waiting for roughly three hours. An odd scene for such a big race.

Luckily, the weather was gorgeous and the crowd support was beyond words. There is never a quiet moment from the moment you line up in your corral a half hour before the start. Picture running past Fenway Park in downtown Boston, the crowd lining both sides of the street shoulder to shoulder cheering so loud you can hardly hear yourself think. It was as if I was a relief pitcher in Game 7 of the World Series with one strike left. At this point, I am 25 miles deep and my quads are about to give out on me. My foot was bleeding and my lungs were searing. The intensity of the crowd cheers are your wings over those last few miles. It literally gave me goosebumps and made for a surreal experience.

Afterwards, your body hurts like it has never hurt before. And that goes for any marathon. The walk back to the hotel may have been harder than the run itself. As I sit here typing this four days since the race, my quads are still sore. In one word, Boston was AWESOME!

AP: What do you miss about the Lou?
RG: Being close to those I care about. My family, friends and of course my DeSmet family. My favorite running loops too (Forest Park, Castlewood, Graeser, Moseley etc..)

AP:What do you miss about coaching?
The good times. I miss the excitement every day brought. Watching you guys fart around while stretching. Or wearing polos to practice. Or convincing Scherping that I owned and created Big River. You guys always kept me laughing and wishing I was still in your shoes. Not that the "real world" isn't great, but you guys are in the prime of your life. Soak it up and make it count because it is gone in a blink of an eye. Someday, some of you will realize that running for a school like DeSmet and for a coach like Traughber is a once in a lifetime experience. Why do you think I came back to coach?

Have a good Easter everybody. Say a prayer for Coach Williams. His house was damaged pretty badly by the weather this week.