Images from our beach trip

Some Thoughts on Living...

Not to be morbid here, but death has been on my mind of late. As I drove into the school's parking lot this morning, there in the half-light were the flittering flames of memorial candles at the spot where a young boy of King High died over the weekend after crashing his motorcycle against the wall. This weekend we mourned the tragic loss of our pastor's oldest son who died last Thursday in a horrific crash on the 91 freeway while on his way to work. Though we live, we are reminded of death.

I don't like thinking about death really, but it's good to on occasion especially when it's forced upon us. The "untimely" deaths of those around us are like a wake up call to me. So often the days of life blend together and life drones on, like the background noise of the air conditioner in a cheap motel room; you know it's there but you don't pay attention to it. Death causes me to pay attention to life.

As I think about Christopher Laurie's life ending at 33, Austin Allen's at 16, I'm reminded of the fleeting days of our existence. It's an old cliche, but time does fly by. I don't want it to fly by so fast that I miss the living part in the blur of days. As I live, and as I think about the days left for me, I want to live more fully for what matters.

In the end, will it matter...
how many league titles we won?
what my PR for 5K was?
how often we made it to CIF Finals?
if we make it to State? ... or never?
if we have 85 kids on the team or 55?
if we run 50 miles a week?

I hope those things aren't what define me.

I hope my life will be defined by that...
he loved his enemies
he had joy in his struggles
he worked for peace in turbulent days
he practiced patience in trying times
he was kind toward others
he was gentle toward those in need
he practiced self control.

Looking at this list I know I've got a long way to go.

What about you? What are you living for? Post your comments, let's continue the conversation!

The Starting Line ... Welcome to the Human Race!

We all gotta start somewhere. No matter who you are or what you're doing, you have one thing in common with everyone else on the planet. You had a starting line.

The human race has been granted a starting line and a finish line. We have no control over either of them. We "arrive" when it's time, and we "finish" when it's time for us to go. No matter how much botox you inject, one day, you and I will get old and kick the bucket. That day is already appointed.

So the question for all of us is, what will we do with the gap between the two lines? If thinking on a grand scale is too much for you right now, how about narrowing it abit. Today we were at the starting line of this 2008 season. There is a finish line to this season (it won't go on forever.) So what will you do with the time between today, July 21, and that last day? What will you make of your season? Will it be worth remembering?

I challenge you today, here at the starting line of this season, to think about and pursue the following couple of things:

1st. Own it. Own your season. Own the sport. Really make this part of who you are and what you're about. Don't just go through the motions. Don't just "show up for practice." Learn what it takes to be a better runner, listen to your coaches, work hard, take risks, run with passion. Own it.

2nd. Make goals. Successful people are goal oriented. Whatever the goal is, go after it. You just have to have a target!

3rd. Give back. Team work involved giving before getting, sacrificing instead of stealing, teaching before taking, working together over working alone. Learn the joy in giving to others and thinking of others before you think of yourself. As we approach our community service project this year, think seriously about how you can get involved and give back to those less fortunate. It's a great way to live life, and that's what we're about.

So welcome to the human race! We're all in this together, we've got a starting line and a finish line. Let's make the most of the gap between the day.

I'm Moving!!

I knew it had to come some time. It almost came two years ago, but 24 hours later the command had been rescinded and a stay of execution had been granted. I don't think there will be any intervention this time by the Governator.

I'm moving classrooms.

9 years in one location! I've been the only teacher in C203. I was given the keys to mi casa back in 1999 when the school was brand-spankin-new, and I must say I've grown attached to my little second floor corner of the world. I enjoyed looking out the windows and seeing the weather. I had my own little birds nest from which I could look down on the quad.

But all that's over now. Orders have been handed down and I'm set to march out.

Actually, it's not all bad. I'm going to the room (about as big as a bowling alley) that Coach Mush once habitated (he's now in another room). If you gotta move, I guess it's not a bad place.

Tommy John, once a Dodger pitching ace, left my beloved Boys in Blue to go to the dreaded and hated Yankees. Like rubbing salt in an open wound, he equated the move to the likes of trading in a volkswagen for a cadillac. Not nice. But maybe a touch true.

So hopefully my new digs will be like driving a new Cadillac. You're still welcome to hang out there if you want.

Not slowing down.

Just when you think you've got it tough, when life seems to be throwing you a curveball, think of Adam Bender, shown in the video.

Adam's leg was amputated at age 1 as a result of cancer. Doesn't seem to be slowing him down.

The Race is On, Part 6

"The Granddaddy of Them All". That's what they call the Mt.SAC invitational to be held the third Saturday in October. It really is just that! It's so large that it's held over two weekends, and the high school portion takes two days, Friday and Saturday.

We'll be racing on Saturday and the event is a true spectacle. If you think that cross country is a back-alley sport for skinny kids and few care about, Mt.SAC will blow your mind and preconceived notions! This sucker is huge.

The races go off every 7 minutes from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM. There are three races on the course simultaneously pretty much all day! The field is crowded with tents. Teams come from across the state and nation to race across the storied hills.

The course is 2.9 miles long, but very challenging with three significant hills in the last two miles. It is also the site for the CIF preliminaries and finals, held in November.

You can't miss the Mt.SAC invitational. This historic meet is the larges meet in the country and a feature of the cross country season in Southern California.

Click here for King's records on the course.

Click here for a photo album of last year's meet.

Sweet Smell of Mammoth!

Hard to believe, but we leave for Mammoth in just under a month! What a great week we have there, the running is just awesome and Coach Peirce's menu is to die for!

I was given a cool website that you can chart the routes you run. It's better than the one we've been using.

So I was playing around with it and thought I'd map the traditional first run we do in Mammoth, the "Mammoth Rock Trail." I was even able to attach some photos from the route.

Check it out!

The Race is On, Part 5

I can hardly wait until October 10 and 11! The Clovis Invitational in Fresno is one of my all-time favorite meets! It's a great setting, well run, highly competitive, and best of all, it's held on the State Meet course!

We've been traveling to Clovis for a number of years now and have put together some really fine performances there. It's something about that setting that really gets our motor running and brings the best out. Click here for our all-time list.

If you check out that list, you'll notice that there are NO current boys in the top 25! (We didn't run the meet last season). With one of our better squads shaping up, it's going to be cool to see how many of that list get bumped down or off. The girls are peppering the list, but some of our young stud-muffins have yet to give the course a go, so you never know what the list on the girls side might look like when we're done.

We take the top 14 boys and the top 14 girls to the meet based on 1) Attitude and 2) race performances during September. We're planning on running the top-7 in the loaded "championship" race and the next seven (JV) in the "varsity race."

We'll drive up with parent help and stay in a local motel. Get in shape to race! You're not going to want to miss this!

OH MY! Watch This Finish

Boston Marathon, 2008. Last 3 minutes of the women's race! Check out the battle!

The Race is On, Part 4

A race I'm really excited about this season will be a new one for us, the "Central Park Invite" hosted by Fountain Valley HS. The meet will be held in Huntington Beach on October 4, so we should get some cooler temps that close to the beach.


But more importantly, the OC always brings high-quality competition, and so this will be another meet to test ourselves against some of the area's best. Check out last year's results, course map and other stuff at this link.

The Race is On, Part 3

Big 8! That's the name of the new league we'll be in. It's a creative name. Reflects the fact that the league will be made of 8 large (big) high schools. Oooooh.

Actually it's a blend of the Mountain View League and half of the Ivy League. King, Poly and North will be joining with the Corona schools -- Corona, Santiago, Norco, E.Roosevelt, Centennial.


Other than the names of the schools in the league, there will be some significant changes. First, dual meets will be no longer. Instead, the league will compete in "cluster meets", meaning, all 8 schools will compete three times in the season, including league finals. Each meet will be like an 8-team "invitational". The first meet, September 25, will be at our course.

The other main change will be the level of competition. This will certainly be a tougher league than the Ivy was, especially for the girls. Our girls have been unchallenged since we arrived in the Ivy League. Let's face it, there have been meets in league where we could run JV runners at the varsity level and still win easily. Those days are over.

Corona's girls are a power. They are well coached by Mark Gardner and have a similar history to ours: League dominence and CIF Finals berths. Santiago also had a decent girls squad last year, as did Poly.

The boys will have a deeper pool to wade through. In the past several years, it's been La Sierra and King at the top of the league heap. Corona's boys are as good as La Sierra, if not better, and in fact will most likely be one of the best teams in all of D1. Roosevelt is an up-and-comer and Santiago has always produced good teams, so it will certainly be a battle.

I like the challenges that confront us. Frankly, for our girls, league has been too easy and this will help make us better. Great challenges create great opportunities and that's the most obvious thing about heading into the Big 8.

Let's rise to it!

High Expectations

A couple of posts ago I wrote about Galen Rupp, the tough and fast kid from Oregon and his take on the pressure of high-level competition.

Well, in case you missed it, he finished second in the 10K at the Olympic Trials and qualified for the Olympics. He said, "high expectations mean you have a chance to do something special."

He's done it. He's met the expectations and at 21, he's on to the Olympic Games! Incredible story.

Sports Illustrated wrote about it. Check it out here.

The Race is On, Part 2

The sweet eucalyptus casting various and shifting shadows in the image above is the sight at the top of "the hill" at Morley Field, Balboa Park, San Diego. It's the location of the Mt. Carmel Invitational, one of my personal faves for many years, dating back to my time coaching at Ayala in Chino Hills (last century!). Seems like every time I come back to these fields and trees and the killer San Diego weather, cross country comes over me ... it's a great place to hold a race and the Mt.Carmel invitational never disappoints.

It'll be our second race of the season (9/20), a grade-level event, but the competition is always very challenging and quality, including an Arizona team thrown in for fun.

Our records on this course go back to 2000, when, and this is trivia, we made our first overnight trip in school history to the meet. We don't spend the night there anymore, but the 90 miles south of school are worth every minute it takes to get there. Click here for results and photos of last season's invitational.

Plan on having fun on this saturday and racing a real cross country course against real cross country schools!

The Race is On, Part 1

Over the next week or two, I'll be blogging about our upcoming season's race schedule. It seems sometimes that we can fall into the habit of "just showing up" and racing, especially in the early season (September) and perhaps lose an opportunity to race and compete at a higher level. So maybe a preview of what's ahead of us will inspire us to greater heights!

Seaside Invitational, September 12. The past couple of seasons we've kept it local at a small grade-level, small-school meet that hasn't produced tremendous competition. The Seaside Invitational (on a Friday, near the beach in Ventura) will be a BANG for our first meet of the year. The flat course and cool beach temperatures brings out many of the top Ventura teams (like Oak Park, Buena and Ventura) along with some of the powers of the state. This season, the #2 girl team in the nation last season, Saugus, will open their season at Seaside and State Finalists and OC power, Trabuco Hills will also be there.

We don't know much about the course yet, but it's at a park near the beach, and maybe this aerial map gives you an idea: Can you spell F.L.A.T.?


View Larger Map

So get excited about the possibilities that await us at the start of the season. We'll be coming out of the gates against some powerhouse programs that yearly train and produce outstanding runners. Though our success at this meet won't make or break the season, we are excited to go up against the best and see where we stand on Day One.

And yes, the meet is held on a Friday, which will allow us to get out of school in the morning hours for the bus ride. We'll return late, stopping for a fine team dinner at some killer location (Coach Peirce is working on it!) and thereby avoid traffic coming back to the IE.

Click here for last year's results and a couple of basic top finishers videos.