Another Long Run

CHAPTER ONE: AUGUST “The whole thing stinks!” The cross country and track & field captains felt the round table shake in the Stewart’s basement as Chuck James pounded it with his fist. “We are in agreement that the situation smells awful,” replied Artie Stewart with a smile. “The question is what do we do about it?” “I don’t know,” said Sean Allen. “I did not sign up for this when I said I would be the co-captain of the cross-country team with you, Artie. I should have just stuck with my race walking this season.” “Yeah, and it will be even worse when we get to the track & field season,” added Bruce Griffin. “Lighten up,” sighed Artie. “Why don’t we write a list of all the problems we’ve got and how we can try to fix them.” “Alright,” answered Sean. “Start with the fact that McGurk has given us a substitute coach that knows nothing about running except that Mr. Wimble and his wife like to jog in the morning. What are we going to do about workouts?” “We can deal with that,” replied Artie. We know a lot about distance training already. You and I kept training logs during cross country the last two years. We can politely suggest workouts to Mr. Wimble to approve.” “And when we get to the track & field season, I can ask my brother Ted for the workouts that Coach Mallory used to give the sprinters and 400/800 guys. And he can ask his former teammates about workouts in the hurdles and field events.” (As the only one at the table who was a captain for both cross-country and track & field, Artie was already thinking about the full year, not just one season – and he knew he could rely on his older brother for help.) “Well, that might work,” said Bruce. “But what about the size of the squad? We need more guys than we currently have for cross country. We have both of you plus Tommy O’Leary for our top three, but not much after that. We need solid fourth and fifth runners for the scoring plus two more for the varsity seven not to mention the JV or Frosh. And do not look at me. I am a hurdler, not a distance runner.” “I thought you might want to prep for the college steeplechase,” quipped Artie. “We do need to get more sophs from last year’s frosh team to try out. They have been spotty coming to summer practices even if those practices are voluntary.” “We do need to attract a bunch of frosh. Not to help the varsity this year, but to make sure the team has potential after we graduate. In short, we need to do some more recruiting of our fellow schoolmates.” “Even if we get some good workouts set up and fill out a decent sized squad, the schedule that our AD McGurk has set up is terrible,” complained Sean. “It has just dual & tri meets before the league, county, and district meets. How are we going to be ready without doing some weekend invitational meets early in the season? The younger guys especially need to learn about running in packs in bigger races to get ready.” “For sure, we need to talk to McGurk,” mused Artie. Yes, he’s a cheapskate except for his football team. But we need to run in a couple invitationals. We need an appointment to talk to him.” “Don’t include me in that talk,” warned Chuck James. “I am not involved in cross country anyway, and he hasn’t forgiven me for quitting his football team.” “I do know one thing,” added Chuck. “I like the idea of getting some info out to the team alumni. Not only do they have expertise about workouts, but they will give us moral support and maybe put a little pressure on the school. But how do we do that with Coach Mallory out of the picture right now?” “My brother Ted says that Mrs. Mallory has always communicated information to the team alumni on behalf of Coach Mallory via email and social media. “I think if we ask her, she will get out any information about the team that we give her.” “This sounds like an awful lot to do,” commented Sean woefully. “And we have not even talked about getting up our training milage. We need more miles or kilometers to be ready for the meets which are not that far away.” “It is simple when you think about it, Artie chimed-in with a smile while making some notes. “It is a five-step plan: T is for TRAINING plans that we can create from our logs and with help from alumni. R is RECRUITING new team members from the school to increase our squad size. A is for an APPOINTMENT with our Athletic Director Buddy McGurk. C is for COMMUNICATION to our team alumni with Mrs. Mallory’s help; and K is for the KILOMETERS or miles that we need to be ready for the upcoming meets.” In short, it is T-R-A-C-K and that spells TRACK! Get it?” There were groans around the table. “Please remember that I am a F-I-E-L-D guy. As In Field events!” noted Chuck laughing. Just then, Artie Stewart’s dad came down to the basement. “Gentlemen,” he said. “Mrs. Stewart and I are having a late summer barbeque. Dinner starts in about ten minutes. You are all invited to stay even if you are finishing up your discussions down here.” The conversations about the upcoming season ended immediately as Sean, Bruce, and Chuck pulled out their phones to check with their parents. The Stewarts were known to have excellent barbeques.