Going the Distance ... Jason Schupp

The kids tell me that Jason actually does talk, but I'm clinging to the philosophical question, "if a tree falls in the forest and there's no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?" No joke, I've heard enough words out of Jason's mouth over three+ years to fill a paragraph.

And that's OK. There are plenty of folks at the other end of the spectrum that you wish would just shut up.

But as you get to know Jason Schupp (pronounced "Shoop") you realize he's actually shouting, just in a quiet sort of way.

He's a big guy, some 6'5" give-or-take, which makes you wish his name was Ben. But bigger than stature, is the size of heart and drive and determination and team play. These are the words Jason Schupp shouts daily without saying much at all. His talk is his walk ... the pathway of character and hard work is well worn by his size 12's. His destination is success and accomplishment.

Watch him race and you'll hear the scream, "GUTS!". His work ethic yells, "follow me." His tenacity proclaims, "this is how it's done." He could be the spokesman for the Silent Minorty, and like the character of comic-book lore, I've come to affectionately refer to him as "Schupperman!"

He says little in my presence, but in the three years I've had to get to know him, I've come to accept that that's OK. That's Jason, and according to the reports from his teammates, this Redwood does make noise. (Maybe I need to venture into the woods more often!)

We're at the starting line of his fourth season, but I bet it's gonna be his best ever.

You just watch ... and listen!

Going the Distance ... Sara Strasbaugh

Sara's time with King XC has been one of disappointment and victory. She's been steady as a rock, very predictable in what she gives out, but along the way she's experienced some bumbs in the road that could have sent her reeling to the sidelines, another one of many who walked away when it got hard or disapppointing. But rather than take the easy way out, she's persevered and has enjoyed great rewards as a result.

Her sophomore year may well have been the lowest point for her. Struggling through what seemed to be chronic injuries, she visited a doctor who told the 15 year old, "you should probably quit running." I remember her telling me the report with tears streaming down her face.

Time was spent healing and rehabbing, and instead of following the advice, she came back stronger than ever. Her Junior year in track was a special time of sweet success, made all the tastier from the dry days of injury and waiting. She ran spectacularly in the 800, establishing herself as one of King's all-time fastest.

She says she came out as a 9th grader in order to run, it was the running and the competing that brought her to the line. However, through the years she's learned that there is more to running than running; there's the bond of teammates, the advice and admonition of coaches, the lessons of life learned only on the road.

She's done well. She refused to quit when it seemed like the answer. She was patient even when the clock refused to slow. She endured and has seen the vistas that come only through the trials of life.

Some Final Thoughts on Mammoth

Some thoughts on our week in Mammoth...

Coach Peirce treated us to incredible meals, this morning's breakfast was the equal to Simple Simon's...

The weather has been beautiful. Forgot what blue skies in August looks like...

Carrie and Kelsi ran school record times on Big Smokey yesterday...

Our first-ever excursion to June Lake turned out to be an enjoyable time ... maybe again next year?

Overlapping Mammoth with the Olympic Games has been a nice coincidence. Maybe we can get London to cooperate and move their Games up to 2009...

Our kids have been awesome! Great attitudes, great chemistry, great fun...

Coach Griesinger (at 61 years of age) is incredible. We should all be so fortunate as to handle this kind of running at 61...

Our chaperones and parents are like pillars ... they have quietly upheld the entire week with selfless generosity and energy.

Our intrasquad race tomorrow is full of anticipation. We've got the looks of a good couple of teams! We'll see how we match up with the all-time lists by 8:00 AM.

Meier's Mammoth Minnow and other Fun Times

By mid week we’ve hit our stride and our training has gone exceedingly well. The runs have been smooth, beautiful and challenging. But spliced into the work has been some play, and on Wednesday and Thursday we were able to find time to just sit back and enjoy some R and R.

Wednesday afternoon and evening we spent down at Shady Rest park for a good-old fashioned bar-be-que, grilled up nicely by Marv Alvarez, Andy Schupp and Coach Peirce. It was scrumptious; yours truly downed two burgers. The athletes participated in games by gender, the boys roughing it up in skins vs. shirts game of football, while the girls sat in circles and moved swiftly through a series of lawn games and giggles. When the girls circled up for mutual back rubs, an on looking Glendora XC runner under compulsion of ten wagered bucks from his teammates made his way into the girl’s circle for his own piece of the action! Not sure if they paid up, but by the look on his face as he made his way back to his bettors, it appeared the money was no longer as important!



This morning we ran our traditional Big Smokey long run (12 and 10 mile distances), and then in the afternoon we drove up 395 to June Lake for a couple hours of eating, laying around and wading in the shallow water of a beautiful mountain lake. A giant bolder some 50 yards off shore beckoned many, though the 5’ of frigid water didn’t require any swimming to get there.





An unplanned moment of hilarity came when many discovered tiny minnows swimming near the shore. Kelsi and Rebecca were quick to grab some Ziploc bags to double as fish nets, and Dave Meier gamely offered to eat one should they be so lucky to lure one into the bag. After 30 minutes of failure, Dave retired to the shade of a pine tree on shore until a mammoth sized outburst of joy came from the shoreline: a Mammoth Minnow had been snagged. Meier’s name was written all over it.



Beckoned by the bellowing, Dave laughed and made his way to the water as a crowd of onlookers enjoyed his “man vs. wild” moment and swallowed the little fellow in one gulp. As of this writing, he appears to be fine, the little critter … not so much.




Here's the view the other night from our condos, an almost full moon!

Mammoth Beauty!

It's easy with all the training that we do up here to miss the monumental beauty of Mammoth and it's surroundings. This is an incredible scenic area of California. Here are some images from our first three days.















Our beautiful Coach Peirce who has prepared many beautiful meals this week!


And how is this for a beautiful looking crew!

Smokey the Bear

We ran up and around Convict Lake this morning, an annual tradition of our week in Mammoth and a truly spectacular setting with a pristine lake to circumnavigate, surrounded by cathedral cliffs of granite.

The usual moment of visual splendor and fun is reserved to a 100 meter long footbridge at the far end of the lake that spans a babbling brook beneath the quaking aspens. We took our obligatory team photo there.

It was on the way back to the cars though that we ran into Smokey the Bear who was out looking for breakfast. Fishmermen and fisherlittlegirls took flight as a very bored looking brown bear sniffed and pawed through abandoned coolers, backpacks and jackets.

Our runners were long gone down the hill by this point, but the chaperones and coaches were treated to a zoo-like experience as Smokey discovered the live leftovers of a family of fishermen who scampered with their kids in tow up the 20 feet to the trail. Their two trout, (one of which was their four year old girl's first ever catch, her tear-stained cheeks telling the story of loss -- and fear -- in every drop) were 10 feet off shore in a basket stringer, awaiting their death sentence in a frying pan.

From out of the frying pan and into the bear's mouth they went, ripped neatly in two, an easy breakfast for the lumbering lug looking for an easy take. Some 40 humans peered on from the shore and a boat, curious of the wild. Smokey didn't return the favor. We were a mere backdrop to what looked like a daily ritual: Walk slowly into the fishermen's paradise, watch the humans run, take their food, move on.

A fun morning!

A Couple Days in Mammoth

The arrival of King’s runners for the ninth time in Mammoth Lakes was greeted by magnificent weather, blue skies, and kids eager to get going, gently treading upon the trails and byways often traversed by some of America’s top distance runners who make this place their home base for most of the year. (Two of them, Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor are out of town this week, they’re off to some foreign town called Beijing…)

The drive north was beautifully boring and uneventful, just what we hoped for. After unpacking, we hit the road for our traditional first-day run, the Mammoth Rock trail. It starts with a couple of miles along Old Mammoth Road that steadily climbs in elevation, turning to a steep ascent in the last meters that, coupled to high elevation, reminds the lungs and legs that we’re not in Riverside.

From there, we leave the road and enter a beautiful trail that overlooks the town of Mammoth and the distant White Mountains in the east. It’s generally downhill, which makes for a fun run full of big views while dodging big trees and big rocks. One feels big of spirit upon the trail’s end.

This morning’s run took us out to the “Inyo Craters” area, a short drive from Mammoth Lakes. The newly christened running watches required of this year’s crew, told the runners to turn around after 30 minutes down a dirt road that meandered through the woods. Despite a generally uphill return, some of our top boys made it back in 28 minutes, an indication of, among other things, their fitness, a characteristic immediately noticed and commented upon by a coaching member of Chino Hills High School who accompanied us on the Mammoth Rock trail yesterday. Surely, a nice compliment for August 10!

Going the Distance ... Hayden Traver

In the course of any challenging run or race, it is inevitable that an occassional thought or two sneaks in: Quit! Give up! This is too hard! You won't finish! What keeps us coming back is the challenge to overcome such thoughts, to overcome our weaker selves.

Similar thoughts creep into the minds of kids while in high school. Some, the weak or distracted, follow the voices and never even graduate. Some listen to those sinister sounds after getting started in cross country as a freshman. They never make it to the four year finish line.

We celebrate endurance in King Cross Country. After all, the sport is built on "keepin' on." Some of our most cherished athletes are those who go all four years, they started as 9th graders and never missed a season through high school. This is not to say their time was smooth, if it went like most four year spans do, there were highs and lows. But they kept on.

So on that note, we'll begin to sing the praises of our "Four Year Runners". They'll end the year with a fine plaque commemorating their endurance, for starters, we'll post a photo and some praise.

Hayden Traver's got XC ties ... his older sister ran for King, and his dad and the La Sierra head coach are good friends. As Hayden tells the story, there was a bit of a shove in the back by mom and dad on Day One of XC back in 2005. But out he came and he hasn't missed a moment. Hayden will be the first to admit that he's not "fast" and perhaps not even really interested in being fast. Just "being" is more of what Hayden is into, he enjoys the comraderie of the team, the friends he's made and the experiences he's gained. This is all good.

He's got an incisive wit and sometimes his words twist on the way out, curled off the wry smile that purses the corner of his mouth. A twinkle telegraphs you that he's in on the joke. He's a keen observor of others, be assured, if you're in the same place with Hayden, chances are he's studying you. Sizing you up. Making sense of you. There are multiple layers to Hayden and at the spry age of 17, he comes across content with who he is, he's comfortable in his own skin.

A well-stamped passport reveals even more; he's literally seen more of this world at this age than most teenage internet addicts can boast, he's traveled to nearly every state in the country and can tell tales of his present moments in places of historic significance. He's well read, a great student (he passed the AP US and AP European history exams with the top score of 5) and well on his way to success in college and beyond.

Though his race performances won't show up in any all-time lists, Hayden is ok with that. He's been busy for four year not necessarily lighting the night sky up, but steadily being a trustworthy teammate and athlete. He has graced us with moments of great levity and mirth and he has fashioned for himself a four years worth bragging about.