Toughness ... I'm just going to go for it.

Before I came to King, I was the head coach at Ayala High School in Chino Hills and had the pleasure of coaching a bunch of really good kids and great runners. One of those was Greg Harris who I saw thru his junior year before I jumped ship to come to Riverside.

I liked Greg right away. He was a quiet, unassuming guy, but willing to do whatever it took to succeed, and in fact he did! He wasn't oozing talent like a few do; he had a PR at MT.SAC in the mid-16:00's as I recall and ran 16:26 at Woodward Park in Fresno. But he made the most with what he had, and you could count on Greg to take it hard all the way to the line and not leave anything behind.

He was fun to watch ... even more fun to coach.

Greg's now 26 and living in Utah, married and a father. He's doing well. He ran in college and has recently taken up marathoning, and on Monday of this week, he ran the 113th Boston Marathon. I looked up his result, 2:46:29 (6:21 per mile for 26.2 miles! ... and Boston is NOT flat) and was impressed so emailed him with my congratulations.

He replied with a note and a copy of a blog he had written about his race experience. It is a powerful piece ... a great description of a tough guy fighting through a tough day and, typically, giving it everything he had.

I encourage you to read it. I've highlighted some parts that jumped off the screen at me and hopefully will inspire and motivate you as well. Look for, especially, how determined he was to not let a "poor pace" linger. I wish you all could have met Greg, but maybe through these words of his, you'll get a glimpse of why he made Ayala Cross Country a much better team. And yes, I got his approval to post this.


If I seem a little disappointed with the results, the race was still a great experience. First let me say how awesome Boston is. They support their sports teams and this race in an unbelievable way.

Part 1:
miles 0-10. I went out at a 6:05. I don't have all of my splits because my Garmin lost reception. There was a big pack of 25 or so that formed. We hit miles 2 and 3 in about 5:50 each. I knew that this was a little fast for my fitness. So I looked back to see if there was another pack to drop back to. Nope, just small groups. I realized that with the wind picking up that 5:50 miles in this pack was going to be as easy and 6:00 miles on my own. So i hung in there. It was not too hard, but i knew that it would take its toll. Then i thought, this is Boston, I may never do this again. I am just going to go for it. So the pack kept rolling along. We hit mile 10 in 59 minutes and change.

Part 2:
Miles 10-18 At mile 10, the club runners that were leading the pack decided to bump it up to 5:40 pace. I knew that I would be dead by 15 if i went with them. So I held pace. However, the rest of the pack quickly dispersed. I tried to form little groups, but it did not work well. I was still feeling good though.

We went through Wellesley. That was cool. No kisses, just high 5's for me. One girl tried to jump out and grab me. I saw some girls that I would guess did not get any kisses despite their best efforts. I hit the half in just under 1:18. I knew that a reasonable positive split would give me 2:39-2:41. So I just kept rolling along. The hills started at 17. The first one was not too bad. However, the cold wind was really whipping around by now. I had ditched my long sleeve shirt, gloves, and beanie by mile 5.

Part 3:
Miles 18-26.4 Now the hills started to take their toll. By Heartbreak Hill, the wind was bad. I was running by myself. I could not latch on to the continuous small groups that was pass every minute or so. I dropped to about 7:00 pace. I knew that running 7:00 at mile 20 is not a good sign. That would mean 8:00 pace by the end. So I decided that would not happen today. It is probably the toughest that I have been tested mentally and physically. The hills ended, and at least I had some downhill to keep me moving. I also had my name written on my jersey, so the crowd kept me going. I started to get light-headed and dry-heaved from time to time. As i got closer to the finish line, I was counting down the minutes of pain left. We finally made the turn onto Bolyston Street. A couple of more groups passed me. The crowds were great. However, by that point, and for the last few miles, I had been getting light-headed and had blurry vision. I had been getting a lot of GU, water, and Gatorade, so I'm not sure why this happened. So i started to swerve and stagger as I came down the home stretch.

With less than 100m left, the announcer said, "Here comes Greg Harris in a tight race down the stretch!" I looked to my left. There was a guy that I shall name Mr. Lurpy. I did not have a lot of will power left, but I knew one thing. Mr Lurpy would not beat me today. After I looked over, Mr. Lurpy started kicking with his long lanky legs. I responded and barely got him at the line. Then I fell to my knees and stayed there for a minute. My final 10K was 43-44 min. Better than it could have gotten i guess.

Part 4:
Post-race "fun." After i got up, my world was spinning. I staggered around as many volunteers asked if i was OK. I said sure i have been "here" before. Cramped legs, cold clammy skin, and nausea. Sure, no problem. I was getting really cold by this time. The coldness started at about mile 15 and just got worse and worse. As i walked now, i heard spectators talking about how cold the wind was. I knew that my dad would not be done for 45 min. so I looked for a place to get warm. I saw the big med tent. I staggered in there and asked if i could sit down. They were concerned because i was pale and wobbly. So I sat down and closed my eyes. They kept trying to force broth down me. They took my temp and i was 92 degrees. They wanted to call my wife, lay me down, and maybe give my an IV. I declined and said I would be fine. They did not believe me and said that no one with a 92 degree temp. was fine. So I just sat there wrapped in 2 blankets for 45 min. At that time, I announced that I was leaving. They said no, your temp. is still only 94. I said, yes I am leaving. I have to meet my dad. I will never find him if i dont leave now. So the doctor agreed to sign it as she shook her head. I found my dad about 5 min. later, so I was glad that I had insisted on leaving. After another hour of riding on the subway and sitting in the hot tub (oh yeah! No ice bath for me!) I was good to go.

Now that I have had a day to reflect on the race, I am not as disappointed. I have learned that bad weather is just lame and it is what it is. My last 3 marathons have had lame weather. The thing that bugged me is that 2:39 would have gotten me 160th place. Add 7 minutes for my 2:46 and I got 322nd place. That sucks. But I am confident that I did the best I could have. I have no regrets. This is one of my only half or full marathons where I can honestly say that I could not have gone harder at any point in the race. That is satisfying to know. Now it is time to rest up and make one last BIG push at St. George.

U-Turns Allowed

"No U-Turn Allowed."

We see these signs at intersections, usually posted when we need to make a U-turn the most. Ever thought about U-turns? Probably not, only when you need one. We purr along in our journey until something jolts us to the reality that we're headed in the wrong direction. "Oh shoooot" we might mutter, then immediately look for the next break in the median to swing a hard left and get back in the way we should go.

Charlie Alvarez knows of a couple of U-turns in his four years at King that have made all the difference. Fortunately for the talented and amiable senior, the 180 came early in his career. Since then, though his journey could not be described as cruising on "Easy Street," the path has been smoother and most-definitely headed in the right direction.

He has seen steady growth and maturity from that moment, so much so that those in observance might be heard muttering, "oh my!" The change was abrubt -- like a quick "u-ey" -- his acceleration has been steady.

Racing the distances, he has shown himself capable at every multi-lap event. His 9:44.35 3200 meter time is the third best in school history. He has a relay split for 1600 that sits at 4:34, it too would rank 3rd all-time. His 15:59 5000 meters is the school's best-ever.

Beyond the impressive marks he has recorded however, is an even more impressive distinction: Character. Where in his early years he seemingly sought to only be a character, his life now is marked by wanting to have character. He has matured a ton in these seasons. Resolved, he has endured the valleys and his life looks now as if it's on the ascent, slowly but surely scaling the heights of Mt. Integrity whose vistas are matched by none other.

So thank God for U-Turns. They are not always needed, but when they are, they are invaluable.

Just ask Charlie, who is certainly now headed in the right direction.

Faith in the System

"I have a few sayings I have shared with her over the years, such as “the key to success is not working harder but working smarter.” She's really picking up on that one. I have asked her to have faith in the work we do to prepare for races, to have the patience to carry out the plan we come up with, and not to panic if things aren't going our way – we're smart enough to figure out something that will work."

The above quote comes from the coach of Jordan Hasay. You know, Jordan ... the really fast one with long blond hair. (On a trivial note, King ran in Jordan's HS debut, the Morro Bay Invitational, 2005. She won the girls' race by 800 meters and would have been 14th in the boys varsity race!).

It's great advice from a guy who has successfully guided the nation's top runner for the last four years. Did you read it? Did you get it? Read it again. The key to success is not working harder, but working smarter. Don't misunderstand him, he's not saying "hard work is the key to failure." It's a statement built on the assumption that hard work is already taking place. When it is, success won't come just because you work even harder. Instead, an intelligent approach to training the right way will bring the rewards.

After 20 years of coaching however, I'm convinced the second part of his quote is the more significant one. "I have asked her to have faith in the work we do to prepare for races, to have the patience to carry out the plan we come up with, and not to panic if things aren't going our way – we're smart enough to figure out something that will work."

My, so true.

A while back I had a conversation with one of our runners about my training philosophy. There had been a little disagreement over the path we were taking, and I said, "You know, our philosophy is a good one. It's produced good results in the past and will again in the future. No, it's not perfect, but no training plan is perfect. BUT, even if it was the "perfect system" it still wouldn't work if the athletes didn't have faith that it would.

We left it at that, but I hear those words echoed now in Jordan Hassay's coach.

Did you catch the key word in that quote? It is: "We". The success of Jordan -- or any athlete -- doesn't come alone, it comes from a relationship between -- at minimum -- the coach and the athlete in communication. Talking about goals, about strategy, about training, about life. Great athletes don't get there alone. It's always a team effort. No coach can read minds, and if the athletes don't communicate with their coach on matters of importance toward the desired results, a coach assumes there are no desired results. Silence is doubt. At best, it's apathy.

Some of us here at King have marveled at what Jordan Hassay has accomplished in her four years. What's her secret?

Is it talent? Partly.
Is it hard work? Certainly.
Is it great coaching? Perhaps.
Is it that she believes in what she's doing? According to her coach, yes.

As I think back over the last two decades and the athletes who have achieved success to the level of their high school potential, without exception, those athletes were ones who listened to and embraced our philosophy, applied their talent, worked hard and went for it. To this day I remember sitting in the bleachers at Walnut High School as a young man named Eric Loudon, grinning from ear to ear after running a PR in the 1600 at League Finals, yelled up to me, "It works, coach! it works!"

Well, our training worked because it was based on sound practice and physiological principles, but more so because Eric had the faith to believe it would.

It's working for Jordan too, and it can work for you.

Some Thoughts on our Week

My shot of the day ... a Pack-o-beastly-studs.

As much as I dread the workload that comes with helping put on the King Classic every year, I've really grown to love the meet. There's something odd that happens when you remove the "prescribed order of things." What I mean is, sometimes runners fall into the trap of thinking, "Well, so-and-so is in this race and I neeeever beat that person, so there's no way I could right now, blah, blah, blah".

When those so-and-so's are juniors and seniors, and therefore not entered in the meet, it can leave some to excel to even higher levels. I think we saw that again yesterday.

So some observations and thoughts ...

Lane Werley had a tremendous week. 4:29 on Wednesday, good training thru to Saturday, then another 4:29 despite "feeling dead" on Saturday. What do we keep telling you guys about the importance of being STRONG? Lane showed how strong he is this week. When them legs of his are fresh, he's gonna fly.

Daniel Balcazar was doing the same ... 2:03 Wednesday, a pr, then 2:01 Saturday, the #3 all time mark in school history. He's having a GREAT season in the half!

Hanna Peterson is just plain-old studly! I love the way she just goes for it on race day! She runs a meet record of 5:18 (broke Kelsi's meet record from last year at 5:22) racing at the front the whole way. Then comes back and scores in the 800 and holds up a leg in the 4x400! This after doing the interval workout this week on Friday! She's a beast! (and I say that in a very girly beast sort of way). :)

Devin Becerra now has the #2 all time freshman mark in the 16 and the 32! I'm hoping he gets both records this season. They've stood there long enough.

Have you seen our boys 1600? How many guys this season have cracked 5:00? We had SIX on Saturday alone, with Aaron Youngren (remember where Aaron was just last track season? Oh my!) PR'ing at 4:52, Nick Rini dropping a PR and Adam Schupp going 4:55 to make him the #6 All Time Freshman at King! Marc Jimenez slipped under 5:00. I need to count it to be sure, but I think we have 12 guys BELOW 5:00 in the 1600 this season! Most are coming back. Sweet! Can you start salivating right now over what kind of cross country team we're shaping up to have next Fall?

Ethan McAbeast went 5:14 (remember him last Fall? Oh my again!), Rafi PR'd at 5:07. Incredible stuff. Joey Tompkins who just a few weeks ago was on the dark side of 6:00 is now in the 5:40's!

Taylar Amiot was all smiles after her race with a PR in the 1600.

Aubrey Bowman matched her season's best in the 3200 at 12:19.

Really good stuff is happening. Why? Hard work. Willing attitudes. Coachable spirits.

It was a great conclusion to a great week.