Diary of a Long Distance Runner
"My game plan? I want to run as hard as I can without ripping my hamstring
• Under the eight-year tutelage of Coach Vincent Lananna, the Dartmouth cross-country team has compiled an impressive record that includes wins at the past three Heptagonal meets, a victory at last year's IC4A meet and a second-place finish at the national championship.
The team is unusually large, with more than 40 runners. Along with the top distance runners, Lananna attracts a legion of slower but no less dedicated runners who subject themselves to grueling twice-a-day workouts. One of them was Tim Hartigan '87, who ran cross-country for three seasons. Hartigan says Lananna taught him that success is not just "a win-loss record, but rather an uncompromising attitude toward personal excellence."
That thought and other observations on running were duly recorded in Hartigan's journal as he prepared for the last cross-country race in which he wore the colors of the Big Green. Some excerpts appear below.—Ed.
Sunday, October 19: My last race before I graduate is in one week, against Brown.
Normally, Sunday is the day after a meet, which means an easy run of anywhere from eight to 12 miles on your own. Today we had an organized morning practice because we didn't have a meet yesterday. After a meeting, we broke up into smaller groups. In my group was my usual Sunday running partner, John "Elvis" McCright '87, and six freshmen. As we approached the Hanover Inn, we called out numbers. We drew curious looks from the people who stood outside because as we ran by we shouted "37" or "40." I said "44." (We always try to guess the temperature on the thermometer on the side of the Inn.) Today it was 37 degrees. Richard Beaver '90, the lucky winner, raised his arms triumphantly as he crossed Main Street.
We ran easily down West Wheelock Street. In fact, I fought to keep from going too fast down this steep decline. As we crossed the bridge into Vermont, I recalled my freshman season when I couldn't get over the fact that I did about a quarter of my running in another state.
After six miles the group broke up. Elvis and the dukers ran ahead, got lost, and did an extra four miles. (A duker is a runner who pushes the pace on an easy day. Elvis is not a duker, just hyperactive,) I took the road more travelled and headed for the river, running seven miles in Norwich with Rick Gasparini '90.I ran slowly because my legs felt heavy. Nice day though. Generally I dislike running with freshman dukers, but Rick is cool. He is not a typical freshman. Most freshmen push the pace and run at the front of a group out of eagerness, or inability to control their pace.
Monday, October 20: Monday is usually the toughest workout day. Today we worked out on the golf course, which has such a diversity of terrain that Coach Lananna can simulate ancourse the team will run. This afternoon Lananna patterned the workout after the flat first mile of the Heptagonal meet, which is held in the Bronx's Van Cortlandt Park, by having the team run the 15th, 10th, and 7th fairways.
Before the IC4As, which are held every year at Lehigh University, Lananna not only simulated the Lehigh race course but he held practice the same time as the race—exactly 11 a.m. Coach Lananna wanted his runners to know what running a fast mile at this somewhat unusual hour was like.
Tuesday, October 21: Today was a random run—doing a course we usually don't run. Today we went on the "Goat Path," a trail that leads from the Tom Dent Cabin and follows the river. At its best, the mile-long course is a wide, flat trail. However, most of the run is on a narrow path that twists, rises, and falls around tree trunks. Running the Goat Path was fun, despite the danger of turning an ankle.
The Goat Path comes out at the base of Freshman Hill, on the golf course. It is called Freshman Hill because it lies at the three-mile mark of the 5.8-mile cross-country course. Three miles is the distance that high schoolers run. The hill reminds the freshmen that they are in college cross-country now.
I ran only six miles today. Most guys will average about 12 miles a day, with four in the morning and eight in the afternoon. I stopped running in the morning because it bothered my hamstring. I've cut down my mileage because I want to peak for my last meet this weekend.
Wednesday, October 22: Tough workout. We ran in small groups on the upper loop of the golf course. This was a timed practice in which each group did 12 quarter-mile repeats. The 70-second bursts of speed made my legs "turn over," the runner's term for making limbs feel fresh.
Thursday, October 23: Bloodless, a new one for the kids. The Upper Valley has so many good places to run; the Tanzi Nature Preserve is one of the best. We renamed it "Bloodless" in honor of a cadaver that was reputed to run the course every day. The trail head is on Route 120, just over the hill leading out of Hanover. It is a path about a mile and a half long, suitable for strolling, bird watching, and running. Today, as on most easy runs, the packs were big because almost half the team is composed of freshmen. Freshmen like to run with upperclassmen because they are essentially clueless. They wouldn't know where to run if it weren't for us. At least that's what we tell them.
The class of '90 has 19 cross-country runners. This number will probably dwindle to about half of that by the time this group reaches senior year, but it still is a phenomenal number. Attrition is due to three things: lack of a serious commitment to running, runners taking a fall term overseas, and Coach Lananna's priorities of (1) academics, (2) athletics, and (3) social life. (Some students develop other interests that conflict with the three-hour practices.) However, the '9O runners are different. Coach Lananna had a great recruiting year. Pour Kinney finalists chose Dartmouth. This was more than any other school in the country. (The Kinney National Meet is held every year for the best 32 high-school crosscountry runners in the country). Norm Kennedy and Bret Cartwright of New Hampshire, Ron Faith of New Jersey, and Richard Beaver of Tennessee made the varsity team as freshmen.
Friday, October 24: The day before the race was an "easy run." We ran on the practice holes of the Golf Course. These are nicknamed "Vinny's Playground" because every time we go there Coach Lananna thinks up some strange workout for us. The Oak Hill ski trails are another of his favorite "playgrounds." In early season, we ran up Oak Hill six times so our legs would get familiar with hills. Today we did nothing special to get ready for Brown. Coach Lananna reiterated what we already know: Brown has two or three exceptional runners, but the school lacks depth and is weak in its number four and five spots. This was where we'll beat them.
I don't have a special ritual that I go through the day before the race. I don't like it, however, when someone with no interest in the sport wants to come watch me. That's why I lied to a female housemate, who only likes runners for their skinny thighs, that the race is at 4 p.m. instead of the actual time of 11:45 a.m.
My man Elvis is superstitious. His good-luck charm is our friend and old teammate, Dan Gray 'BS. Whenever Dan comes to a meet, Elvis does well. When Elvis went to the National Indoor Track and Field Meet in Oklahoma City last March, Dan was there helping him out. Not in body, because Dan is in graduate school at Boston University, but in spirit. Elvis tucked a photo of Dan in his shoe. It worked. Dartmouth came in 14th, our best showing ever in the 4-by-800 relay.
Many recent alums like Dan come up for meets. This forms a kind of fraternity complete with tall tales. Legend has it that at the Harvard race during his senior year, Art Switchenko '81 swore that he would drink two beers before the first Harvard runner came in. As far as I know, Switchenko did just that. Anyway, that's the story I passed along to the dukers.
Tomorrow all of the hard workouts and LSD (long slow distance) will come to a tangible end. My game plan? I want to run as hard as I can without ripping my hamstring.
Saturday, October 25: It was a beautiful Saturday morning for a race, sunny, with temperatures in the low 50s. I ate lightly because it is best to go to the starting line hungry.
The start of the race was uneventful. After the mile mark, the runners formed packs. I ran with Bob "Wildman" Reetz '89 and two Brown runners. We stayed together the entire race. In the end Bob beat me by six seconds and I finished between the Brown runners.
After the race was over, I was tired, but not as tired as I know I should have been. I placed 25th out of 50 in the J. V. race. Ran a 25:36 for 4.6 miles. I know I could run faster. My time was more than a minute slower than my previous best. But I was happy. The J.V. team crushed Brown, and my hamstring held up. Elvis ran really well and finished fourth.
No one began their warmdown until the varsity race was over. The entire J.V. team ran another three miles, cheering along the varsity runners. In the varsity race Elvis's roommate Bob Kempainen '88 ran a great race and won, running 22:02 for the short course of 4.6 miles. (The long course is 5.8 miles). He averaged 4 minutes and 48 seconds a mile. That was fast! This was the second time in two weeks that Bob broke the course record.
Just as Coach Lananna called it, Brown finished two-three. But after that it was a sea of Big Green!
Although Dartmouth's top runners will race Brown again next week at the Heps, the regular season and my college cross-country career are over. Am I sad or elated? I'm not giving my personal career a thought. I know that in one week I'll squeeze into a rental car with seven other guys and head for the Bronx to cheer the team on to victory. I'm a team player.
"I lied to a femalehousemate, who only likesrunners for their skinnythighs."
"My man Elvis is superstitious. His good-luckcharm is our friend andold teammate, Dan Gray'85."
