Fall Cross Country Training

An Ostrich is Faster

July is a big month for recruiting in a college coach's life so we have spoken to many high school athletes over the past month trying to learn more about them and here's some of what we found:

44% of them started running in the 9th grade
42% started in middle school, and about
14% started in 10th grade

Regarding Movies
54% love Comedies
23% love Action movies

Regarding Money: If they were given $40,
48% would save it
20% would go shopping
14% would use it for entertainment
11% would buy food, and
7% would buy gas for their cars

And the final question, which is faster, and Ostrich or a Greyhound????

The Ostrich is the winner winner ostrich dinner.

Although a greyhound can run up to 43mph, the ostrich can run up to 45 mph.

Coffee Date

We asked our recruits who they would talk to if they had one hour to talk to anyone living or dead.

Here's our Top-6 Answers:
1. Jesus
2. Steve Prefontaine
3. Parent/Grandparent
4. Thomas Jefferson
5. Abe Lincoln
6. Michael Phelps

Another question we asked was "Would you rather be an Olympic Champion or a World Record Holder."

70% of you said Olympic Champion. My favorite answer was "World Record Setting Performance at the Olympics" :)

The Babies

Roughly 32% of the recruits we have talked to are the baby of the family. It would be interesting to know how many elite runners are the youngest in their families. When you are the youngest, you often get a lot of attention and have many tasks done for you, so do you think the youngest child has what it takes to be a top-notch runner? Of course they do!

Risk takers, idealists, good sense of humor, hardworking, immature, attention seeking, secretive, sensitive. . . these are all qualities that can describe the youngest child. These "know no boundaries," which is great in running. Jay Leno and Bill Gates are the youngest in their families, so we know that if you are the youngest, you can definitely be a success:)

Are you a Middle Child?

15% of the recruits we talked to are somewhere in the middle, not the first born, but not the baby. Middle born kids tend to be flexible, diplomatic, rebellious, attention seeking, competitive, peacemakers. Here are a few famous middle kids.

Oprah is a First Born

So the results are in. . . well partially. We polled some of our 2010 recruits, and one of the questions was about their birth order, whether they are the oldest, youngest, middle, twin, etc. The results are interesting.

47% of those polled are the oldest child. The oldest child in the family tends to sway in one of two ways:
1. Compliant: People pleasers, reliable, conscientious, team players, nurturers, craving approval

Or

2. Aggressive: Movers & Shakers, leaders, perfectionist, driven, conventional, assertive, want things done their way

What the two types have in common are energetic, logical, ambitious, enterprising, scholarly.

Over half of the US Presidents are first borns, and 2/3 of entrepreneurs are first borns. 21 of the 23 first astronauts were first borns

If you are a first born, do either or these describe you???

High Performance Distance Academy

a.k.a. Blacksburg Running Camp

I'm (Julie)speaking tonight at camp about Summer Training, and I can't wait to hang out with some high school xc runners again. Should be fun:)