Preface: I obviously put off this post because the weekend wasn’t fantastic, yet I’m also worried that it’s somewhat self absorbed to spend a whole post talking about my thoughts on Sara and Renee’s weekend. Feel free to comment below if this type of post is annoying, inappropriate or just plain boring.

Question: What did I think of Sara and Renee at USATF? [Read more →]

Sara ran well in the first round of the 800m last night at the USATF meet in Eugene. She runs again tonight and you can watch it live here. Renee ran the 1,500m and didn’t run the last 200m well, yet she runs the 5,000m tonight. In both cases I’m sure some you might think these race choices are odd. “Why the eight and not the fifteen for Sara?” Or, “Why would Renee run a race the night before her primary event, the five?” I will discuss this in detail in a post this weekend…assuming they race well and it’s of interest.

Here is an interview with 2008 Olympian Christian Smith as he prepares for Thursday’s 800m prelim (first of three rounds). Don’t know who he is? Watch the video below.

Nick Symmonds – 800m Champion U.S. Olympic Trials 1:44.12 – Click here for the most popular videos

Hi. I’m Jay. This is my blog. I run a camp. The individual camp is not full. Over a dozen kids who’ve come to camp have gone on to run at the Footlocker Nationals, which simply means that I didn’t run them into the ground during the five days of camp (though in most cases I did spend a significant amount of time explaining why they shouldn’t attempt to run sea-level training pace in Boulder, as well as talking them out of their normal second run). I know it’s late in the summer, but I also know that some families can easily spend the $625 (!!!!) plus a plane ticket to Denver International Airport to send their kid to camp. Camp is really special. If you have a kid in your program that loves running and can afford to come to camp, please forward them the camp link. Thanks.

Second, I’m starting a coaching service. It’s target is adult runners. If you’re reading this then you probably don’t don’t want to pay to be coached…in fact, neither do I. But you might know someone in your church who loves running and needs direction. Or a neighbor on your block who is constantly injured yet badly want to run. Or a co-worker and their spouse who ran a marathon last year and now want to qualify for Boston. I won’t coach many people. but I will run the site and run the marketing effort for RunnersCoach.com . Why do you care? Well, the reality is that 95% of the distance runners that will run in Eugene this week are poor, yet thousands – yes, thousands – of people fly to US cities to run marathons every year. The connection between a Sara or a Renee having their training supported by the money making machine that is US road racing and marathon race is obvious, yet no one is pursing it, so I’m going to try. Olympic hopefuls in Fencing and Modern Pentathlon should be poor because no one does their sport. 10,000m runners should benefit from the fact that 55,000 people run the Bolder Boulder, each paying $50. That’s $2,750,000…in one year!

Okay, that’s it. Some good content coming the rest of the summer….we’re going to Summer School and it’s going to be a blast. Stay tuned.

I had the pleasure of speaking at the Midwest Distance Gala clinic last weekend and RunnerSpace.com got the talk on video. Part 1 is below. Part 2. Part 3.

but the email below, from a camper who will remain annonymous, is a great reminder of why camp is important.

There are still spots in in the Individual camp (July 15th-19th) and if you want to bring your team just email me at coachjayjohnson @ gmail.com and I’ll give you a call to discuss the details.

Hey! It’s _______ I didn’t get a chance to speak with you after the coach’s clinic, but I just want to let you know that it was because of your camp that I actually began to enjoy running! I use to always picture myself as a basketball player and was always embarrassed to say I run cross country until your camp. So thank you for the opportunity you have given me! and as far as the free videos go, I don’t need them, but I would like to know what type of food you have your athletes take to remain healthy.

P.S. I found your facebook page on CoachJayJohnson.com, and I believe that your website will give me more than enough info for me to succeed during my summer training. But seriously I can’t thank you enough!

I’ve got to get the movie, but the fact that I got to shake Mr. Newton’s hand this weekend is obviously special…though I can tell he’s disapointed I’m not a college coach. Oh well.

The Long Green Line Movie – Sample

Many of you were asking for it and it’s here – Part 3 of the Running Times series. Click here for the progression. Enjoy!