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USATF Club XC Natls

BAA 3rd Place at USATF Club XC: Luke Meyer (Yale/UConn-CT), Tim Ritchie (Boston College-MA), Colman Hatton (Bowdoin-ME), David Emerson (Boston College-MA), Brian Harvey (Carnegie Mellon/Boston University-MA), myself (UMass-Lowell-MA), Tim Guerin (UMass Lowell,MA). Photo credit: Mike Scott


Before entering my weekly training, I wanted to talk about the USATF club cross country championships, in which I competed as part of the BAA men's team this past weekend in Charlotte, NC. Big thanks to BAA for taking us to the the race and USATF for putting a big field together. Also, big thanks to our team coaches Mike Pieroni and Terry Shea for taking good care of us there and Suzanne Walmsley for a lot of the behind the scenes work.In past years, this event has been up and down in terms of competition, but this year it was really tough up front, which makes it even more special because we finished 3rd! According to this press release from the team website, it was the best ever team finish on the men's side. What's even more impressive is that this was a very young team, Luke is the "oldest" and he is in his mid 20's. As Mike Pieroni said in his pre-race speech, "we are young and hungry". It was great not only to be part of the team to medal at the USATF meet but also most important to be a team from New England. I think it's time to bring the competitiveness of the late 1970's/80's to when New England was the hub of US distance running. I feel that there is a lot of potential here, great people, excellent places to train and many competitions to choose from. What we need to do is just stick together and make things happen. Always keep things in perspective and know not to set limits on anything. As my friend and teammate Tim Ritchie told me after Mayors Cup..."we can run with anyone at this level". If we stick together we sure can make the jumps many others have made in the past. This past weekend was just a small step but a giant leap for what's to come in the future....

Comments

  1. Ruben if you could pick to train with three of these famous runners in their prime, doesn't matter if they're dead or alive, which one's would pick and why....

    Steve Prefontaine, Kenny Moore, Henry Rono, Zapotek, Queton Cassidy, Chris Solinsky, Roger Bannister, Jack Landy, Alberto Salazar, Frank Shorter, Gerry Lindgeren, Adam Goucher, Meb, Haile Geb, Wejo, Chris Barnicle, Galen Rupp, Alan Webb, Dathan Ritz, Ryan Hall, Marathon (Greek warrior), Arthur Llyraid, Lase Viren, David Bedford, and Billy Mills

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  2. You going to post your training from the past couple weeks?

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  3. From that list, I personally know only one person: Chris Barnicle, because we're both from MA class of 2005..I would train with him but couldn't tell the others because I don't know what their training regimen is. It'd also have to depend on their personality and outlook on training and the sport. I think people respond differently for training. What works for Alan Webb may not work for Haile G. As for coaches, same think goes. One coach may be better for the shorter distances and another may be better for the the marathon....Chris is cool so I wouldn't mind. Also Billy Mills because I love his story and Wejo because of his massive improvement after college.

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  4. thanks for answering my question good luck the rest of this winter!

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