May 11, I’m sitting in the stands awaiting the GSHL 3A/4A district mile to begin with too much going through my mind. The previous year two of the participants, Paige and Serena, had begun training with Whisper, and lo and behold, they were about to square-off in the same race. Though the girls were not happy with the placement outcome, both set lifetime Personal Records (PR’s). From my vantage point, I was, and still am, very proud of their performance. Both girls took a chance to put themselves into a position to advance, and that is all you can ask.

After the race, Serena came over to the stands to say hello and briefly inquire about summer training. We spoke for a few minutes, and as she left, she looked over her right shoulder and said, “Oh, by the way, I have about six other runners interested in training this summer.”

Gulp!

Over the next twelve hours I began piecing together a plan for summer training, specifically a plan that would include higher numbers and a greater opportunity to work with even younger runners (middle school age). From there, a plan was put into place – a room at Clark College was reserved for two hours to provide an information session for parents looking for a running program for their kids in preparation for the 2017 cross-country season.

A typical Tuesday workout with the Whisper crew!

Days later, prior to the meeting scheduled for Wednesday, June 14, a runner from Union High School, Micah Goff, had been in touch regarding summer training. We texted a few times and I asked him to join me at a community workout on a Tuesday night at Shahala, along with Serena and Paige. The workout was pretty basic, however, being surrounded by middle school runners, I was encouraged to ask the three high schoolers if they’d prefer to act as Pacers this summer, rather than be coached. Knowing much of the interest in the summer group training was coming from the middle school age, the idea was off the cuff of sorts, and it worked out like a gem. Thankfully, they all said yes.

Coach Bob was another story. Initially, I had asked him to help on a few specific days so that I could travel with my family to Canada to support my wife during her Ironman, and during the week away at the Whisper Running Camp in Bend. Bob was on board with those few days, but he was also interested in coming out more frequently. Seriously? I was now 2 for 2!

The night of the information session came. I arrived at 6:30pm, about 30-minutes prior to the start, to set-up the room with stickers, journals, and general paperwork. Being the first summer offering a summer training program, I was hoping to get 17 runners. However, having ordered 30 journals and seeing them all disappear at the standing room only session, I was very confident the numbers would exceed my expectations. Indeed they did, and the training then went from Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, to Monday’, Tuesdays, Thursday’s, and Friday’s. This also meant that I could hire two of the runners to help out more days, and hire a second assistant coach, Josh Christensen.

This was all happening so fast, but the pieces were fitting into place so naturally. As I look back on this, God had his finger prints on this entire process.

Summer training began on Thursday, June 22, with approximately 20 runners attending the first practice at Pacific Park in east Vancouver. The first practice was much like the entire nine weeks of training – a steep learning curve in how to maximize the potential of Whisper moving forward – both in tapping into the kid’s potential, and the potential of running a business. Training-wise, these kids had an amazing nine weeks. The primary objective of the summer program was to instill the belief that they can train safely at an intensity they’ve never experienced, and still walk away alive! I fully believe that most of the kids who consistently took part in the training met this outcome.

Water fountains never fail to replensih the soul after a greweling workout.

Over the last year, after watching middle school cross country, talking with the runners and their parents, I’ve learned that these kids aren’t being challenged, something they desire even if they don’t want to admit it. The example of this I share regularly: at the start of the 2016 track season for Shahala Middle School where I volunteered since 2015, Coach Scott asked if I wanted to coach the sprinters for a day. Without flinching, I took on 8-10 runners, gave them a very simple workout – stride the corners, jog the straights for four laps. Many of the newbies jaws dropped at the thought of running a mile, but I had to remind them to do one lap, striding the corners, then “just do it three more times after that.” A mile can be daunting for some, so scale it back – a lot! Leaving the facility, it felt great to coach runners again. The year previous I worked with the middle school relay teams, which is like “herding cats” as Coach Bob would say. Working with the runners was gratifying and I knew I had been missing it. My daughter got into the car and as we drove away, she said, “Dad, you’re not going to have any sprinters tomorrow. That workout was too tough. They’re not going to like you.” My reply: “Madi, I’m not trying to make friends. I’m trying to build runners.” The next day I had over 20 kids ask me for a workout. “Sorry kids, I’m back on relay duty.” This circumstance was one factor that lead to Whisper. In hindsight, there were many, and I’m telling, you, God’s fingerprints were all over this.

The summer of training was on-point. Between myself, Coach Bob and Coach Josh, there was a common, genuine interest in doing what was best for the kids to ensure a safe, fun, and challenging nine weeks of training. The Pacers were amazing and each of them had at least one parent mention the impact they were having on their child.

Moving forward, as the coaches review the things that worked and things we can improve upon, along with the input we have received from the Pacers, the runners, and the parents, it seems as though nine weeks was about right. There is a chance we will begin a week earlier, perhaps mid-June, so we can insert a week off in July so families can perhaps plan their travels around that week. Other changes kids may see is we will perform a 2k assessment rather than a 1k, doing so in smaller groups and on runner-friendly (fewer potholes) grounds. We will also perform more tempo work, so they can learn to run longer durations at varying intensities. There are a number of modifications that will be made, but the foundation is here and you can count on Summer XC 2018 Training!