Monday, November 30, 2020

Barely Hanging On!

 So with nothing much happening on the PSU Track/XC front, some other news occasionally bubbles up. One of those things was the recent American Road Race Record in the 10-Mile.

Kiera D'Amato set the record the past weekend in Washington DC.



This is officially the very last Women's American Record which is not better than my PR. (51:11 in 1977).   Sigh...

 

 

 



























































































Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Workout Wednesday: My Least Favorites

 

A notable alum has berated me mercilessly for having workouts I didn't particularly like, but it is what it is.  All in all, I loved running back in the day and enjoyed virtually every part of it.  My favorites were the mountain runs and repeat 400s.  My least favorite were:

  1. Tees to Greens - this was invariably on Wednesdays.  Big mistake was trying to catch back up to the real runners after every surge.  Made for a 10K at near race pace and a time nearly as good as the upcoming Saturday race.   My problem, my fault.
  2. The Modified Michigan Workout  3 x Mile with 2 miles of  "tempo" between.  Same problem for me in this one.  My problem, my fault.
  3. Any Hill Workout:  My heart murmur never liked these.  This led to excessively high heart rates at the top when John Barber or Coach Groves himself had you take your heart rates right after the peak.  I had to lie to avoid having to be shipped to the ER.  No one should ever have a 250 heart rate without seeing a doctor.


 

What are your favorites?  And least favorites?  I would love to hear from the Throws guys and the Jumpers and Sprinters as I barely know any of your workouts to begin with.

Sunday, November 8, 2020

It's Not Easy Being Green

 

Got a fairly good response to the repost of the 2010 post on "The Greatest Shoe Ever Made".  Of course, most disagreed with me, which was sorta kinda the whole reason for the post.  Thanks for the input everyone!  Your input is very valuable to me.  The Interns have filed these away in cardboard boxes in their moldy basement abode, for future reference.

 

But by far, the greatest reaction was entirely positive concerning the Adidas Spiders spikes from the mid-70s.  Many of us had them. And loved them.  Even the fastest among us...

 I mentioned your post this morning about the Nike Internationalist.  It is one of many shoes I do not remember... but then at my age!  So, you also mentioned the Spider.  I have attached something from the old running storage box.  I wish I could tell you they smell new, but they smell more like "basement."

-Greg 

 



 I will add that mine didn't have the white tongue and ankle rim.  The green suede was all their was.  Not sure which version was the version 2.0.  Ah, the memories.

I will add that the best way to describe their color is that Michael Scott's Office used the same pigments.

 


 


Friday, November 6, 2020

The Lord Giveth And The Lord Taketh Away

 


After an incredible flurry of activism, fund-raising and general Hell-raising, the William and Mary Board has reinstated all of the teams previously discontinued following this school year.  This will be contingent on a restructuring of gender equity and financial concerns.  I feel that this means the hard part is yet to come.

As gender is defined today, (or not defined!) any governing body can pretty much do as it pleases. 

With the bold actions of thousands of concerned track athletes and fans, otherwise unaccountable bureaucrats were made to listen at least a little.  Highest praise goes to the Women team members of several sports at William and Mary who finally said "Enough".  The rest of us need to continue to stand for what we know it correct.

 


 

But with the rather positive news filtering out about the W&M news, word came immediately that Clemson had discontinued its Mens Track and Field team following this season.  This storied Power-5 program needs no one to sing their praises, and yet we must. 

As I view their information, I discovered that the Football team has its own water slide, barber shop and amenities unavailable to other student-athletes that boggle the mind.  The football coach makes a salary of nearly $9,000,000.

From Yahoo Sports:

Diving deeper into the numbers, the Clemson men’s track & field and cross-country program had operating expenses of $2.3 million in 2019, according to Sportico’s database. The program offers 12 scholarships that are distributed across 26 athletes, plus an additional 25 walk-ons, meaning that the tuition paid by runners in the program dramatically outweighs the cost of the scholarships awarded.

Clemson has offered men’s track and field since 1953. The program has won a combined 23 ACC championships and 16 individual NCAA titles, and produced 22 Olympians.

 
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