A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, and a runner must run, if s/he is to ultimately be in peace with him/herself.

Abraham Maslow - Okay, okay, I added the running part.




Bill Koss photo

The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, learn about them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them. Denis Waitley

Fitness portable will be open Wednesday January 3rd after school.








Bill Koss photo

Fitness Portable Open

The fitness portable will be open Dec. 27th at 3:00. I will need to leave by 4:30. A big thank you to those who helped clean off the trail after our big wind storm. Your efforts have not gone un-noticed. There is still more to be picked up, but we are winning the battle.

Be thinking about what you would like to accomplish this season no matter what sport you are planning to do.

If you fail to plan - you plan to fail.

Fitness portable to be closed on the 22 and 25th

The fitness portable will be closed on the 22nd and 25th. I'll open it again on the 27th at 3:00. See you then!

Trail Update

It is now possible to traverse the XC trail at Capital, but only if you are walking. Most of the chainsaw work (five hours) is finished. Now we need to pick up branches and trim wayward brush to open the trail to running. I plan to throw brush off to the side of the trail when I walk Achilles. The hill will be part of the workouts in January and February

I'll be at the fitness portable Wednesday at 3:00. These workouts are open to all spring sports.

Trail Trashed

Mother nature blew in early Friday morning and our trail is now impassible. Okay, you can get through, but not running and in some places on your hands and knees. The clean up process has begun, but both of my chain saws are having problems. I hope to solve that problem today. If anyone is interested in doing some trail work over vacation and picking up some volunteer credits, e mail me at jlmiller@osd.wednet.edu Help the community and help yourself!

Winter workouts to continue over vacation

If you would like to get some workouts in over vacation and meet with others the fitness portable will be open on Mondays and Weds. and possibly Fridays at 3:00. The first 30 minutes are on the bikes then out for a run.

See you there!

Bailey and Katie Make State Senior All Star Team

Congrats' to Katie and Bailey for being selected to the Senior All Star Team in XC. This makes them eligable to be in the All Star Race in July.

Winter workouts are up and going. We begin our sessions with 30 minutes on a bike watching a video. We are presently one hour into the Prefontaine video and soon will be watching The Adams Family.

These workouts are open to all athletes no matter what spring sport.

Running Safely

I believe the worst accident we have had on a training run off campus was when someone was turned around talking, and ran into a street sign requiring six stitches. When I first began coaching at Capital the administration threatened to restrict the team to campus for safety and behavioral reasons. I convinced them that sidewalks and bike paths would be safe and I would guarantee my athletes would follow certain rules while running off campus.

Here are the rules:

1. If there is a bike path or sidewalk use it.


2. If running on a road, which we are allowed to do now because of your splendid behavior, face on coming traffic. An exception to this rule would be if you were on a road with blind turns or curves and then you need to carefully run with the traffic briefly until all is clear. I find this to happen more when I’m on vacation running in unknown territory.


3. Always assume that vehicles cannot see you. Even if the law says you have the right of way don’t bet your life on it. You might be right, but you could be dead wrong.


4. Run with a partner and know where you are going.


5. Use walk lights. We don’t want you run over and we don’t want complaints which will lead to you being confined to campus.


6. In the off season when the weather is poor and it gets dark early wear bright clothing.


7. If you are harassed by people in cars, get a license number. Do not interact with them.


8. Stay off lawns. It really ticks some people off when you run across their lawns. I’m not sure why – perhaps it’s when 50 of you tromp through.


9. Keep your pants on. Yes, we had someone a while back stupid enough to moon an Olympia School District bus filled with elementary children. The bus driver contacted the school and it didn’t take too long to figure out who was the culprit. At best you would be confined to campus running, at worst you could be kicked off the team or be declared a sex offender and end up living in Grass Lakes – and I don’t mean the housing development.


10. It is not unusual for us to have 30 athletes in a group out running. If you are leading a group of runners and cut across a street make sure that everyone in the group can clear the traffic. If you are running in a group and it cuts across a street make sure you don’t follow blindly. Look both ways before crossing.

General Winter Conditioning Day Two

Today at general winter conditioning we biked for 30 minutes equaling 2.5 miles and then went for a run. We viewed the first 30 minutes of Prefontaine getting to see the most important part of the film, the part featuring my truck when it was just a youngster. I thrilled the crowd with tales of watching Prefontaine race when I was a graduate student at the Uof O and of actually having met him. It wasn't long before the 30 minutes was over and I woke everyone up and sent them on their way.

I plan to open the fitness portable on Friday this week, so stop by and help me get fit.

Congrat's To Graydon, Amanda, Bailey and Coach Miller

Graydon was named Male Cross Country Runner of the Year and Amanda and Bailey were named to the All Area Team by The Olympian. Coach Miller was named Coach of the Year based solely on his good looks and charm.

General Winter Conditioning

Today was the first meeting for winter conditoning in the fitness portable. On Wednesday I will begin showing the Prefontaine video and we will be viewing it in 30 minute segments, for the next couple of weeks, while you bike. After 30 minutes of biking you will need to run from two to five miles. The biking should equal 2.5 miles and whatever miles you add will be your total miles for the day. This will also be an opportunity to use the Total Gym.

These workouts are open to all athletes no matter what sport.

Questions? jlmiller@osd.wednet.edu

Alan Webb Meets Coach Miller

I had the privilege of attending a cross country clinic at Nike world Headquarters in Portland yesterday. The focus of the clinic was developing great cross country teams. Featured speakers were Alan Webb and his coach and Pat Tyson former Mead coach. Alan and his coach talked about the Coach Athlete relationship and Pat was part of a panel with two other very successful coaches. Both sessions were opened up for questions afterwards. Adam Goucher and Alberto Salazar were also wandering around. It always amazes me when I meet these guys in person how normal they actually seem. The discussion groups were small so it seemed personal. It was reassuring that our program does most of the same things they do. The programs had their differences, but the common thread seemed to be they all had social activities i.e. their own camp, pizza Mondays after practice, and travel. I did come away with some ideas about how to take our team to the next level. I will need your help.

See you at General Winter Conditioning starting tomorrow and Wednesday.