Well folks, I am coming out of my drug induced coma and am finally able to give everyone an update on the surgery. I had my foot cut on Friday morning in Chicago by Dr. John Grady, whom I cannot praise enough. I was so lucky to find a podiatrist in the midwest that was dedicated to his craft and willing to give every patient such personal attention. It also helps that his son, Martin, is an all state runner here in Illinois.
Dr. Grady found the source of my toe pain that has plagued me the last 3 years. From what I understand (I was a little out of it when talking to him after the surgery) he removed a cyst that had developed in the toe joint as well as a star shaped piece of calcified scar tissue that was floating around in the joint causing havoc on my cartilage. Fortunately there was no damage to the cartilage nor was there any damage to the surrounding tissue. So knock on wood, I may actually walk without pain someday! Actually, Dr. Grady is pretty confident that I will be back on my feet and pain free relatively quickly. The recovery process is fairly causious: two weeks with my foot propped up 50 min of every hour, two weeks of 40 min every hour, and two weeks of 30 min every hour. Hopefully I will be walking pain free in no time, which I havent been able to do since outdoor nationals 2002! That probably sounds like a bunch of jibberish, but the pain pill I just took is starting to take effect.
It is hard to put a timeline on the running prospects, and to be honest, I have trained myself not to when it comes to to my running career. But I will say that this is the most hope I have had in a very long time. So cross your fingers for me.
There is not a lot to report from the high school front. By IHSA rules I am not allowed to meet with the kids until after Christmas break. They have been keeping me posted on their running though, and it sounds like all are trudging through this horrid weather weve had the last 2 weeks. I am really pleased that I have a group of kids who are hooked and actually keep me posted on their progress. That is the attitude it takes to be successful.
I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday and thanks to everyone for all their supportive cards, calls and emails. Go Raiders!
tb
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Time to Move!
I really love being home in the Midwest, but this weather is going to break me before the winter even starts! Boy did I took the warmth of the south for granted. Oh well, at least I have good company to keep me busy until things warm up here. Actually, I will be bored off my butt till the middle of January, as my Jan 19th surgery is quickly approaching. Let me say that I am really not looking forward to this one. At least we have found the problem and are taking care of it once and for all. Time off from running has never been a problem for me, as I find plenty to do to keep me busy. The hardest part of post surgery is asking people for help. And if you are a self sufficient person like myself, it is very difficult to rely on others for anything. But, like I said, hopefully this will all be over before winter ends and I will be back on my feet getting ready to race again.
There is not a lot to report from the coaching side of things. I sat down last week and racked my brain trying to come up with a good plan for the winter. I have a lot of talent on my hands and I do not want to goof it up. I actually buckled down and read Jack Daniels' and Joe Vigils' books, and after reading what seemed like chinese 4 times over, I have concluded that I am not changing things a bit. It was funny to read about all the things that I have instinctivly done for so long and understanding exactly what it does on a biological level. So hopefully we all stay healthy and motivated this winter because EP should be bringing home a lot of hardware this track season.
Thats all from this end. I will write again after the sugury and let everyone know how it went. Thanks again for reading. Go Raiders!
tb
There is not a lot to report from the coaching side of things. I sat down last week and racked my brain trying to come up with a good plan for the winter. I have a lot of talent on my hands and I do not want to goof it up. I actually buckled down and read Jack Daniels' and Joe Vigils' books, and after reading what seemed like chinese 4 times over, I have concluded that I am not changing things a bit. It was funny to read about all the things that I have instinctivly done for so long and understanding exactly what it does on a biological level. So hopefully we all stay healthy and motivated this winter because EP should be bringing home a lot of hardware this track season.
Thats all from this end. I will write again after the sugury and let everyone know how it went. Thanks again for reading. Go Raiders!
tb
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Not Ready
First off I hope everybody had a safe and happy holiday. I am not sure if I am totally ready for another winter to be honest. I had a warm welcome this morning as the snow fell for the first time in Central IL. Driving out to do a few chores, I ended up sideways in a ditch at 50 mps between a phone pole, a big osage-orange tree and a 50 foot ditch! Not to worry, I only ended up with a few scratches and $60 later I was back on the road. What I love even more than the snow is trying to coach 15 high school kids in it with no places to run. Oh well, that is life.
A few of the boys and 7 of the girls ran in a 2 mile race Friday morning cleaning up nicely. Only 1 kid did not bring home any hardware. We have already begun unofficial practice as of last week. We have a team full of talent on the girls side and now that IL has gone to a 3 class system, the boys have a legitimate shot at qualifying in the 4x800. I am really looking forward to pushing them all hard over the next 3 months without any races to get in the way.
I am not sure if I posted this last time, but I will be having foot surgery on December 19th. The Dr found that a cyst developed where the prior surgerys existed. Lucky me. That is the reason I have had this grinding pain in my toe for so long. Cross your fingers that this will be the last of it. I am not sure on the recovery time, but I am guessing 6-8 weeks. Just in time for Spring!
Drive safe out there and I will keep you all posted. Thanks again for reading and remember, GO RAIDERS!
tb
A few of the boys and 7 of the girls ran in a 2 mile race Friday morning cleaning up nicely. Only 1 kid did not bring home any hardware. We have already begun unofficial practice as of last week. We have a team full of talent on the girls side and now that IL has gone to a 3 class system, the boys have a legitimate shot at qualifying in the 4x800. I am really looking forward to pushing them all hard over the next 3 months without any races to get in the way.
I am not sure if I posted this last time, but I will be having foot surgery on December 19th. The Dr found that a cyst developed where the prior surgerys existed. Lucky me. That is the reason I have had this grinding pain in my toe for so long. Cross your fingers that this will be the last of it. I am not sure on the recovery time, but I am guessing 6-8 weeks. Just in time for Spring!
Drive safe out there and I will keep you all posted. Thanks again for reading and remember, GO RAIDERS!
tb
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sectionals and Beyond!
The season has finally come to a close. Last Saturday we competed in the State qualifying sectional meet. The top 5 teams and top individuals advance. Being that we had 7 of the top 10 teams in the state in our sectional, I didnt have any delusions of moving on. I did believe that we were capable of being top 10, which would have been a wonderful cap on a good fall. I also believed that freshman star Kevin Eades would bounce back from an illness and was capable of qualifying as an individual.
To save the drama, I will tell you that he did just that! He ran a personal best of 15:42 and finished 14th overall and 5th individual! Being that there were only 5 or 6 freshman total to qualify for the state meet, I thought that was pretty incredible. He ran a perfect race, going through the mile in 35th and moving up slowly over the next mile and a half. Then he pulled out that big finish to catch 7 people over the last 600 meters. And that finish qualified him as the first freshman in EP history to qualify for the state meet as an individual!
In the end we finished a respectable 11th place, putting us (in my opinion) in the top 25 statewise. Junior Hugh Gill and Alec Gonzales both ran gutsy races and ended up with personal bests of 16:11 16:35. David Blackford also competed well to drop his pb to 17:01. I think we could have ran a little better from that point on, but cannot say that I was disappointed with anybody. It is very difficult to race twice a week for 8 weeks in a row, especially when you are young and not well trained. What I was most excited about is that the team all stayed around the next week to train and be with Kevin and are all excited to getting to training this winter and next summer so that we are all at the big dance next year. (talks cheap, so we will see ; ) We have also decided to rent a van and I am going to take a group up to the Footlocker Regional in Wisconsin Thanksgiving weekend.
Kevin went on to finish 104th this weekend, runing 16:30. A dissappointing finish, but not an idicator of how well he ran all season and how well he composed himself as a 15 year old freshman. Mark my words, he will be one of the best in the state next year. He text me later on after the race appologizing for letting me down and my reply was "I hope your joking. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Your will to train and live the lifestyle will pay off. Do not underestimate what you have accomplished this season. There are few freshman that have done what you have. It has been a pleasure to coach you and we will get you to the top of the podium, probably sooner than I think. Now try to enjoy a few days off. "
On a personal note, I got results back from an mri last week with good news and bad. I have a cyst that has developed which is probably what is causing all the pain in my toe. That can be fixed with a simple injection (if im lucky), and if not, can be removed. Bad news is that the other sesmoid bone is also fractured and half of it is neucrotic (dead). Hopefully that will not need to be extracted, but I will find out more this week when I go see the doc. It is unbelievable that it has taken so long to figure out why I have been having so much foot pain over the last 6 years. Hopefully this will be the end of it, but I will definately keep you all posted.
Thanks for reading and Go Raiders!
tb
To save the drama, I will tell you that he did just that! He ran a personal best of 15:42 and finished 14th overall and 5th individual! Being that there were only 5 or 6 freshman total to qualify for the state meet, I thought that was pretty incredible. He ran a perfect race, going through the mile in 35th and moving up slowly over the next mile and a half. Then he pulled out that big finish to catch 7 people over the last 600 meters. And that finish qualified him as the first freshman in EP history to qualify for the state meet as an individual!
In the end we finished a respectable 11th place, putting us (in my opinion) in the top 25 statewise. Junior Hugh Gill and Alec Gonzales both ran gutsy races and ended up with personal bests of 16:11 16:35. David Blackford also competed well to drop his pb to 17:01. I think we could have ran a little better from that point on, but cannot say that I was disappointed with anybody. It is very difficult to race twice a week for 8 weeks in a row, especially when you are young and not well trained. What I was most excited about is that the team all stayed around the next week to train and be with Kevin and are all excited to getting to training this winter and next summer so that we are all at the big dance next year. (talks cheap, so we will see ; ) We have also decided to rent a van and I am going to take a group up to the Footlocker Regional in Wisconsin Thanksgiving weekend.
Kevin went on to finish 104th this weekend, runing 16:30. A dissappointing finish, but not an idicator of how well he ran all season and how well he composed himself as a 15 year old freshman. Mark my words, he will be one of the best in the state next year. He text me later on after the race appologizing for letting me down and my reply was "I hope your joking. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Your will to train and live the lifestyle will pay off. Do not underestimate what you have accomplished this season. There are few freshman that have done what you have. It has been a pleasure to coach you and we will get you to the top of the podium, probably sooner than I think. Now try to enjoy a few days off. "
On a personal note, I got results back from an mri last week with good news and bad. I have a cyst that has developed which is probably what is causing all the pain in my toe. That can be fixed with a simple injection (if im lucky), and if not, can be removed. Bad news is that the other sesmoid bone is also fractured and half of it is neucrotic (dead). Hopefully that will not need to be extracted, but I will find out more this week when I go see the doc. It is unbelievable that it has taken so long to figure out why I have been having so much foot pain over the last 6 years. Hopefully this will be the end of it, but I will definately keep you all posted.
Thanks for reading and Go Raiders!
tb
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Conference/Regional Meets
Championship season is here, and so far, we have handled it like pro's. Last Friday evening we competed in the Mid Illini Conference Meet, finishing second to Metamora, the sixth ranked team in the state.
For the second year in a row, we had the individual champion in the fresh/soph race. Freshman Gage VanOrder had a blistering kick (arrh, he's just a freshman) over the last 200 meters to win in a personal best 17:25. Rookies Cody Lacross, Evan Jenkins, Tyler Ford and Mike Ginz all ran personal bests as well to help finish 4th as a team.
Every kid in the Varsity race raced their hearts out to all finish with personal bests. Junior Hugh Gill finally raced like he was capable, tieing his pb of 16:16, fading to 11th place and just missing all-conference by 3 spots. Sophmores Alec Gonzales and Alex Cortes both crushed 17 min for the first time running 16:42 and 16:57. Drew Thomas and David Blackford both ran 30 second pr's, coming so close to breaking that 17 min mental barrier running 17:01 and 17:03 respectively. The very hardworking and consistent Brant Watson bettered his time from conference last year of 18:24, running 17:35!
But the race of the day belonged to freshman Kevin Eades. Shadowing the conference favorite through a pb at 2 miles, Kevin let inexperience get the better of him and gave a up a little too much ground. Sprinting up the home stretch to finish second he almost ran down the leader over the last 200 meters and ran 15:42. To put things into perspective, I ran 15:35 on the same course my freshman year! The best part about it all was that he was so angry that he finished second that he wouldnt talk to anybody for a half hour. That is the kind of attitude you dont see in many freshman, and the kind of attitude that is going to take him a long way in his athletic career.
I was enourmously proud of every kid last Friday. Most had to be scraped off the tarp with a spatula afterwards, and that is all I can ask as a coach.
Yesterday we competed in the Regional meet.
There is not really much to report about that one. It was a slow, cool windy day. We tied for third, but finished fourth counting back to 6th man. We looked a little tired and flat. Not sure if it is the come down after a hard effort last week or just knowing we needed to run an average race to advance, but we got the job done. First and second place are ranked 3rh and 5th respectively in the state. This qualifies us for the Sectional meet next weekend on our home course. To be brutally honest, our gold medal race would be top 10. On the positive side we get 7 of our top 8 back for next year, so this will be an excellent experience for all. Actually, 8 of the top 12 teams in the state are in our sectional and only 5 qualify for state, so it should be a eye opener for those who are serious about wanting to qualify for state next year, but have never put a real summer of training in.
I will keep everyone posted on how it goes this weekend. I was up in Chicago last week meeting with one of the top podiatrists in the country and he seemed to be pretty optimistic about getting my foot right. I had an MRI Friday, so I should have the report tomorrow and see what the Dr thinks. Thanks for reading and cross your fingers for us (and me!).
Go Raiders
For the second year in a row, we had the individual champion in the fresh/soph race. Freshman Gage VanOrder had a blistering kick (arrh, he's just a freshman) over the last 200 meters to win in a personal best 17:25. Rookies Cody Lacross, Evan Jenkins, Tyler Ford and Mike Ginz all ran personal bests as well to help finish 4th as a team.
Every kid in the Varsity race raced their hearts out to all finish with personal bests. Junior Hugh Gill finally raced like he was capable, tieing his pb of 16:16, fading to 11th place and just missing all-conference by 3 spots. Sophmores Alec Gonzales and Alex Cortes both crushed 17 min for the first time running 16:42 and 16:57. Drew Thomas and David Blackford both ran 30 second pr's, coming so close to breaking that 17 min mental barrier running 17:01 and 17:03 respectively. The very hardworking and consistent Brant Watson bettered his time from conference last year of 18:24, running 17:35!
But the race of the day belonged to freshman Kevin Eades. Shadowing the conference favorite through a pb at 2 miles, Kevin let inexperience get the better of him and gave a up a little too much ground. Sprinting up the home stretch to finish second he almost ran down the leader over the last 200 meters and ran 15:42. To put things into perspective, I ran 15:35 on the same course my freshman year! The best part about it all was that he was so angry that he finished second that he wouldnt talk to anybody for a half hour. That is the kind of attitude you dont see in many freshman, and the kind of attitude that is going to take him a long way in his athletic career.
I was enourmously proud of every kid last Friday. Most had to be scraped off the tarp with a spatula afterwards, and that is all I can ask as a coach.
Yesterday we competed in the Regional meet.
There is not really much to report about that one. It was a slow, cool windy day. We tied for third, but finished fourth counting back to 6th man. We looked a little tired and flat. Not sure if it is the come down after a hard effort last week or just knowing we needed to run an average race to advance, but we got the job done. First and second place are ranked 3rh and 5th respectively in the state. This qualifies us for the Sectional meet next weekend on our home course. To be brutally honest, our gold medal race would be top 10. On the positive side we get 7 of our top 8 back for next year, so this will be an excellent experience for all. Actually, 8 of the top 12 teams in the state are in our sectional and only 5 qualify for state, so it should be a eye opener for those who are serious about wanting to qualify for state next year, but have never put a real summer of training in.
I will keep everyone posted on how it goes this weekend. I was up in Chicago last week meeting with one of the top podiatrists in the country and he seemed to be pretty optimistic about getting my foot right. I had an MRI Friday, so I should have the report tomorrow and see what the Dr thinks. Thanks for reading and cross your fingers for us (and me!).
Go Raiders
Friday, October 10, 2008
Getting Ready for Championship Time
We are in our final preparations for the championship part of the season here in EP. Tuesday evening we finished up the conference duel meets with a big win over up-and-coming Morton. That put us at 6-1 for the season, the first time since i was here in 1995. The only team beating us was number seven in the state, Metamora.
Every kid ran big prs last Saturday at the Delevan Classic, bringing home a 2nd place trophy. It was a flighted race and we medaled 6 out of the 7 races! Most suprising were my two 80 lb freshmen who both broke 20 minutes for the first time ever for 3 miles. Actually, neither had ever been under 24 minutes!
Tomorrow is our last invite for the season, the Metamora Invitational. Because we are so young, I am running all the underclassmen in the fresh/soph race so we can bring home some more hardware. I am holding out the top 5 runners for a blowout workout tonight of mile, 2x800, 4x400 at the conference course, as we havent really had a chance to do any real hard workouts in between racing twice a week.
My running is gradually coming around, and I will really start to put more emphasis on it after the season is done in a few weeks. Our goals for the next few weeks are as follows:
2nd Conference (Metamora is just too strong)
Hugh Gill and Kevin Eades All Conference
Repeat as Conference Fresh/Soph Champs
Top 5 Regionals
Top 10 Sectionals
That is a pretty tall order with the group I have, but you got to set big goals if you are ever going to run big. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted.
Go Raiders!
Every kid ran big prs last Saturday at the Delevan Classic, bringing home a 2nd place trophy. It was a flighted race and we medaled 6 out of the 7 races! Most suprising were my two 80 lb freshmen who both broke 20 minutes for the first time ever for 3 miles. Actually, neither had ever been under 24 minutes!
Tomorrow is our last invite for the season, the Metamora Invitational. Because we are so young, I am running all the underclassmen in the fresh/soph race so we can bring home some more hardware. I am holding out the top 5 runners for a blowout workout tonight of mile, 2x800, 4x400 at the conference course, as we havent really had a chance to do any real hard workouts in between racing twice a week.
My running is gradually coming around, and I will really start to put more emphasis on it after the season is done in a few weeks. Our goals for the next few weeks are as follows:
2nd Conference (Metamora is just too strong)
Hugh Gill and Kevin Eades All Conference
Repeat as Conference Fresh/Soph Champs
Top 5 Regionals
Top 10 Sectionals
That is a pretty tall order with the group I have, but you got to set big goals if you are ever going to run big. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted.
Go Raiders!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
2008 XC Season Has Begun!
We finally kicked off the fall season two weeks ago at the Galesburg Invite. Being as young and inexperienced as we are, I didnt expect to bring home any team trophies. I was though anxious to see how well the freshmen and sophmores would race after putting in a pretty solid summer. A couple suprises were: senior David Blackford running 18:17 for his first cross country race ever, sophmore Cody Margetis running a pb of 18:39, and most impressive was freshman Kevin Eades who placed 12th in the varsity race and running 17:10 for his first 3 mile race ever!!! I knew he was going to be good, but didnt realize just how much talent he actually has. After the race he was grinnig from ear to ear, not a bit winded and told me he had at least 30 more seconds in him!
Last weekend we came back to race at the huge Woodruff Invite at famous Detwiller Park here in Peoria where the state meet has been held for the last 30 plus years. Normally the course is track fast and is a great statewide benchmark for coaches to really see what the kids are capable of. But after 10 inches of rain for the week prior, it turned into a mudpit of survival. I have noticed that it is extremely difficult for the young kids to strength races in the mud. In all honesty I really cant say that anybody on the team ran particularly well. Some of it had to do with the rain and mud, a hard week of workouts, 4 injuries and 6 with colds. The talented junior Drew Thomas did finally step up decide to race to run a personal best. The highlight of the meet was watching my 6 underclassmen run in the open race which had 790 participants! Three minutes prior to the start of the race the heavens opened up and the starting line began roaring like the Spartans!!! Althought they got beat down pretty bad, they did say that it was the most memorable race they had ever ran. Unfortunately my camera was ruined and I lost all my pictures of the mess and mayhem.
Tuesday we raced a conference duel meet against our arch rival Metamora (who is ranked nubmer 10 in the state). Although we got beat pretty bad, the big suprise was freshman Kevin Eades outkicking the returning conference farvorite down the homestretch to run 16:20 on a hot, tough and muddy course. What was even more impressive that he did it with one shoe on after losing it on a corner at the two mile!!! Mark my word, this kid may be as talented as any I have ever seen. Not just the physical, but the emotional and mental perspective is going to take him a long way. There were many others who ran big personal bests and are finally starting to figure out that we do have a bit of talent on this team, but that we have a lot of work to do in the off season if we are going to accomplish what we are capable of.
Yesterday was our weekend off from racing, as we held our second annual EPCC Run-A-Thon. The kids get donations, either per mile or for total distance, and they run a mile loop marked in the woods for 90 minutes. This helps pay for the food, equipment, t-shirts, shoes ect... that we need. We raised almost $1,000, then had a great picnic afterwards. Every kid ran at least 10 miles, and Hugh Gill and Kevin Eades ran 13 before I had to pull them. It was a lot of fun to hear them talk about how tired they were but that they could have kept going. For most of them, their longest continuest run ever was 6-7 miles. It is a lot of fun as a coach to see them beat but being so excited that they were able to accomplish things they never thought were capable.
The most exciting part of this season thus far is the parental support that we are finally starting to get. Several parents were out yesterday to help work on the course and then got to talking about bringing a grill to the weekend races and having food for everyone afterwards! That is exactly what I have been working so hard to get established here at EP. A family oriented culture where all the parents are out watching their kids improve week by week. That not only keeps the athletes more interested, but also attracts others who want to be a part of something special.
As far as my running is concerned, it is just biking in the morning and running my 6-10 in the afternoon. Nothing really exciting tp report on that. We are now in the heart of the season and will be racing every Tuesday and Saturday for the next four weeks. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted on all the success.
Go Raiders
tb
Last weekend we came back to race at the huge Woodruff Invite at famous Detwiller Park here in Peoria where the state meet has been held for the last 30 plus years. Normally the course is track fast and is a great statewide benchmark for coaches to really see what the kids are capable of. But after 10 inches of rain for the week prior, it turned into a mudpit of survival. I have noticed that it is extremely difficult for the young kids to strength races in the mud. In all honesty I really cant say that anybody on the team ran particularly well. Some of it had to do with the rain and mud, a hard week of workouts, 4 injuries and 6 with colds. The talented junior Drew Thomas did finally step up decide to race to run a personal best. The highlight of the meet was watching my 6 underclassmen run in the open race which had 790 participants! Three minutes prior to the start of the race the heavens opened up and the starting line began roaring like the Spartans!!! Althought they got beat down pretty bad, they did say that it was the most memorable race they had ever ran. Unfortunately my camera was ruined and I lost all my pictures of the mess and mayhem.
Tuesday we raced a conference duel meet against our arch rival Metamora (who is ranked nubmer 10 in the state). Although we got beat pretty bad, the big suprise was freshman Kevin Eades outkicking the returning conference farvorite down the homestretch to run 16:20 on a hot, tough and muddy course. What was even more impressive that he did it with one shoe on after losing it on a corner at the two mile!!! Mark my word, this kid may be as talented as any I have ever seen. Not just the physical, but the emotional and mental perspective is going to take him a long way. There were many others who ran big personal bests and are finally starting to figure out that we do have a bit of talent on this team, but that we have a lot of work to do in the off season if we are going to accomplish what we are capable of.
Yesterday was our weekend off from racing, as we held our second annual EPCC Run-A-Thon. The kids get donations, either per mile or for total distance, and they run a mile loop marked in the woods for 90 minutes. This helps pay for the food, equipment, t-shirts, shoes ect... that we need. We raised almost $1,000, then had a great picnic afterwards. Every kid ran at least 10 miles, and Hugh Gill and Kevin Eades ran 13 before I had to pull them. It was a lot of fun to hear them talk about how tired they were but that they could have kept going. For most of them, their longest continuest run ever was 6-7 miles. It is a lot of fun as a coach to see them beat but being so excited that they were able to accomplish things they never thought were capable.
The most exciting part of this season thus far is the parental support that we are finally starting to get. Several parents were out yesterday to help work on the course and then got to talking about bringing a grill to the weekend races and having food for everyone afterwards! That is exactly what I have been working so hard to get established here at EP. A family oriented culture where all the parents are out watching their kids improve week by week. That not only keeps the athletes more interested, but also attracts others who want to be a part of something special.
As far as my running is concerned, it is just biking in the morning and running my 6-10 in the afternoon. Nothing really exciting tp report on that. We are now in the heart of the season and will be racing every Tuesday and Saturday for the next four weeks. Thanks for reading and I will keep you posted on all the success.
Go Raiders
tb
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