(Photo by John Ferko from the NCAA III National Cross Country Historian's Report)Haglund, a 2002 graduate of Haverford College, was a 9-time NCAA Division III All-American. In his senior year he became the individual national cross country champion, anchored Haverford's indoor DMR championship team, and individually won the outdoor 5,000m and 10,000m championships. He is currently the assistant cross country and track coach at Haverford College as well as an English teacher at Lower Merion High School.
Interview by: Derick Lawrence (8/12/2007)
How did you get started in running?
I actually started running in middle school, to a great extent because I was pretty terrible at everything else. I was alright at tennis, but I quit playing because I had a terrible temper and smashed a couple rackets. I had spent enough time as the guy in youth league basketball that they had to play a certain amount of time to know I wouldn’t get anywhere with that and my parents wouldn’t let me play football. So I started running cross country and track and was pretty awful at that too.
Tell us about your high school running career (personal records, achievements, training progression)?
I had to laugh when I read this question. I just saw one of my high-school teammates for the first time in around 10 years on Saturday night. We talked about how completely clueless we were in high school and how funny it was that we did actually get better despite doing completely absurd training. I had gotten a bit better in middle school so I started high school with some pretty high hopes but then got pounded by the best girls on our team for the first few weeks since I never ran over the summer and it took me a while to get in shape.
In both cross country and outdoor track (we didn’t run indoors so a couple buddies and I would lift with the football team and run occasionally) we probably averaged around 25-30 miles a week with the longest run being just about 6 miles which we dreaded. Most days we ran pretty hard, we did track workouts once or twice a week sometimes hills on the road, but pretty often they were harder intervals, 400’s or 600’s on the track. We rarely did anything longer, but towards my senior year in cross country we started doing some longer stuff because I think our coach read a book or two about training and was trying to incorporate some new stuff.
We didn’t know we ought to warm up or cool down, so we would often finish a set of really hard quarters and just sit for a while and then go home, same thing after races. One of the great things though was that we had a fantastic team atmosphere. We had a great time together and got lots better and bigger going from 15 guys to around 50 by my senior year and having a lot more success because we had more talent to pull from. I really hoped I could find the same atmosphere in college because I probably enjoyed it more than any other aspect of high school.
I was pretty proud of what we did do though, I went from running about 5:00 in the mile and 24:00 for my first cross country race (3 miles in TN) to 4:35 and 16:05 my senior year. I went from running around 11:30 to 9:53 in the 3200 and 2:17 to 2:00 in the 800. Likely my best PR was a 52.0 out of the blocks in the 400 leading off the 4x400, I was very proud of that, particularly starting out of blocks because it was so absurd. I knew I wanted to run in college, but was just beginning to learn that even though I was the best guy at my high school I was actually really bad when it came to the better runners in the country.
Tell us about your collegiate running career at Haverford College (personal records, training progression, most memorable moments)?
I walked into an amazing atmosphere at Haverford and learned so much just being around the guys that were there. My first workout was a tempo and I was running with Marcus O’Sullivan for the first two miles before he and Karl took off and left us all behind. I remember him encouraging me (since I was hurting and I am sure it was obvious) and little things like that helped me gain a lot more confidence as a runner very quickly.
I took two years off after my freshman year and served a mission for the LDS church in South Korea and did not have the chance to run much there. Occasionally I had companions that were willing to get up at 5:00 AM (the most notable was Brick Bergeson who would later run 3:42 and 1:48 at Utah State) and run but that was pretty rare.
It took me a while to get back in shape after I got back since I had gained about 35 pounds from not running and having a body that just always wanted to be over two bills. I didn’t quite get to 200, but looking back I really should have gone for it as I’ve never been that close. But I remember finishing 113th in cross that year at Osh Kosh (which is famous thanks to the movie “The Road to Winnecone” starring Chris Johnstone, you may have seen it, it also had a downhill and short first mile that was really fantastic) and looking around and feeling like I really could do a lot better.
I had moved up in mileage, from 50’s my freshman year, up to around 60-70 my sophomore year, between 70 and 90 my junior year and then 80’s and 90’s my senior year, usually in six days a week. I generally took one day off a week, except for my junior year, I always felt like that helped me stay healthy.
Junior year in XC I moved up to finish 13th and was able to win Conferences and Regionals and really looked forward to track that year. That was the last year I lived the dream of being a middle distance all star and I ran 3:52 indoors and anchored the DMR (not running the smartest race of my life and trying to out-kick a bunch of 1:50 800m guys) and garnered my only 1500m All American award by finishing 6th and just holding off Ryan Bak who was sort of an annoying young kid who then went on to become an absolute beast. I don’t think he’s ever beaten me in a 1500 though so I still have that.
Outdoors that year was pretty disappointing. I was hurt. There was a tornado during the 5k and I almost grabbed Justin Pfreunder (I think) at one point when I thought I was going to be blown off the track. I had out-kicked Taye in a 5k at Villanova a few weeks before nationals but he won that day. That was when I started thinking that I could really run with the best though.
Going into my senior year both Tom and I really felt like I could be one of the best distance guys in Division III. Cross went pretty well, but I’ll talk about it in the question below.
Indoors that year was a blast except for the 5k at nationals and a very humiliating 1500 at conferences that I would like to forget. Thankfully “my best friend Bielecki” ran a rather perfect 1200m leg at nationals, then Frosty ran his 50 flat and Johnstone gave me an enormous lead so I could look good running the mile. Every year my time in the mile gets slower but I think the splits were something like 2:43, 50.1, 1:43 and 4:40 or so. That had to be one of the highlights of my college career though. I know it meant a lot to Tom and helped make up for the disaster at XC nationals. Plus we all found out that Chris Johnstone was a Brutasaurus, I was a brute, and that we not only were “doing it,” but that we were “gonna do it,” and then finally we “did it” and became “national f----ing champions.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiMPy8aqvII)
The 5k was awful and Tom always makes cracks about me pulling off my t-shirt to put on my singlet and looking very fat before the race. No wonder I got worked.
Amazingly enough, I felt much better two and a half weeks later and got just under 30 in the 10k at Stanford. Things that outdoor season were really pretty fantastic. I didn’t run what I was hoping to in the 1500 or the 5k but I got to run a quadruple at the conference meet and was in great shape. That weekend is right up there too, perhaps even more fun for me than nationals a couple weeks later. I ran the steeple (8:56 and a school record) and the 4x800 on Saturday and then the 1500 (3:53) and the 5k (14:53) on Sunday and we blew everyone away and it was just a fun weekend. I am still very bitter about not getting athlete of the meet though. Very bitter.
Nationals was great though, I loved hearing about how Tom was so absolutely sure I was going to lose the 5k since I left it so late and didn’t make a really crisp move but just sort of eased into that last quarter. Luckily I had Joel Klooster’s number though. I have to say that all those Calvin guys were some of the classiest and most stand-up guys I have ever raced against. It was fun to cool down with them after races except for Hoekstra pounding us all. Also the video of the races that the guys from Eau-Claire sent in exchange for the DMR video had some amazing commentary and has remained one of my prized possessions.
During your collegiate running career you garnered nine Division III All-American awards. In your senior year campaign at Haverford College you became a four time national champion (cross country, indoor DMR, outdoor 5k and 10k). What kept you motivated throughout your collegiate running career to achieve your goals?
I always think back to what Pimp said my freshman year about being Division III runners with Division I attitudes. A lot of it had to do with an understanding that we had a fantastic coach in Tom Donnelly and there weren’t any limits to how fast we could run except our personal ones and it was our job to find those limits. It also had to do with performing when the chips were down and making sure that you ran your best even when you didn’t feel great or things weren’t turning out the way you wanted.
I have always been really competitive and it was fantastic to have such a great coach and amazing guys to train with and around who were always motivating me to be better and pushing me.
The other big thing for me was just the team and what it meant to be a “goat” at Haverford. There is quite a long history and we have a big team with really varying ability levels. One of the most amazing things is that it is genuinely important that everyone be working to get faster and people appreciate it when someone goes from running 5:30 in the mile to 4:45 and get really into it and I think everyone feeds off of that. Its also a place where I think most guys have aspirations of becoming one of the top guys and will do everything they can to get as close as possible to that and everyone is very supportive.
I remember thinking as I flew out to Stanford that I better run fast because I knew there were 40 guys on my team that would cut off their right arm to have that kind of opportunity and I felt responsible to them as well as myself to make sure and run as fast as I could. It meant a lot to be able to score lots of points at conference meets for a team like that and to try and represent them well.
Tell us about your senior year cross country season in which you individually won conference, regional, and national titles and in the process helped guide the team to conference and regional titles and a 12th place nationals finish.
Interview by: Derick Lawrence (8/12/2007)
How did you get started in running?
I actually started running in middle school, to a great extent because I was pretty terrible at everything else. I was alright at tennis, but I quit playing because I had a terrible temper and smashed a couple rackets. I had spent enough time as the guy in youth league basketball that they had to play a certain amount of time to know I wouldn’t get anywhere with that and my parents wouldn’t let me play football. So I started running cross country and track and was pretty awful at that too.
Tell us about your high school running career (personal records, achievements, training progression)?
I had to laugh when I read this question. I just saw one of my high-school teammates for the first time in around 10 years on Saturday night. We talked about how completely clueless we were in high school and how funny it was that we did actually get better despite doing completely absurd training. I had gotten a bit better in middle school so I started high school with some pretty high hopes but then got pounded by the best girls on our team for the first few weeks since I never ran over the summer and it took me a while to get in shape.
In both cross country and outdoor track (we didn’t run indoors so a couple buddies and I would lift with the football team and run occasionally) we probably averaged around 25-30 miles a week with the longest run being just about 6 miles which we dreaded. Most days we ran pretty hard, we did track workouts once or twice a week sometimes hills on the road, but pretty often they were harder intervals, 400’s or 600’s on the track. We rarely did anything longer, but towards my senior year in cross country we started doing some longer stuff because I think our coach read a book or two about training and was trying to incorporate some new stuff.
We didn’t know we ought to warm up or cool down, so we would often finish a set of really hard quarters and just sit for a while and then go home, same thing after races. One of the great things though was that we had a fantastic team atmosphere. We had a great time together and got lots better and bigger going from 15 guys to around 50 by my senior year and having a lot more success because we had more talent to pull from. I really hoped I could find the same atmosphere in college because I probably enjoyed it more than any other aspect of high school.
I was pretty proud of what we did do though, I went from running about 5:00 in the mile and 24:00 for my first cross country race (3 miles in TN) to 4:35 and 16:05 my senior year. I went from running around 11:30 to 9:53 in the 3200 and 2:17 to 2:00 in the 800. Likely my best PR was a 52.0 out of the blocks in the 400 leading off the 4x400, I was very proud of that, particularly starting out of blocks because it was so absurd. I knew I wanted to run in college, but was just beginning to learn that even though I was the best guy at my high school I was actually really bad when it came to the better runners in the country.
Tell us about your collegiate running career at Haverford College (personal records, training progression, most memorable moments)?
I walked into an amazing atmosphere at Haverford and learned so much just being around the guys that were there. My first workout was a tempo and I was running with Marcus O’Sullivan for the first two miles before he and Karl took off and left us all behind. I remember him encouraging me (since I was hurting and I am sure it was obvious) and little things like that helped me gain a lot more confidence as a runner very quickly.
I took two years off after my freshman year and served a mission for the LDS church in South Korea and did not have the chance to run much there. Occasionally I had companions that were willing to get up at 5:00 AM (the most notable was Brick Bergeson who would later run 3:42 and 1:48 at Utah State) and run but that was pretty rare.
It took me a while to get back in shape after I got back since I had gained about 35 pounds from not running and having a body that just always wanted to be over two bills. I didn’t quite get to 200, but looking back I really should have gone for it as I’ve never been that close. But I remember finishing 113th in cross that year at Osh Kosh (which is famous thanks to the movie “The Road to Winnecone” starring Chris Johnstone, you may have seen it, it also had a downhill and short first mile that was really fantastic) and looking around and feeling like I really could do a lot better.
I had moved up in mileage, from 50’s my freshman year, up to around 60-70 my sophomore year, between 70 and 90 my junior year and then 80’s and 90’s my senior year, usually in six days a week. I generally took one day off a week, except for my junior year, I always felt like that helped me stay healthy.
Junior year in XC I moved up to finish 13th and was able to win Conferences and Regionals and really looked forward to track that year. That was the last year I lived the dream of being a middle distance all star and I ran 3:52 indoors and anchored the DMR (not running the smartest race of my life and trying to out-kick a bunch of 1:50 800m guys) and garnered my only 1500m All American award by finishing 6th and just holding off Ryan Bak who was sort of an annoying young kid who then went on to become an absolute beast. I don’t think he’s ever beaten me in a 1500 though so I still have that.
Outdoors that year was pretty disappointing. I was hurt. There was a tornado during the 5k and I almost grabbed Justin Pfreunder (I think) at one point when I thought I was going to be blown off the track. I had out-kicked Taye in a 5k at Villanova a few weeks before nationals but he won that day. That was when I started thinking that I could really run with the best though.
Going into my senior year both Tom and I really felt like I could be one of the best distance guys in Division III. Cross went pretty well, but I’ll talk about it in the question below.
Indoors that year was a blast except for the 5k at nationals and a very humiliating 1500 at conferences that I would like to forget. Thankfully “my best friend Bielecki” ran a rather perfect 1200m leg at nationals, then Frosty ran his 50 flat and Johnstone gave me an enormous lead so I could look good running the mile. Every year my time in the mile gets slower but I think the splits were something like 2:43, 50.1, 1:43 and 4:40 or so. That had to be one of the highlights of my college career though. I know it meant a lot to Tom and helped make up for the disaster at XC nationals. Plus we all found out that Chris Johnstone was a Brutasaurus, I was a brute, and that we not only were “doing it,” but that we were “gonna do it,” and then finally we “did it” and became “national f----ing champions.” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiMPy8aqvII)
The 5k was awful and Tom always makes cracks about me pulling off my t-shirt to put on my singlet and looking very fat before the race. No wonder I got worked.
Amazingly enough, I felt much better two and a half weeks later and got just under 30 in the 10k at Stanford. Things that outdoor season were really pretty fantastic. I didn’t run what I was hoping to in the 1500 or the 5k but I got to run a quadruple at the conference meet and was in great shape. That weekend is right up there too, perhaps even more fun for me than nationals a couple weeks later. I ran the steeple (8:56 and a school record) and the 4x800 on Saturday and then the 1500 (3:53) and the 5k (14:53) on Sunday and we blew everyone away and it was just a fun weekend. I am still very bitter about not getting athlete of the meet though. Very bitter.
Nationals was great though, I loved hearing about how Tom was so absolutely sure I was going to lose the 5k since I left it so late and didn’t make a really crisp move but just sort of eased into that last quarter. Luckily I had Joel Klooster’s number though. I have to say that all those Calvin guys were some of the classiest and most stand-up guys I have ever raced against. It was fun to cool down with them after races except for Hoekstra pounding us all. Also the video of the races that the guys from Eau-Claire sent in exchange for the DMR video had some amazing commentary and has remained one of my prized possessions.
During your collegiate running career you garnered nine Division III All-American awards. In your senior year campaign at Haverford College you became a four time national champion (cross country, indoor DMR, outdoor 5k and 10k). What kept you motivated throughout your collegiate running career to achieve your goals?
I always think back to what Pimp said my freshman year about being Division III runners with Division I attitudes. A lot of it had to do with an understanding that we had a fantastic coach in Tom Donnelly and there weren’t any limits to how fast we could run except our personal ones and it was our job to find those limits. It also had to do with performing when the chips were down and making sure that you ran your best even when you didn’t feel great or things weren’t turning out the way you wanted.
I have always been really competitive and it was fantastic to have such a great coach and amazing guys to train with and around who were always motivating me to be better and pushing me.
The other big thing for me was just the team and what it meant to be a “goat” at Haverford. There is quite a long history and we have a big team with really varying ability levels. One of the most amazing things is that it is genuinely important that everyone be working to get faster and people appreciate it when someone goes from running 5:30 in the mile to 4:45 and get really into it and I think everyone feeds off of that. Its also a place where I think most guys have aspirations of becoming one of the top guys and will do everything they can to get as close as possible to that and everyone is very supportive.
I remember thinking as I flew out to Stanford that I better run fast because I knew there were 40 guys on my team that would cut off their right arm to have that kind of opportunity and I felt responsible to them as well as myself to make sure and run as fast as I could. It meant a lot to be able to score lots of points at conference meets for a team like that and to try and represent them well.
Tell us about your senior year cross country season in which you individually won conference, regional, and national titles and in the process helped guide the team to conference and regional titles and a 12th place nationals finish.
(Photo courtesy of Karen Soeken for the 2001 NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championships)
The season itself was really pretty ideal, I was a bit run down in the middle and we backed off a bit and my race at Paul Short was not what I had hoped for, but other than that things went really well.
We went out to the conference meet at Dickinson and guys were really ready to roll. “My best friend” Bielecki and Ronnie Bossert destroyed the first two miles of the race, I actually tried to help out and take the lead a couple times but couldn’t really get by, they were absolutely flying. That helped us as a team and we actually ran times that would have landed us 2nd place as a team the year Nationals was held on that course. I remember looking over my shoulder and wanting to make sure that Rook didn’t come too close so I ran pretty hard but I was finally feeling good again after that crappy period in the middle of the season.
Regionals was an absolute romp. I’ve never felt quite that nervous before a race (feeling like you have nothing to gain but everything to lose because I felt that I had to win) but then once it started and we got rolling, it was a lark. I’ve never felt so confident in an XC race and it was awesome to be able to just surge away with Peter the pin cushion Rook after about two miles and then really blast off when we hit the hill at around 3 miles (at Lehigh). With a mile to go, Rook was still there but suddenly he decided he’d had enough and he disappeared and I got to just roll on in by myself. We scored 22 points as a team and really were getting excited about Nationals.
The race at nationals was a really warm one (if anyone can remember back that far) and a lot of guys struggled and ended up going to the hospital afterwards. The med tent was hilarious (in a macabre sort of way) with guys propped up against poles all over the place with IV’s since all the tables were filled. After the race I remember trying to find some water, usually there are those huge crates of water bottles everywhere, but every last one was gone about ten seconds after the race ended.
Mark Miller and his boy St. Germaine blazed the first couple miles, we came through in around 9:30 and I was really feeling rather terrible but I figured I could at least get top ten no matter how I felt. Between miles 2 and 3 I really started to feel much better and was moving up from around 20th to right behind David Juiliano and the guy from MIT who was pretty short whose sister I interviewed for admission at Haverford a few years later. We went up a little hill and I sort of ended up in the front. I wasn’t totally sure what to do as I had planned on waiting until a bit later to put the hammer down, but I figured I might as well have a go, so I went. Then we crested another little hill and Vince Touey’s head appeared from behind a shed and was screaming at me so loud I thought he might explode. I was already pretty fired up but that helped too so I was really started pushing to try and get away. I had no idea what was happening behind me at that point and was too scared to look back.
Luckily at around 4.5 miles some random guy on the side told me I had 120m or so on second place and I pretty much just relaxed and cruised on in from there. I was ticked that T&F News said the race was really close because it wasn’t at all and I have always kicked myself for not really pounding the last half mile. It was really fantastic to be able to enjoy it for a bit and my whole family was there so it was grand to have them there to celebrate with me.
What team/individual did you look forward to the most to compete against throughout your collegiate running career?
I did always like being able to race with Villanova. Our dual meet with them has grown but I always look back on racing against them as a highlight of our cross country season. They always have great runners and it was just fantastic to have them so close by and be able to call them up to have them come out and humble you a little bit every time you thought you were getting pretty good.
I also remember being excited to beat a bunch of Division I teams at Paul Short our senior year, it always felt good to beat guys that were on scholarship that were recruited and were supposed to be hot shots. That was likely just left over anger about the fact that I got more letters about playing football in college than I did about running and I never even played football. Did they just know I was going to get fat?
After I graduated though, I did always want to beat Big Daddy Walsh and Tantino, especially the time he threw up on me before the race at Penn State. I also always wanted to race Rook in ten 1500’s because he promised me that if we were both in good shape and we raced 10 times he would beat me all ten. Too bad he ran off to Virginia and is now teaching prep school girls Latin and I am sure we will not hear from him until he makes his debut as a great masters runner.
You are currently an assistant coach at Haverford College. What did you learn throughout your years as a Haverford runner that has carried over to your coaching?
One of the biggest things is learning to be confident in your abilities. We get a lot of guys that don’t always think of themselves as great athletes coming from small prep schools and places that almost always focus on academics, and there’s the same focus here at Haverford. I quickly learned, and most of our guys do, that you can also achieve a lot according to your level of commitment and willingness to sacrifice and work to get faster. It has to come from the athlete, but Tom has a great knack for helping guys to find that within themselves.
Tom taught us all to think about everything that’s going into our running. To think about how much sleep we are getting, are we eating well, are we getting our work done and still taking time to get out and relax every once in a while, things like that. Its not just figuring our your mileage and which workouts are right but really looking at your lifestyle and your motivations, taking the time to think about how good you really want to be and how you are going to get there.
Along with coaching you are an English teacher at Lower Merion High School. What made you want to get into the teaching profession and what has this experience been like for you?
I really enjoyed teaching, did a lot of it in random settings, Sunday School, teaching English classes in South Korea, and semi-informally as an aide in the Special Ed. Department before I got my teaching job. My dad is a professor at Vanderbilt and an amazing teacher so I’ve always wanted to try it. I wasn’t really planning on it, but I found out that the pay is good in that district in PA plus it gives me the ability to be out at 3 and be able to run and coach and do other things. Right now I am still helping out at HC but eventually I think I would like to move into the high school ranks and try to help a team of my own, but I am not ready to walk away from HC just yet.
Teaching has been fantastic. It’s a real challenge, I am amazed at how hard I work and how I still feel like I am not doing nearly enough of a good job. I love the kids and the challenges they present, and even though its been nearly impossible to train seriously while doing it, I think I am adjusting more and looking forward to getting better at it and not being quite as stressed out over it in the future.
Who has influenced you the most in your running and coaching?
We went out to the conference meet at Dickinson and guys were really ready to roll. “My best friend” Bielecki and Ronnie Bossert destroyed the first two miles of the race, I actually tried to help out and take the lead a couple times but couldn’t really get by, they were absolutely flying. That helped us as a team and we actually ran times that would have landed us 2nd place as a team the year Nationals was held on that course. I remember looking over my shoulder and wanting to make sure that Rook didn’t come too close so I ran pretty hard but I was finally feeling good again after that crappy period in the middle of the season.
Regionals was an absolute romp. I’ve never felt quite that nervous before a race (feeling like you have nothing to gain but everything to lose because I felt that I had to win) but then once it started and we got rolling, it was a lark. I’ve never felt so confident in an XC race and it was awesome to be able to just surge away with Peter the pin cushion Rook after about two miles and then really blast off when we hit the hill at around 3 miles (at Lehigh). With a mile to go, Rook was still there but suddenly he decided he’d had enough and he disappeared and I got to just roll on in by myself. We scored 22 points as a team and really were getting excited about Nationals.
The race at nationals was a really warm one (if anyone can remember back that far) and a lot of guys struggled and ended up going to the hospital afterwards. The med tent was hilarious (in a macabre sort of way) with guys propped up against poles all over the place with IV’s since all the tables were filled. After the race I remember trying to find some water, usually there are those huge crates of water bottles everywhere, but every last one was gone about ten seconds after the race ended.
Mark Miller and his boy St. Germaine blazed the first couple miles, we came through in around 9:30 and I was really feeling rather terrible but I figured I could at least get top ten no matter how I felt. Between miles 2 and 3 I really started to feel much better and was moving up from around 20th to right behind David Juiliano and the guy from MIT who was pretty short whose sister I interviewed for admission at Haverford a few years later. We went up a little hill and I sort of ended up in the front. I wasn’t totally sure what to do as I had planned on waiting until a bit later to put the hammer down, but I figured I might as well have a go, so I went. Then we crested another little hill and Vince Touey’s head appeared from behind a shed and was screaming at me so loud I thought he might explode. I was already pretty fired up but that helped too so I was really started pushing to try and get away. I had no idea what was happening behind me at that point and was too scared to look back.
Luckily at around 4.5 miles some random guy on the side told me I had 120m or so on second place and I pretty much just relaxed and cruised on in from there. I was ticked that T&F News said the race was really close because it wasn’t at all and I have always kicked myself for not really pounding the last half mile. It was really fantastic to be able to enjoy it for a bit and my whole family was there so it was grand to have them there to celebrate with me.
What team/individual did you look forward to the most to compete against throughout your collegiate running career?
I did always like being able to race with Villanova. Our dual meet with them has grown but I always look back on racing against them as a highlight of our cross country season. They always have great runners and it was just fantastic to have them so close by and be able to call them up to have them come out and humble you a little bit every time you thought you were getting pretty good.
I also remember being excited to beat a bunch of Division I teams at Paul Short our senior year, it always felt good to beat guys that were on scholarship that were recruited and were supposed to be hot shots. That was likely just left over anger about the fact that I got more letters about playing football in college than I did about running and I never even played football. Did they just know I was going to get fat?
After I graduated though, I did always want to beat Big Daddy Walsh and Tantino, especially the time he threw up on me before the race at Penn State. I also always wanted to race Rook in ten 1500’s because he promised me that if we were both in good shape and we raced 10 times he would beat me all ten. Too bad he ran off to Virginia and is now teaching prep school girls Latin and I am sure we will not hear from him until he makes his debut as a great masters runner.
You are currently an assistant coach at Haverford College. What did you learn throughout your years as a Haverford runner that has carried over to your coaching?
One of the biggest things is learning to be confident in your abilities. We get a lot of guys that don’t always think of themselves as great athletes coming from small prep schools and places that almost always focus on academics, and there’s the same focus here at Haverford. I quickly learned, and most of our guys do, that you can also achieve a lot according to your level of commitment and willingness to sacrifice and work to get faster. It has to come from the athlete, but Tom has a great knack for helping guys to find that within themselves.
Tom taught us all to think about everything that’s going into our running. To think about how much sleep we are getting, are we eating well, are we getting our work done and still taking time to get out and relax every once in a while, things like that. Its not just figuring our your mileage and which workouts are right but really looking at your lifestyle and your motivations, taking the time to think about how good you really want to be and how you are going to get there.
Along with coaching you are an English teacher at Lower Merion High School. What made you want to get into the teaching profession and what has this experience been like for you?
I really enjoyed teaching, did a lot of it in random settings, Sunday School, teaching English classes in South Korea, and semi-informally as an aide in the Special Ed. Department before I got my teaching job. My dad is a professor at Vanderbilt and an amazing teacher so I’ve always wanted to try it. I wasn’t really planning on it, but I found out that the pay is good in that district in PA plus it gives me the ability to be out at 3 and be able to run and coach and do other things. Right now I am still helping out at HC but eventually I think I would like to move into the high school ranks and try to help a team of my own, but I am not ready to walk away from HC just yet.
Teaching has been fantastic. It’s a real challenge, I am amazed at how hard I work and how I still feel like I am not doing nearly enough of a good job. I love the kids and the challenges they present, and even though its been nearly impossible to train seriously while doing it, I think I am adjusting more and looking forward to getting better at it and not being quite as stressed out over it in the future.
Who has influenced you the most in your running and coaching?
(Photo courtesy of the Haverford College Track & Field website)
Tom Donnelly. I had a lot of great influences as a runner, I really appreciated what my high school coaches did, and I mentioned some of the great guys that I learned a lot from while I was on the team at Haverford, Marcus was still around, Karl was really a good example of a great competitor but it was nice to learn that even guys that are that fast are human too and have to work really hard to do what they do. But no one has helped me as much as a runner or taught me as much as a coach and teacher as Tom has.
As I said before, I think he helped me learn to be confident and to set serious goals and then find the way to achieve them. He has always shown an amazing commitment to us as athletes and it’s a great example to us to learn to be as committed and precise and thoughtful about our running as he is. I said once in an article my senior year that it helped to have someone who knows the sport as well as he does tell you what he thinks you can do because you can trust his judgment and his advice because you know he cares a great deal about how you do and wants the best for you. Every guy in our top seven my senior year had better high school PRs than I did, but with Tom’s help a lot of guys have quickly learned to look past that and be able to focus on what we can do, not what other people have told us we can’t.
Do you continue to run competitively?
I have struggled to be able to train effectively ever since I graduated so I can’t really say I have been that competitive. There have been a few glimmers of hope but then injuries and other things have made it tough. I still have some hope, but right now am just working on figuring out how to get in some good training while also working full time.
I did just get married though, and I think Liz will make me faster by osmosis so you never know…
Would you briefly describe Haverford’s training philosophy (volume, intensity, frequency, etc.)?
One of the most important things about our program is just making sure that the training fits the individual. A lot of that responsibility is left to the runner themselves once they get a bit older and start to learn when they need to run easier on easy days, etc., but we really work hard to make sure that the workouts fit where the individual is at. Luckily we also usually have a very big team so there are always guys who can work together to help each other through tough workouts.
We also have consistently had guys improve from being mediocre high school athletes to making All-American or contributing on the cross country team, etc. I think one of the most important things is the idea that guys can improve by leaps and bounds and having everyone feel like vast improvements await if they are committed and patient and willing to work hard and then race hard.
Tell us about the 2007 Haverford College men’s cross country team (returnees, incoming freshman, schedule, etc.).
We have a really strong group coming back including most of the group that went to nationals last year as well as a few really strong freshman coming in. I think one of my favorite things about Haverford is that we will almost always also have some guys that come in and surprise everyone. High school PRs are all too often seen as determining factors for what someone might do in college, but most kids are just getting things together at 18 years old and have a lot of growth ahead of them. So we always look for a few kids to come in and surprise us too.
Tell us about the Haverford College running scene (facilities, running terrain, team dynamics, etc.)?
We have great indoor and outdoor tracks, and a nice new weight room in the new athletic center. There are lots of great places to run near campus so we just head out all over the place from the track or wherever we might be meeting. There are lots of hills and we try to get out and run them often, there is also a nice 2.2 mile trail around campus that gets a lot of use. We run a couple races a year and a bunch of workouts on our “alumni loop,” a one mile loop around some of the fields on campus that also goes onto the trail, so we really have everything we could need right there.
The cross country and track teams are generally a pretty close bunch, a lot of guys live together and the team can almost always be found at the “track table” in the dining center most evenings. It’s a very supportive group and guys will try to take classes together or help each other when they are studying or working on various projects or trying to understand the Bernstein Factor.
What advice would you give to collegiate runners who aspire to become a national champion?
You could look into the 80% fruit diet, but you would have to consult with Will McGuire, Scott Sargrad, or Said Ahmed about that one.
My advice would be: don’t be afraid to win. One of the toughest things to learn is how to make moves and stick with them when it really hurts. More people are afraid of taking the risks it takes to win and even if they are in a position to do it, just might not be able to come through. Its one thing to be strong enough or in shape enough to win a big race or a national title, but its another to have the confidence to cover a move when you feel terrible or to make a big one when you aren’t sure if it will work.
That and the usual, be patient, work hard but don’t go too hard, live a good lifestyle, get plenty of sleep and get in a good routine, set specific goals and always be a step ahead of yourself so that if you accomplish a goal before you expected to you will know what you want to do next.
Thanks to J.B. for a great interview.
As I said before, I think he helped me learn to be confident and to set serious goals and then find the way to achieve them. He has always shown an amazing commitment to us as athletes and it’s a great example to us to learn to be as committed and precise and thoughtful about our running as he is. I said once in an article my senior year that it helped to have someone who knows the sport as well as he does tell you what he thinks you can do because you can trust his judgment and his advice because you know he cares a great deal about how you do and wants the best for you. Every guy in our top seven my senior year had better high school PRs than I did, but with Tom’s help a lot of guys have quickly learned to look past that and be able to focus on what we can do, not what other people have told us we can’t.
Do you continue to run competitively?
I have struggled to be able to train effectively ever since I graduated so I can’t really say I have been that competitive. There have been a few glimmers of hope but then injuries and other things have made it tough. I still have some hope, but right now am just working on figuring out how to get in some good training while also working full time.
I did just get married though, and I think Liz will make me faster by osmosis so you never know…
Would you briefly describe Haverford’s training philosophy (volume, intensity, frequency, etc.)?
One of the most important things about our program is just making sure that the training fits the individual. A lot of that responsibility is left to the runner themselves once they get a bit older and start to learn when they need to run easier on easy days, etc., but we really work hard to make sure that the workouts fit where the individual is at. Luckily we also usually have a very big team so there are always guys who can work together to help each other through tough workouts.
We also have consistently had guys improve from being mediocre high school athletes to making All-American or contributing on the cross country team, etc. I think one of the most important things is the idea that guys can improve by leaps and bounds and having everyone feel like vast improvements await if they are committed and patient and willing to work hard and then race hard.
Tell us about the 2007 Haverford College men’s cross country team (returnees, incoming freshman, schedule, etc.).
We have a really strong group coming back including most of the group that went to nationals last year as well as a few really strong freshman coming in. I think one of my favorite things about Haverford is that we will almost always also have some guys that come in and surprise everyone. High school PRs are all too often seen as determining factors for what someone might do in college, but most kids are just getting things together at 18 years old and have a lot of growth ahead of them. So we always look for a few kids to come in and surprise us too.
Tell us about the Haverford College running scene (facilities, running terrain, team dynamics, etc.)?
We have great indoor and outdoor tracks, and a nice new weight room in the new athletic center. There are lots of great places to run near campus so we just head out all over the place from the track or wherever we might be meeting. There are lots of hills and we try to get out and run them often, there is also a nice 2.2 mile trail around campus that gets a lot of use. We run a couple races a year and a bunch of workouts on our “alumni loop,” a one mile loop around some of the fields on campus that also goes onto the trail, so we really have everything we could need right there.
The cross country and track teams are generally a pretty close bunch, a lot of guys live together and the team can almost always be found at the “track table” in the dining center most evenings. It’s a very supportive group and guys will try to take classes together or help each other when they are studying or working on various projects or trying to understand the Bernstein Factor.
What advice would you give to collegiate runners who aspire to become a national champion?
You could look into the 80% fruit diet, but you would have to consult with Will McGuire, Scott Sargrad, or Said Ahmed about that one.
My advice would be: don’t be afraid to win. One of the toughest things to learn is how to make moves and stick with them when it really hurts. More people are afraid of taking the risks it takes to win and even if they are in a position to do it, just might not be able to come through. Its one thing to be strong enough or in shape enough to win a big race or a national title, but its another to have the confidence to cover a move when you feel terrible or to make a big one when you aren’t sure if it will work.
That and the usual, be patient, work hard but don’t go too hard, live a good lifestyle, get plenty of sleep and get in a good routine, set specific goals and always be a step ahead of yourself so that if you accomplish a goal before you expected to you will know what you want to do next.
Thanks to J.B. for a great interview.
No comments:
Post a Comment