Runner's Workshop and the Transition

Three weeks in to classes, and just a day after our first real race of the season, it's safe to say that Summer is gone and Fall has arrived. The transition was abrupt, as it always is, when a certain coolness takes hold in the air and turns warm and humid mornings into crisp, colder-than-it-looks afternoons. The scent of cross country is unmistakable, and that's when you realize that the miles and miles of carefree summer trails had a very specific purpose: to run fast when the leaves start to fall.


Nonetheless, this transition from Summer to Fall, from the coast of Southern California to the hustle of the Northeast, is without a doubt my favorite time of year, and is always marked by two "preseason camps." At the Runner's Workshop camp in Idyllwild, CA, I worked for a week as a counselor at the beginning of August with my best friend and training partner of the summer, Jake Jeanson. Having been to the camp twice as a camper during the summers before my Junior and Senior years in high school, I didn't think the camp could get any better -- that is, until I became a counselor. That we actually get paid to run, play games, and share our passion for cross country and track with 200 young up-and-coming running geeks just like us, all at 5,000+ feet in the mountains of California, makes me question the logic of striving for something like law school (or any kind of school for that matter). This year's camp, as usual, lived up to every expectation. I led a cabin of 9 young dudes (Team Extreme!), all in a different stage of their running careers but each of them excited and motivated to improve. Morning wake-up (complete with a bugle call from Colin Hacker) is at 0600, and we run through some dynamic warm-up drills before beginning our workout of the day. Each afternoon we compete in Camp Competitions, with each cabin group fighting for points that determine the ultimate winners at the end of the week, the prize being free ice-cream sundaes in the dining hall. Naturally, the games take on a level of competitiveness that only a group of distance runners (lacking most, if not all, hand-eye coordination and athletic skill) can muster.

It's still painful to admit, but Team Extreme! fell short of our goal of a Top 3 finish. Nevertheless, I was proud to defend my belly-flop competition title from 2010 (the only event that really matters), just barely edging out the dress-wearing Mike Crouch. I may not ever touch his 13:40 5k P.R., but he'll have to make me bleed before I give up that title.

Jumping for the title in 2010 -- the beginning of a dynasty?

It just doesn't get better than this one week at Runner's Workshop, and the drive back down the hills of Idyllwild is always a bittersweet conclusion to Summer. Jake and I spent it with the windows rolled down and sleeves rolled up, singing along to some Dierks Bentley and reminiscing about the good times.

After a few final days in Santa Barbara I said goodbye to the Pacific (with a customary post-run swim) and boarded a plane to Washington D.C. to visit two xYc alumni, Max Walden (2010 captain) and Bryce Scanlan, before taking a train up to New Haven. I was floored by the humidity from the start, and scrapped a tempo on the Georgetown canal path after about a mile. However, a final run through the National Mall provided more than enough inspiration for the season ahead. Our national monuments and memorials are very good at letting you know that however hard you think you're working, true sacrifice means a whole lot more than two-a-days, hard tempos, or late nights in the library -- a perspective that I'm sure I'll do well to remember in the coming months.