As I alluded to in my last post, I have some big news to reveal. I did my best to tell all my friends, family, and supporters about this first, so I would imagine that anyone reading this has already heard this news. However, if I did not have a chance to get this information out to you, I certainly apologize. I never realized how many people I knew in this area until I had to contact everone I knew in a matter of a few days. It's been tough getting around to everybody so be patient if I haven't gotten to you yet.
Anyway, let's talk about this news that I've built up so much. As I mentioned before, I took a trip out to Chino Hills, CA a couple weeks ago amidst my many travels. The reason for this visit was to gather some information and consider an opportunity that was offered to me. Not too long ago, I was offered a spot on the Pacers Elite Development Team. What is that? Well, it's a new program that is starting up this summer and is located in Chino Hills, about 30 Miles East of Los Angeles. It will consist of six athletes living together in what they have designated as the team house, and these athletes will train together on a daily basis as they work to become some of the top distance runners in the country. This program will be funded by the Pacers Running Company, The Lydiard Foundation, and Reebok, along with hundreds of other sponsors. It's an opportunity for a elite distance runners to train full time without the burden of life's many expenses. After visiting the area, and talking more with the coaches and athletes involved, I considered all my options and weighed all the pros and cons. After a lot of thought, I decided to accept the offer and will be joining this program at the end of this month.
To give you an idea of who will be joining me, here are a few brief descriptions of my future teammates and coaches.
Pacers Elite Development Program
Coach Steve Sumner - Owner of the Pacers Running Company and Founder/Manager of the Elite Development Program. Steve is the back bone of this program and will be very involved with our training and competition schedule. He is also the coach for the Pacers Running Club and is very involved with the extended running community in the area.
Coach Marco Ochoa - Head Coach of the EDP athletes. Marco was coached by Joe Vigil at Adams State and continued under his guidance through the 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials where he placed 5th.
Carlos Handler - UC Riverside, Concordia University, native of Southern California, trained in Boulder, CO for the last year. 14:09 5K, 1:05 Half-Marathon.
Danny Mackey - Eastern Illinois University, Colorado State University, native of Chicago, trained in Eugene, OR for the last 2 years with the Bowerman Athletic Club. 2:21 Marathon Debut. 10th in the U.S. Marathon Championships.
Steve Magness - University of Houston, native of Texas. 4:01 Mile, 14:20 5K.
Jimmy Grabow - Long Beach State. 13:44 5K
Joe Dare - Lasalle University. 14:15 5K, 29:25 10K
Legendary New Zealanders, Rod Dixon and Lorraine Moller with also be advisors to the program and contributing frequently to aid in our success.
I'm very excited to join these guys in what will be my new home for the next 4 year. I look forward to our many adventures as we work hard to establish ourselves as contenders at the national level in American distance running.
This has all happened rather quickly and therefore, I have been scrambling over the last couple weeks to get my life packed up, see as many people as possible before I leave, and plan the trip from the Northeast all the way down to the Southwest. Though this has caused some stress along the way, I have to say that the overflow of support from all of those around me has been truly incredible. In the last couple weeks I've seen more friends and family than I thought I had.
To give a few shout outs, I have to mention a few highlights of the last week. First of all, the Carter/LaRosa Birthday Celebration was a blast as Mark and Heather were wonderful hosts and the quality of people in attendance was unbeatable. The USATF NE Championships was a great opportunity to see some friends and teammates as well as some great performances, including Rebecca's incredible solo 5k effort as she qualified for the Olympic Trials with only a few hours to spare. Followed of course by a huge dinner party at John Brewer's.
The next day, I ventured up to New Hampshire to spend an evening with Tony and Tracy, had dinner at the Portsmouth Brewery, and shared some great conversations throughout the night. I spent a few days in Maine with my parents as they threw me a mini party at Gippers. I was able to catch up with Liz, one of my best friends who's been a big part of my life over the last 10 years. I had a nice afternoon/dinner with my sisters in Boston, and just last night, I was joined by the wonderful group of Gabe, Liz, and Maloney. There was no way they were going to let me leave Boston without going to R.F. O'Sullivans one last time with the "usual suspects"!
In the middle of all these mini adventures, I've been packing and trying to "simplify" my life as much as possible. I will have one more party at the house this Saturday, and then I take off early Sunday morning with the DSTNCE-Mobile and start the 45 hour drive to Chino Hills. I am still working out the details of my trip and will have an outlined itinerary ready for you in the next day or two. So if you happen to live between Boston and Los Angeles, I just might stop in for a visit! Consider that your warning and don't be surprised if you see me rolling up in front of your doorstep in the next week.
That's all I have time for right now as I need to finish cleaning up this mess in my room! I'll have more on the proposed travel plan shortly and I hope to have more running stuff on the blog in the near future.
Thanks again for all the support and I'll see many of you on Saturday!
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