Coach Mikes Blog

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 29 Oct 2009

The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as La Batalla de Girón, or Playa Girón in Cuba), was an unsuccessful attempt by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from US government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro.

The plan was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the exile combatants in three days. Bad Cuban-American relations were made worse by the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The invasion is named after the Bay of Pigs, which is just one possible translation of the Spanish Bahía de Cochinos. The main invasion landing specifically took place at a beach named Playa Girón, located at the mouth of the bay.

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 22 Oct 2009

Easy To Be Hard

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be hard, easy to be cold

How can people have no feelings
How can they ignore their friends
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend, I need a friend

How can people be so heartless
You know I’m hung up on you
Easy to be proud, easy to say no

Especially people who care about strangers
Who care about evil and social injustice
Do you only care about bleeding crowd
How about a needing friend, we all need a friend

How can people be so heartless
How can people be so cruel
Easy to be proud, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Come, on, easy to give in, easy to say no
Easy to be cold, easy to say no
Much too easy to say no

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 20 Oct 2009

Why do we run? We use to run to get from one place to another faster than we could walk. Or we ran to get away from something that was chasing us. Maybe chasing us because we were going to be dinner! Do we run for fun? Do we run for pleasure?  Do we run to stay sane? Or do we run because we are insane? Probably more people thank we run because we are crazy. Running is easy for some-hard for others and impossible for some.

Why do we go to school? When we are young we go because we have to- we are told to go by our parents. And if we don’t go-our parents can get in trouble. But when we get older, we get to make choices. Do we go to college or do we go to work?  Some go to college and work at the same time. Some don’t. I worked while I was in college, not all the time but enough to make some extra cash.  But if we decide to go to college, shouldn’t we do what it takes to succeed? Why go to do half a job-to put half an effort into? If someone gives you a gift-you should cherish that gift and make the most of it-the gift of education, is a gift not be taken lightly. Here is your chance to make yourself better, to make your life easier, to provide for your future. To make a difference in the world around you and the people around you.

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 18 Oct 2009

Monday-quick fast practice at 4:30, we have welcome back dinner at 5:30.

Tuesday-4:30 practice Wednesday 4:30 practice

Thursday-Murray Games

Friday-Steve Cox has set aside times for Cross Country to register for next semester- 9 am to 12 noon and 1 pm to 3 pm. Take advantage of this and you won’t have to fight the crowds.

Saturday- we will practice somewhere sometime so plan on it.

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 17 Oct 2009

Ok, we made up for the course being changed at Edwardsville for the race yesterday at Decatur. Rolling hills? There were a lot of rolling hills, matter of fact it was all hills. But we raced well, I’m proud of whats taking place, the kids are getting better. Our times are improving. On the men side, Jordan continues to race very well, he finished 7th over all and Thebeau is starting to feel better and race better, taking time off his race even with the hills. Voss almost went under 30 and would of on an faster course. Probably the biggest improvement has been Wes, he keeps knocking time off each race.  On the women side, Moe continues to race very well, finished in the top ten and is looking strong, Carie had another improving race, all the young ladies are racing better, Danielle, Shannon and Linsey! Thats what we want this time of year, better. Nice job to all. We are now to post season, I’m not sure what that means on the college level? Unlike high school, you compete against the whole country. Are region  meet has 5 teams, plus another region is running with us, but we all can compete at Nationals. Not ready to or do we need to set lofty goals-we have been able to field full teams at each meet this year, which is more than some programs can say and with our late start with the program that is a goal reached in its self. I love watching those teams that have a pack of 5, 6, 7 or more all working together for the first couple of miles, maybe some day we will be there. Our 1-4 pack time for the girls is not bad, but we are never working the first part of the race together. And I understand that right now, we don’t have the tools to be able to do that. And to be honest with a 2 year school you may never get there, because you will never have that senior leadership, but we can always dream of seeing 5 Blue Angels or Blue Devils racing past the first mile marker all working together and then booking it later in the race. With the ladies we have, and the ones I hope are coming back next year and the ones I hope to recruit, we could have that, a pack of Blue Angels!

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 10 Oct 2009

Wasn’t as muddy as we thought. The officials changed the course, less hills, less mud. We ran better, I think almost everyone improved their times. We got a look at last years NJCAA Nationals champions. PV from AZ. Looked tough. We seem to be making progress on some levels and loosing ground on others. Keep moving ahead, that’s all we can do. On the women side Mollie looked strong, Carie, Danielle and Shannon raced very well, the four had a pack time of around 1 minute, not great but much better, our other woman runner Jenn is bothered with a knee problem. On the men ledger, Jones had a good race as our number 1, hopefully his “calf” muscle gets better. Colin had another good race and almost got under 30 minutes, Josh felt better, only threw up once and said he felt much better.  Wes ran his best time all season-Cameron wanted to run an extra mile but decided against it. Tyler struggled with some hip pain. Meyer improved his time as well.

Next week we finish our regular at Millikan and then start to get ready for the post season.

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 09 Oct 2009

Its going to be good and muddy at this meet-that will make it 3 out of 4 meets ran in the mud. Whats up with this? I went to the Salem High School Homecoming game tonight-a real mud bowl. Most of the game was played in the middle of the field.  Salem scored first but the extra point was blocked. Charleston scored later in the 2nd half and made the extra point. Finally with less than 30 seconds Salem scored, went for 2 and made it. On the kick off, for some reason the Charleston kids just stood there and looked at the ball and a Salem guy came in and picked it up. On a kick off the ball is a free ball and anyone can recover it, two kids stood there and looked at it for ever, people were screaming to cover it. Weird ending to the game. I stood at the top of bleachers the whole game, it was too wet to sit down, had a good time giving Kirby Phillips a tough time. Then Scott Murfin and Tyler Bryant came by and up dated us on their college studies, too smart for me. Matt Brummel came by for a while, he is doing well at college. Also Kubicki and Clark showed earlier. Nice to see the guys, they are all growing up. Well its time to think about getting some sleep, but one last thought-the Wildcats played a heck of a game tonight and showed some real toughness. Kory Kloppadell had an outstanding game, ran the ball hard and then on the other side played some tough defense. Nice job Kory. Kirby Phillips wanted me to announce that everyone was invited to TP his house anytime!

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 07 Oct 2009

Another good practice. Had a good bunch of hard working ladies today. Just remember if you are racing comfortable YOU ARE NOT RACING! You have to race until you find the pain and then you have to race past the pain! Until you get that point you are just an average racer. We don’t want average racers at KC. Make sure you prepare for the race on Saturday, get your rest, eat the right foods, fuel your bodies and prepare your minds or the MM will conquer you! AND YOU ARE BETTER THAN ANY PILE OF MUD!!!!!!!!!!!!

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 07 Oct 2009

The women race is at 10 am and the men at 10:45. Bus leaves at 7 am.

in Uncategorized by coach mike on 06 Oct 2009

I was in the Arthur, IL today. Arthur is a Amish community. I was just outside my car, when I heard the clopping noise, and here came a horse and buggy. They were moving along at a good pace, made me think, can the police give out a speeding ticket for your horse going to fast? Another good day of practice, the guys went 12 miles or somewhere close to that. The women went 40 minutes. The weather is starting to turn, the days are getting shorter, should be good weather to run on Saturday. Hoping to see some times drop. I know that some of the kids are freaking because of the mighty Edwardsville Mud Mountain course.  Fear is a funny emotion, some are petrified, some are motivated.