The Race is On!

Our unofficial motto of King Distance running is "The Race is On!" The meaning of it seems simple enough; when the gun goes off, you better not delay. Get going. Don't dilly-dally. Stall and you'll be left behind.

But have you given thought to how to race? Here are some tips from one of America's best 5K runners, Tim Broe:



1. Understand your body better. As you train, pay attention to how your body feels at different points of the practice. Memorize those feelings, so that when you get to that point in the race, you recognize it and know it. Fewer surprises mean better performances.

2. Visualize a race in workouts. The mind is a powerful thing. If I had a buck for every talented runner I've coached who couldn't race well because they harbored mental doubts about their ability to race, well, I'd have enough for dinner! While training, know why you're doing the workout you're doing. Understand how it simulates what will come in a race. Then, while practicing, let your mind imagine that it actually is the race. Mentally, you've raced several times a week before you physically have to go out and do it.

3. Get focused well before race time. Broe says: "Too many runners, especially high schoolers, take a 'whatever' attitude, fooling around and talking and only start to focus a minute or two before the race. That's too late."

4. Think about where you're going to be in the race. Knowing a bit about your competition (staying up on http://www.dyestatcal.com/ is a good way) allows you to find the proper place you belong in the field. Most of won't lead or win, so prepare by understanding where you should be.

5. Don't predetermine your finish place. This is a killer! If you think you'll get beat, you probably will. If you think you're going to win and then don't, you're fried! Go back to #4 and have a PLAN for the race, knowing that the ultimate goal of the race is to beat as many people as you can. After the gun, do the best you can!

Poly Dual

A fun image from the racing on Wednesday

She's Baaaaack!

I like come from behind victories. Or even come from behind runners up. Or even come from behind 10th places.

It doesn't really matter to me what place the person comes in, it's just so inspiring when people make come backs. Maybe it's because they are improbable, impossible, incredible.

Larissa Davis has been the Queen of comebacks at King. Whether it be injuries, grades or other issues, it seems like the story line of her four years of running at King High has been one of set back followed by come back.

Saturday at the IE's she showed she's back again. Slowed at the start of the season by a nasty fight with bronchitis, she lost the little conditioning she had and had to start over ... again. An injury in September took out her XC season. Though she doesn't run the hurdles, she could give a clinic on technique. Hurdles? She gets them.

There were no hurdles in her path on Saturday except the self made ones of doubt, fear and unsustainable pain. But those seemed small and insignificant as for eight laps the talented senior floated along the track. In fourth place, then third, then second, then to the lead and to the win. It wasn't her fastest time ever, but it was the fastest of the season for her and showed us all again the strength of character that makes up someone who refuses to give up and walk away.

May we all find the will to come back from whatever difficulty life throws our way. Need a "how to manual" when your time comes? Call Larissa. She's got a copy she can give you.

Some Shots of the Day

Here are some of my favorite images of the day.







"Ooh, look at Hannah's toe!!"

40 Years Ago...

April 4, 1968. Our school’s namesake, Martin Luther King Jr was killed.

Not sure why our culture pays greater attention to the even years in half-decade increments, for an anniversary is an anniversary. That said, today should be a day in which all Americans, and perhaps most notably, the folks who make up Martin Luther King High School should pay some attention to the man whose life was ended by an assassin’s bullet on this day.

The movement King led was just over 10 years old at that point, if you count backward to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Really though, it was a movement that had slowly grown for 100 years, a movement for equality and for freedom.

What made King the leader that he was, and the movement an unfinished success, was his understanding of the truths rooted in Jesus’ teaching to “love your enemies” and to “turn the other cheek” to those who have hurt you. The force of Love, as King put it, was a “moral force” that violent force could not defeat. In his sacrificial life he practiced what he preached, he walked his talk.

King described the outcome of such action as a “Beloved Community”. It was a concept that was based on an ancient Greek word for love, called "agape." Agape love, King explained was “overflowing love which is purely spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless and creative”… "the love of God operating in the human heart.” He said that “Agape does not begin by discriminating between worthy and unworthy people…It begins by loving others for their sakes” and “makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it is directed toward both…Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community.” http://www.thekingcenter.org/prog/bc/

We have a wonderful school to work at, named after a worthy man. Dr. King was not a perfect man, neither are we a perfect school. However, if somehow the people who make up Martin Luther King High School can work collectively toward a more beloved community, we can see a better community and school.

A few days before he was killed, he gave an address in which he prophetically said, “I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord…”

Nice Mammoth Video

I like seeing stuff from Mammoth -- maybe it's because I've been there to run so many times that I feel like I know it. Maybe it's just because videos like this one bring to mind some great personal running memories.

Deena Kastor's an inspiration too... she was the elite woman in The Spirit of the Marathon a bunch of us watched back in January.

Enjoy!

"Most Remarkable" in Riverside

I went today to City Hall in d-town Riverside. The council members were honoring "25 of Riverside's Most Remarkable Teenagers". I snuck in and found a last remaining seat just as it started. Seated next to me was Dr. Rainey, the sup of RUSD. Since I had just come from 75 minutes at the dentist, my tongue felt like it was three-times it's size and basically my lower lip wasn't there.

"Good to thee you Doctah Wainey" I said. Fearful she might conclude I was some crazy freak off the street who was missing a few screws, I told her "I teach at King, (that was probably reassuring to her ... did I hire this man?) iths a pleathure to meeth you. I'm thorry, I justh got outh of the dentith chair." She laughed.

I actually wasn't there to see how I'd do in public without control over my speaking skills or salivating glands (I tried to remind myself to slurp every few minutes so as to not be caught with a stalagtite of spit hanging from my chin). I was there to take in one of our own, Patrick Gonzalez, who was being honored by the City Fathers (and a couple of Mothers) as one of Riv-city's remarkable teens.

City leaders can often screw up things, but this time they got it right. Pat was one of 25 teenagers who had incredible accomplishments before they've turned 20. As I listened to their accomplishments I couldn't help but marvel at what young people can do when they make up their minds they want to go "big!" Things like graduate from high school at 14 and compose orchestral music by 19. Like help the poor in Mexico not once, but consistently. Like raise $14,000 by selling home made trinkets to donate to animal shelters. Like decide to NOT join a Riverside gang and instead become an exemplary student.

Or, like come back from a brain tumor and brain surgery to lead your cross country team.

All ... very cool. All, and Patrick especially, very remarkable.