Friday, August, 20, 2010
Today went pretty slow at first. My cabin, boys Cabin 1 went out to a loop they call McKay. That’s because there’s a ridiculous hill on McKay Street. I couldn’t run it this year but I remember last year feeling like I should have come with hiking gear. Our counselor Sean Brosnan bet the entire camp couldn’t beat him up the hill, also called McKay. Hey look, no one said that runners like variation.
So because Sean is outfitted by Mizuno, he promised a pair of Mizuno running sneakers to the first camper to beat him up McKay. He said he would spot them 30 seconds. When the group made it back the first thing I heard was that Sean would be coughing up a pair of kicks. The story goes like this:
The run was meant to be about 6-7 miles. Then 6-7 miles later the group still hadn’t reached the hill. The guys ask if everything is okay to which Sean responds, “Yeah, don’t worry. We’re good.” They ended up running about 10 miles (9.8 exactly). Around the 7-mile mark they reach McKay. Sean lets the guys take off and starts talking to Fairfield Prep coach Bob Ford, who also has three campers in Cabin 1. Then, 34 seconds later, Sean realizes, holy crap, he’s supposed to be running. So he takes off. Now remember that Sean is a 4-flat miler.
He tore up the hill, hawked the whole group. All except one. Fairfield Prep’s Connor Rog got too far ahead. The hill is about 600 meters from the base to the top and with 150 left Sean knew he blew it and backed off instead of trying to summon his inner Usain Bolt, because that was the only way he was going to catch Connor. I was more surprised that Connor didn’t brag at all. Sean came back to the cabin with his entire story ready. Connor barely said a word. Everyone else made sure to remind people that Connor had taken down a pro runner, head-start or not.
We hung out on the porch of our cabin for the better part of the morning and early afternoon listening to Lil Wayne, Drake, that God-awful Gucci Mane and anything else that came up on various iPods. Then we headed to a weight training class. We went over some easy and simple weight training exercises – curls and presses – then learned an even more advanced core routine than we learned on Wednesday. This time we learned a routine using an exercise ball (the giant inflatable rubber ball you see women using in the gym) and a medicine ball. If for nothing else this camp has definitely drilled into campers how important it is to strengthen their core muscles. It’s great for the beach – who doesn’t love hard abs? – and even better for stabilization while running.
The afternoon run was an easy 3 miles. I jumped on for that. It was like there was a giant rubber band that attached me to the back of the pack. Every time I’d fall back a bit I would snap back to the group. All until they decided to change the loop when we got back on the campus. We had to pass our cabin. It was like a deathblow to me. Suddenly I was seeing the group turn the corner down by the lake and I somehow was sitting on the steps of our cabin like I had just chased the ice cream truck 20 blocks and sat down without my fudge sundae. Sigh. The woes of being out of shape.
The best part of the day was a round-robin of speakers in the evening. The first group included Ward Melville’s Mary Kate Anselmeni, the national 2,000-meter steeplechase champ, Tanya Zeferjahn, a 2-time Division II national champ for Queens University in Charlotte, N.C. and the Division II collegiate American record holder at 10,000 meters, Marcia Horan, the coach of Chittenango High who has also been on the coaching staff of six US national teams, John Honerkamp, an assistant coach at St. John’s University, who made the semifinal at the 1996 Olympic Trials in the 800, and Mark Alizi, a Syosset and Boston College grad who ran 8:59 for 3,200 meters as a high school senior.
Sean Rice, co-director of the camp, asked them about the highs and lows of their running careers. It was a great talk. But nothing topped Fairfield Prep coach Bob Ford. Maybe because his story wasn’t exactly about running. He gave a lesson in Greek mythology about Persia’s attempt to rule all of Greece. Remember the movie 300? (This is Sparta!!) The story of Pheidippides is the one most running geeks know as how the marathon was started. Pheidippides ran 25 miles from Marathon to Sparta. Or so the legend goes. It’s actually 150 miles to Sparta. He died when he reached Athens and his last words were “Rejoice we have conquered.”
The real story is that when the Persians came to conquer Athens they were met at Marathon with 10,000 men of the Athenian army. When the Persians saw the Athenians they turned their boats around to attack Athens, which was now left unguarded. The Athenian army attacked what was left the Persian force and then realized that they had left their homes and families vulnerable. So they ran. They ran 25 miles back to Athens and when the Persians saw the Athenian army waiting for them they turned around, retreating.
My first thought was, “So why is the marathon 26.2 miles?” Just as I thought that he said, “The marathon was 25 miles until the first London Marathon in 1981 when they added 1.2 miles so that the Queen could see it.”
Makes sense to me. But even better, of all the slogans runners use, the best he said would be, “Run like an Athenian.”
And if that wasn’t interesting enough, Billy Iaia aka Dr. Swim, told a story of how he was a runner, a Syosset graduate who made running his life. Then he moved to Colorado and all the running stopped. Then, 65 pounds later, he had a conversation with a friend were Billy told his friend that, if he wanted to, he could run his bike from Colorado to New York. The friend called his bluff. Billy woke up the next morning and told his wife he was going for a ride.
When are you coming back, she said.
I dunno.
She panicked. “You’re leaving me?” she asked.
No.
Then where you going?
To New York.
She thought he was nuts. His kids thought he was cool. He rode for 21 days, 11-12 hours a day, living on Big Macs, vanilla shakes and his credit card. He rode all the way to camp. Two years later he hopped a plane to California. Then rode from the Golden Gate Bridge back to upstate New York for camp. He averaged 140 miles per day for 26 days with five days over 200 miles. When he arrived at camp he ran everyday, twice a day, with boys Cabin 3.
Insane. Just sick. And pretty damn cool.
With perfect timing the next speaker was our Cabin 1 counselor Sean Brosnan. He talked about recovery. In short, make sure you sleep, hydrate and eat something within 30 minutes of a hard run or workout.
Cabin 1 gave him a standing O. Myself included.
Weirdest thing I saw today: Pat Corona and Forest Gilbakian in opposite showers singing “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” as a debut. I think it was the Diana Ross version. For an encore they gave a hearty rendition of some Britney Spears song. I debated whether or not I wanted to speak to either of them for the remainder of the day.