August 13, 1997

Hello Fellow Runner,

Boy, can you believe it's been two months, to the day, since I last wrote? Summer has flown! Before we get into the details of Cross-Country here's what my summer consisted of. Fiona, my oldest daughter, got a part in a play and I ended up being the "sound guy" for 6 performances of "Crazy For You" (enough to drive you Crazy seeing it that many times). So after that stint I decided I should get a turn so I tried out for two shows and got cast in ZERO (oh well). As for running, I've had an injury plagued summer. Started it off at the end of April with a right solius pull. Then in May I added a left solius pull. June saw a pulled left hamstring and July added a tight left Achilles. August has just been all of the injuries rotating around on a day by day basis. So I've been only running about 30 miles a week with one day a week on the track (Tue) and one day racing (Thur or Sun). Two days I bike for an hour but it's not the same as running. Even with my lack of training I've still managed a 2:13.4 800 meters and a 4:54.1 mile (going for sub-4:50 this Thur). Then off the track and away for the roads for 10 days while we go on a vacation to the Sierra's. That will hopefully allow me time to heal so I can start running with everyone on the 25th. Which brings me to...

We start X-C training on Aug 25th at 9:30 (we meet at the Football shed out by the basketball courts). We'll start off with an easy 3 miles that day and then work our way up from there. By the end of the season, you'll be able to run 9 miles in the hills without breaking a sweat. I will have the workout schedule for you at the beginning of school so you'll know what to expect each week of the season. We'll have our standard Pizza Party, Rallye Run, Hash Run, Ice Cream Run, and some others I hope. You need to have your HEALTH CARDS in before you can OFFICIALLY run for the team. So please get your packet and get your physical ASAP. Our first meet will be the Lynbrook Inter squad race on Tue Sept 9th with our next one on Sept 11th over at Del Mar. So, try to start getting it shape ASAP. If not, we'll just use those races as workouts and a chance to get to know each other.

The house is almost done (new date of Sept 15th) which we're all getting excited about. It's been a loooooong 3 years since we first broke ground and we now want it do be done! Enjoy the rest of your summer, I know I will. But don't forget to run ... run ... run.