Beijing and Mammoth

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I'm up in Mammoth, CA with my cross-country team, which longtime reader will know as sort of a hallowed pilgrimage. Long before I became a coach I would run the trails here, laying out the places I would run and the workouts I would lead when I got myself a team. And long before that, I was wondering how it would be to coach.

Even when I was still competing at the NCAA level, I was absorbing the actions of the best and worst coaches, wondering how I would do better. So even as my life and career followed a winding path all its own, coaching was in the back of my noggin. Now that I've got a team (check that:  a great team --- a group of solid kids who live the Keep Pushing philosophy in a huge way, and encourage it in all the new additions) I spend my down time geeking out about how to become a better coach, reading up on physiology and training fundamentals and all sorts of stuff that takes the basic running a level up from my intuitive knowledge. So here we are in Mammoth, where all that book stuff meets the reality of altitude and mountain running. The first run is exactly 23 minutes away, and I am going to follow the wisdom of my oldest son, who cautions me to make this week more about team building than hell week. Stay tuned.

I should add that I am a little exhausted . As the sun rises over the meadow outside my window, it feels like I just went to sleep. These Olympic Games are killing me. I just can't seem to stop watching: Lagat's awful 1500 non-qualifier (DUMB race. He must be kicking himself for not kicking earlier). Taylor Phinney's bid in the track cycling (not sure if they showed that, but I was paying attention), the women's marathon; the gymnastic pixies (not that I really care about gymnastics, but it's a little nerve-wracking to watch), and even the all-time dullest sport in Olympic history, men's synchro diving. I've been watching it all. And of course there's Phelps and his mother, who seems like she kicks a lot of ass. I have to point out here that so far my all-time favorite Olympic moment this Games has been the medal ceremony for the U.S. women's crew gold medal. Not only were they all giggly and giddy and non-stoic, but they knew all the words to the anthem. And they sang with gusto, not even trying to pretend that this wasn't the most wonderful moment of their lives. I just burst out crying watching the damned thing. Loved that image, and loved the sight of their little tiny coxswain surrounded by all these towering women. She looked like the happiest person on earth. They should have all gone straight to Disneyland.

Onward.

Check that. Did you see the bronze medal effort in the women's 10,000? No? Me neither. I hear it was a great race. Would have been nice to se e it. Let me know if they showed it.

Alright. Onward. Men's marathon this week, to cap a week of great track and field. I am so pulling for Ryan Hall to pull a rabbit out of the hat on this thing. How amazing would that be?

OK, I'm out. This is a week of inspiration and perspiration. Suitably inspired, it's now time to hit the trail.

Keep pushing... always.

Oh... and I've got this year's edition of the Keep Pushing... t-shirts. Let me know who's interested, and I'll get some sort of ordering system going. And this year I promise to get them out in a timely manner.

So once more, with feeling: Keep Pushing... Always.

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