By Jeff Purdom
Plainfield Central Boys Cross County
I remember sitting on the bus as we drove to Peoria for Richard Spring two years ago. I still can see the way I was awkwardly trying to sit comfortably on a bus (not easy with long legs) as I sat and read through the “Stories of Joe Mortimer.” If you haven’t read them yet, do yourself a favor, find Joe at a meet, introduce yourself and ask to get a copy. Be prepared to talk for a while though, Joe has lots of stories to tell that are not included in his little packet of stories.
I love the sports of cross country and track and field. Coaching them shows you incredible things on an almost daily basis. But there are moments that stand out and you never know when they are going to happen and you can never guess where they will come from. It will take a lifetime of coaching to accumulate the stories that Joe Mortimer has, but I had one the other day and want to share it with the coaching community because it shows so much of what makes this sport amazing.
One of the changes I made this year was long runs on Mondays. The Monday of Sectionals week was our last longer run of the season. 65 minutes at a comfortable pace. We set out as a group of 9, it was our top 8 varsity guys and one freshman, Colin. Going into the conference meet he was our 14th fastest guy, after running a great race at conference he made his way into our top 12 for Regionals.
The route we took that day started through Settler’s Park, and as we headed out of the park I noticed Colin was already off the back of the group. But I quickly heard one of his teammates holler back to him to get back up with the group. And about 3 minutes later Colin was right back in the group. We stayed together as a group for the rest of the way out. Winding through neighborhoods we talked about the season, we made some plans to get some winter running hats, we periodically “snaked” the group (“snaking” is the art of surging in front of the group in unison with a partner and then when you are successful you high five each other), and we joked with each other about any and everything running related. At the turn around, who was still hanging tough, Colin.
On the way out, the pace was gradually picking up. And as we turned back the pace continued to pick up. The varsity guys continued to joke and laugh and talk, but we also continued to increase the pace of the run. Every few minutes I would check the group to see if we were all still together and sure enough hanging right with the guys was Colin. A couple of times I looked back and a gap of 5 or so meters had formed, but when it did either one of the guys would holler back at him to hang in or they would drop back to help him bridge the gap. And he never let himself get dropped, finishing the 65 minutes as a group of 9. Our last 3 or so miles we ran in about 20 minutes, as of 4 days before this run, Colin’s PR was 19:10.
When we got back to school we gave our typical fist bumps and “nice runs.” But it felt different with Colin, he had put his nose in there and ran with the guys the whole way through even when the pace got hot.
I think about the opening run in Once a Runner, when the freshman tries to push the pace and Cassidy cranks up the pace and drops him.
We had no intentions of trying to drop anyone on our run, but it did have the same feel of progressive running…but no one dropped off the back.
The other day in class a student asked me how do you actually coach cross country. I told her essentially you set up training so athletes can be as physically and mentally prepared to run 3 miles as fast as possible. I think Colin’s run was physically tough for him, but more so than that it was the mental side that produced the biggest gains. At Sectionals, I was talking to Colin about the long run Monday, and asked if it was tougher physically or mentally, and he said “It was tough physically, but I really had to try to keep telling myself to stay with the group.” Tough physically, but tougher mentally. I also know that having the encouragement of his teammates played a role in that mental toughness as well.
I started writing this before we ran our final time trial of the season. Friday afternoon before Sectionals we had 6 guys brave the 40 degrees and wind to try to run another PR, and who happened to run a 26 second PR and nearly break 18 for the first time, running 18:03. That’s right, Colin did. I am no expert in physiology, but I know Colin would not have the physical gains from a run Monday on Friday. But he would have the mental gains. Colin told me that after Monday he knew he could hang with the guys who had faster PRs than he did, and sure enough he gave himself a chance to do that in our time trial and it paid off big time.
When I got to practice that Monday I knew we were going to go on a longer run, but I didn’t know how it would turn into one of those moments. As a coach, I love those moments and want to make sure to always celebrate them when they happen. Maybe I will take a page out of Joe Mortimer’s book and start compiling some of my own stories.