A Tribute to Coach

For many athletes, the love and passion for a sport is something that grows through the years. It is fostered by a multitude of experiences and by the many wonderful people we meet and connect with along the way. This is largely true for me.

However, there is one person I can credit with instilling most of my passion and identity as a runner. That person is my college XC and Track coach, Coach Goldhammer, or, as we all call him, Coach.

I had six years of competitive running before college, but the 4 years with Coach are the ones I remember. It's hard for me to believe that it was only 4 years; it was a snippet of time with such an impact on my life. The passionate support of a huge number of alumni shows that I am absolutely not alone in feeling this way.

Recently, a group of alumni put together a tribute video for Coach. Although it may not be of interest to many who read this blog, I simply can't help sharing it. I want to share how awesome my Coach is and how many lives he's touched. To me this video is an inspiration itself because it shows me how much impact an adult can have in the lives of the young people with whom we work. It makes me want to be like Coach.






(Yes, I am in this video, but you won't see me until the second half.)

A "Run More, Think Less" Style Defines Marathon Contender Kara Goucher

An article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal [The Africans are Hearing Footsteps] outlines the differences in training strategy between Kara Goucher, America's best hope in Sunday's marathon at the World Track & Field Championships, and the majority of American distance runners over the past 20 years. This quote from the article basically sums it up:


"In a bold move aimed at catching the Africans who have owned this event, Ms. Goucher has taken all the tactics generated by U.S. running experts in the last 20 years—the charts, the mileage recommendations and high-tech motion-sensing computer readouts—and stuffed them in a dumpster."


I was totally and utterly thrilled to hear this. You mean I don't have to track, record and analyze every mile? I don't have to worry about heartrates and lactate thresholds? YES!

One of the reasons I have always loved running above and beyond all my other sports is its simplicity. Running just feels good. It feels natural, and it doesn't require all the gear of sports like skiing and rock climbing. Just lace up a pair of shoes and head out the door.

But sometimes I feel lazy for not having a more serious training plan and committing to learning all of the latest research on training techniques. I don't have a subscription to Runner's World, or Trailrunner, or even Ultrarunning. I just want to run.

It's not that my workouts have no structure. They definitely do. It's just that, these days, that structure doesn't completely define my running.

The article quotes Deena Kastor:


"'For so long, people here were focused on figuring out the exact science behind setting records,' Ms. Kastor says. 'But there is no exact science.'"


And that is where things stand for me right now. While I do think it's important to learn, understand and apply training and racing techniques, I think it can be equally important to feel comfortable letting it all go. Running, at its most basic level, is more art than science.

I can't wait to see how Kara does this Sunday!


I'll leave you with a Pre quote (not from the article):

"Some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before.' It's more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative."

Speed Work

This post was supposed to be about Girls on the Run, an awesome running program for girls where I volunteered this fall. That post is coming. Eventually.

In the meantime, there is something much more pressing on my mind: Speed work! I just finished my first track workout in...I-don't-know-how-long. Years.

Oh. My. God. You know how I feel right now? Awesome!!!!

Here's how my morning began: I got up at 7:00, even though it's a holiday and I didn't have to work. (Yay!) I walked the dogs, ate breakfast, and drank an entire pot of coffee. It was cold and rainy out, and I thought, gosh, what a great day to take Cap (my dog) out for a run on the JP trail.

Since I hadn't met my mileage quota last week, largely due to the fact that I forgot to look at my schedule and just ran, I thought I should check to see what I was supposed to be running today. Here's what my workout said:

8 miles, speed work: 2X(12,8,6,4)

Fuck!! Who put that on the freaking schedule?? (Oh yeah, me.) And why on earth would I need to run a workout that included 400's when I was training for a marathon?? Then again, the workout could have read: 2X(4X12) which would have been infinitely worse. I refuse to run mile repeats on the track, relegating them to the road only, but 1200's on the track is painfully close to to mile repeats on the track.

Anyway, with a huge, pitying, self-absorbed sigh, I got dressed and headed down to the track. Getting in the 8 miles turned out to be no problem, since I had 1.5 miles each way to the track, plus I planned a 200 meter jog between reps, and a 400 meter jog between sets.

I'll spare you the blow-by-blow account, but for a few details. First, I was slow. Slow as molasses. Slow as Sarah Palin searching for an intelligent answer to a question from Katie Couric. Slow as a decathelete in a 1500. This is what my wach told me, anyway. I wasn't too discouraged because it was to be expected, even though I was definitely pushing myself for these slow times.

Second, I didn't slow down much in my second set of reps. Okay, the 1200 was way off, but overall my times were basically the same. So I'm slow, but at least I still know how to pace myself somewhat. I was certainly laying it all out there by the last two reps, so I know I wasn't just slacking.

My slow jog home felt brilliant. I was exhausted. Maybe I was slow, but running on the track felt incredible. It still felt like home. And I felt so powerful that I am pretty sure my next order of business after this blog post is to go out and save the world.

A workout that had me trembling with fearful anticipation this morning, went beautifully. Somewhere, way down in the dark, scary places of my soul, that runner that loves to go fast just got a swift kick to jolt her from her long slumber. She's still held back by the allure of hibernation, but I have no doubt that in a few weeks time, she'll be out on the track in all her glory.

A Smattering of Multimedia

Podcast Interview:

Based on many of my links and comments in this blog, most of you probably realize that I am a big fan of Scott Dunlap's blog, A Trail Runner's Blog. In fact, most of you are probably fans yourself. Mark recently remarked that "we can't get enough of this guy," and although my response on Mark's blog was a bit cheeky, he is ultimately correct. Scott's blog is popular for a reason! Today Endurance Planet posted a podcast interview (here) with the ultra blogger, providing some good insight into how Scott became a runner and blogger.

T&F Video:


After some hints from Lisa about how to actually get the youtube video into my blog (I'm an idiot, I know!) I've posted this video about CMS Track 2007 just to practice my new skills. This probably won't be very interesting to you unless you are a current T&F athlete or an alumni of the Claremont Colleges. (I ran track for CMS from '92 to '95.) The video quality isn't amazing, but the editing is quite good, and I think the music works really well. My favorite part comes after the credits when you can merely glimpse some of the antics of Coach Goldhammer himself!





Finally, here's how I spent my spring break, which explains why I missed my long run that weekend. Oops. It was worth it though!




It's the view from the stage of a Hot Buttered Rum Show. That's me on the far left: red hair, brown shirt.