Yes Billy there is a Santa Claus....

....due to my own stupidity I've taken shall one say a 'long route to this sport.' Due to my relative late start into running I probably ended up with an attitude that was simply do as one is told. I even remember a past coach (not my coach) who would yell at us that what we were doing (at Uni) had legitimate research and such. If I was in that position again I would probably simply have walked away or questioned this person in private. Back then I said nothing.....simply because I didn't know any better.

If there are a few things I've come to realize it's first and foremost the responsibility of the athlete to... well.... 'Take responsibility for his/her own training'. There is enough information out there on the internet or over the counter books (egs Daniels running formula) to gain at least some semblance of discussion with other athletes or coaches. Not saying go out and train blindly, but rather find out why you are doing something. As Arthur Lydiard said if your coach cannot tell you why you are doing something then it's time to find a new coach.

As I've mentioned before my own 'responsibility' period began when I initially started coaching younger athletes. (I can actually lay claim to 'coaching' 2 Canadian record holders/Olympians....more about that later). I had considered quitting the sport in my last year of Uni and actually taking up duathalons (there were big then...give me a break) was lucky enough to have some good races that year (won the NAIA 1500m title and finished 4th at the Can championships in 93). But I had a good enough year that I felt I had a good shot at making the 94 Commonwealth Games in Victoria. I was getting close enough (and once again lucky timing) to the standard that let me take a shot at making the team. As I would find out later in life actually having the chance to represent your country on home soil is an experience that no amount of money can buy.


I decided that my best way to make the team was to save up some money by living at home (my parents had moved to Kamloops) for the Fall/Winter and then coming back down in the spring. I had done this the year before with good success. For a period of time when I first finished Uni I lived with my folks in Kamloops and I even coached with both Shane Niemi and Dylan Armstrong. Please don't get me wrong...I take no credit for anything they've did...ever seen me sprint out of blocks or throw...yikes.....but what I did do was simply fill a hole when they were looking for a new club head coach. One of those serendipity things I talk about (where by some fluke someoen fills in a gap in your life that hopefully doesn't allow one to fall through the cracks).

I ended up taking responsibility for the dist runners (no wanted to deal with them) and felt I needed to get some semblance of what to do with HS kids that I had missed out on. So began the journey of my evolution of training ideals.

I would hit every library, used/new book store I could find in my quest to find information (where I was initally introduuced to Harry Wilson). Shockingly, I found some good stuff (an old beat up copy of Marty Liquori's 'Real Runner' is a classic that I found in the running 'hotbed' of Penticton). Once again as luck would have it we had an actual sports book store here in town (it no longer exists due, I'll assume, in large part to the used bookstores online). I'd been in a few times, but the old lightning struck one day when I saw a book that somehow caught my eye.

I used to sell running shoes and I remembered this guy who used to come in tell me about this great book he had read. Some story about a miler, and since I was a miler I remembered the storyline. Now I should preface this by saying I had been in fantastic shape to make the Games team, but had run very poorly in the races setup to get the standard. I was pretty defeated about what I needed to do and almost seemed lost and really lacking in confidence. While I was browsing this book I realized it was the same book this fellow had told me about. The book seemed interesting and had a boring, but fitting title....'once A Runner'. It would impact not only my running, but as I would find out...my life.

I think I read the book in two days. I simply couldn't put it down. Every thought or feeling I had ever had was down on paper. Every thought that lacked focus came into focus and I felt as though someone had finally given me the answers I craved. It talked about the 'miles of trials', the isolation of the distance runner, the personalities of all the track and field events and mostly the preparation and steely resolve that was required to be a successful runner.

The immediate result was a new found intensity. I did a workout with a teammate (6 x 3mins off 2mins on trails). He was in very good shape, but after he wondered what had gotten into me. As he said I didn't think I was going to be able to finish the workout after the first set...but we both did. The next week the same thing happened, until we reached the trials. I was completely focussed on the race, and ran as tough as I could (at that time against an up and coming Kevin Sullivan and an emerging international star in Graham Hood) make the team, but alas I had left all my eggs in one basket and failed to achieve the required standard (although I did get the required placing -3rd). I felt I needed one more time trialed race, but alas my luck had run out. But my lucky new book find would create and fortify an attitude that had remained dormant. I now had a vision (I just didn't know it would continue to last so long), that would lead me to a quest to find new books and to find out more about the story behind what I have come to refer to as my 'bible'. Sometimes one thing can change your life...