One Final Touch

Yesterday Coach informed Brian and I that practice was moved up from 11:30 to 10:30. I arrived right at 10:30. Coach took a couple minutes to get ready so that he could run with us today. It was now 10:45, still no Brian. So we went outside and sat at the table to wait. We talked with Coach Williams and after about 10 minutes Brian walked out the door. He had forgotten his watch and wanted to go back inside and get it. I said, “Finally you’re here Brian; let’s go.” Brian responded, “What do you mean? I’m 10 minutes early.” To no one’s surprise Brian failed to retain this information having received it just after completing the hard workout. Not only that but he believed practice started at 11 which was never the case.

After the warm-up we decided to run the Runnymede loop since Mother Nature had spoiled our attempt on Monday. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a run. Brian was going for an easy 25 minutes and I had 35 minutes. Coach joined us for what was a very nice run. We jogged the shady route and talked about a little of this and a little of that including race strategy. Brian and I both made sure to touch the sign as this was our final practice at DeSmet.

After the run, Brian and I had core for the last time. We made it fun by rolling around of the turf. It was nice to see some guys (including 20 Lap Jack) out running. Here’s to a great summer of training which will lead to a great cross country season.

Tomorrow, I have an easy pre-race day run and Brian has the day off. The two of us along with the other Spartans competing at the State Meet depart for Jefferson City at 1:30 (Scherping!). It is going to be a great trip. We are all so excited. Can’t wait to tell you all about it right here on the Milk Table.
The Schedule goes:

• 1600m – Friday 2:40 (Abernathy)
• 400m Prelims – Friday 3:40 (Pickel & Johnel)
• 200m Prelims – Friday 5:20 (Durron)


• High Jump – Saturday 11:00 (Pace)
• 4x800m Relay – Saturday 12:10
  (Scherping-Potter-Johnel-Pickel)
• 400m Finals – Saturday 2:20
• 200m Finals – Saturday 3:20

Quote of the Day: “You guys can make any practice three hours long.”- Coach Traughber to Brian and I as we were getting ready to leave DeSmet. That has definitely become a habit of ours this year. No matter how long or short we run, our practice always seems to go three hours. I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun.

Tuesday Tune-up

With the State Meet only 3 days away it was time for the final workout of the season. And it was a dreamy one: another Dream 800 for Potter & Scherping and a Dream Mile for Abernathy.

The stormy, hurricane-like weather of Monday was nowhere to found. It was very sunny and hot. But that didn’t slow us down or convince Abernathy to not wear sleeves for the warm-up. He gained a lot of attention for his not-so-practical look. We skipped and did drills in the shade up by the school. It was way cooler up there. If only the whole track was shaded like that.

For the workout, it was, like last week, over in a hurry. Potter and Scherping the 4x200 with one minute rest. Abernathy 4x400 with two minutes rest. After a few fast repeats the entire workout was complete. Potter’s splits added up at 1:57 and Scherping was at 1:50. Abernathy’s dream mile came out to be 4:09. All three were sharp and definitely ready to run fast this weekend. They should be a part of a couple exciting races. It’s time to put all the hard work into one final race on the big stage and bring home with a well deserved medal.

After the cool down and stretching, it was to the trainer’s room as always for a nice post-workout ice bath. The thing that made this ice bath different from the others was we watched some race videos. On the laptop we watched the Sectional 1600m race and talked strategy for this Friday. The best part of the video was that it had a great shot of Abernathy telling Coach Traughber to get away from him when he came to congratulate him.

Quote of the Day: “Hotter Potter?!?!”- Scherping to Coach after he said “this hot or hotter.”

Wet & Wind

One of the many good things about qualifying for State is we get another week of practice. And today was quite the practice.

Brian and Kevin got started at noon with the standard warm-up. It was the long run of the week so 55 or 40 minutes. The original plan was to run a Greaser, but it switched to Runnymede because we weren’t sure what the weather was going to do. It was dark and cloudy, but didn’t seem out of the ordinary with all the other rainy weather we’ve had this season.

Just because, we decided to make today long shirt, shirt shorts day—a long awaited, highly controversial theme day. You know it was good when as you walk past Pastoral before practice even starts and someone says: “I get it. It’s like you’re not wearing pants.” We looked hilariously awesome in our matching Rawlings Baseball shirts (which Coach Vitello commented on) and nearly not visible shorts.

So after skips we headed for the exit in hopes of getting the run done while having to deal with the least rain possible. Oh boy, did Mother Nature have other ideas. We made it the Jewish and had only felt a few drops of rain. Then all of a sudden it started pouring, absolutely pouring. And the winds whipped up and were raging. The flag pole sounded like it was going to fall over and the trees by the pavilion were leaning in directions that shouldn’t be possible.

At this point, we decided we better head back. The rain and wind were so intense when we first turned around that we temporally hid behind a truck. We charged out into the driving rain and wind. The droplets were slamming into us like little daggers and it was as if we were running up the massive secret hill behind Conway Park. We battled our way back to DeSmet and reentered campus behind the chapel. Just as we got to the circle, Coach was driving down the parking lot to go out and find us. Kevin takes off after him, sprinting down the hill tiring to get his attention. In the process he loses a shoe because of how soaked it has become. As Coach is turning onto Ballas he saw Abernathy in the review mirror.

That whole thing took less than ten minutes. We went back in at the main office, all three of us drenched. This meant a wet squeaky walk down the hallway. We got some really good looks; it probably helped that the wet shirts did cover our shorts completely.

The remainder of the run was completed on the treadmill. But after we changed shirts and wrung out our socks. The most exciting thing that happened while on the treadmills was that they both stopped when the power flickered 3 minutes in. Thought we’d never get this run in, but they cooperated the rest of the way.

Keep it here for complete coverage of State Week.

Quote of the Day: “I don’t think you boys should be running. I just came from Chesterfield and it was pouring.”- Random lady in the parking lot as we were leaving.