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

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.

All About the Alumni

Today was the third annual alumni run. The alumni continued to dominate the event with Connor Callahan (2009) defending his title in the two mile by finishing under 10 minutes. Connor was followed by Kevin Abernathy (2010), Coach Tom (2007), and Zach Boyle (2010). I finished sixth coming in 10:49, and finishing first on my team. The varsity athletes were decked out in the retro jerseys from the glory days. The jerseys were extremely uncomfortable and we complained as they stuck to our skin in the hot sun. I was followed closely by my teammates Nick Martini and Matt O'Connor. Junior Michael Callahan battled the heat to run a great time of 11:03.





Andrew O'Connor (2010) took home the gold in the mile. Andrew ran a 5:30 while battling through an injury, and was followed closely by senior Tim Pickle, who is trying to make the jump from running intermediate races during track to the 5000 meter cross country race. After the two races, the alumni     and the athletes gathered under the new alumni pavilion above the football stadium to enjoy a great barbecue lunch of hamburgers, hot dogs, and cookies. I really enjoyed catching up with my former teammates including Joe Gibson, Alex Potter, Zach Boyle, Henry Cleaver, and John Madey (Bulldog). Classmate Durron Neal helped catch Madey, Potter, and myself up on the upcoming football season where D plans to lead the Spartans to a state championship after losing in the semi-finals the previous two years.