Short Summer

I'm going to start this blog off the same as I always do, apologizing for not keeping everyone updated. It has been a crazy June to say the least. From finishing up coaching at EP, to flying to Eugene to recruit new athletes for the fall ITA training group, to hosting/race directing for the Steamboat Classic, to taking a trip to Des Moines for the USA national championships, to spending countless hours making calls and replying to emails concerning the new program, and finally organizing and running a summer training clinic for some of the serious local high school runners twice a week has kept me plenty busy.

As I said in my last post my time as the official head coach at EP is up. I am still acting as a "volunteer" and showing up twice a week to help get Coach Swain acquainted with all the boys and show him how to run the day to day operations. To be honest I really fear that there will be a serious lack of motivation from the majority of this group now that I am not in their face everyday, but we all know that it is not the coaches job to show up at houses and drag kids out of bed. It is to motivate and coach the ones who want to be there. My suggestion to Coach Swain is to be more of a disiplinarian than I was and get rid of the kids I should have 2 years ago. Ill get off my soapbox as there are still a lot of good kids on the team who want to show up everyday and work hard.

Peoria played host to the 37th annual Steamboat Classic on June 19th. My official job title for the event is assistant race director but I wear many hats during the week. Playing host to Steamboat friends, setting up the finish/starting line, media coverage are just a few things that kept me busy. The race turned out to be one of the best weve had in the last few years with Shadrack Kosgei outkicking Peter Kamais to run 17:36 and Edna Kiplagat cracking 20 min for the womens title for the four mile race. I also got a chance to catch up with my old buddy Tom Bedford aka SOD (Son of Dave Bedford) which kept me out late for 5 nights in straight ; )

One of my parting gifts to the Peoria hs running community was putting on an 8 week summer running clinic. There are a lot of talented kids whom ive watched over the past few years that continue to struggle with injuries. Most of these were due to poor form and lack of strength. So I decided to put on a clinic with a good friend of mine, Dr Jay Benningfield, which is aimed at getting kids in the gym for a serious strength program where they learn more about their bodies. We go Monday and Wed mornings from 6-9 incorporating 75 minutes in the gym and then heading out to the soccer field for form drills and barefoot running. After that they are on their own for a run which most do together. I try to stay away that part as not to step on other coaches toes. Here is a link to a really nice article that the local newspaper did on the camp.

It has actually been nice to get back to traveling again. After jetsetting around the world for 8 years I was really tired of it. But since moving back to Peoria I havent left but a few times in the last 3 years. At the beginning of June I headed out to Eugene OR to watch the NCAA Championships and had a lot of good conversations with coaches and athletes selling the program. To be honest I really felt nervous about coaching a group of professionals because I felt that I had fogotten everything I learned over the 8 years I was a pro. On top of that coaching hs runners just broke my confidence down to nothing! But getting out of town and back in the running circle brought everything back in no time. I also traveled over to Des Moines for the USA national meet to do some recruiting as well. Most of my "recruiting" involves me explaining everything we are offering and what my goals for the group and what my training philosophies are. Everything sounds good to people but there is that inevitable question...who else would be coming? I have a couple of commitments so far but am going to wait to make an official announcement next month. I will say that there will be some very talented people making the trek to Hanover NH in September. Im still working hard to get a few more athletes who are waiting to make a decision till they get back from Europe later this month before they make a life altering move.

There it is folks. I will be putting out an announcement about who is officially committed to the new ITA program in the next 4 weeks. I want to wait mainly because I am hoping for a few other maybe's to say yes so I dont have to do multiple updates. As for the next month I am home all day playing nurse for my girlfriend/roommate, Ms. Bekah Aavang, who is 4 weeks non weightbearing from her peri acitabular osteotomy surgery! She is also making the big move with me to Hanover in 6 weeks time so I will be doing all the packing and moving on my own inbetween carrying her from the couch to the bathroom ; ) All the best to everyone. tb