By Michael Newman, DyeStat Illinois Editor

Chapter 3: Summer Running, Had Me A Blast?

The first run that I would participate in when I got back would be a continual run 45 min-45min-30 min. It would give me a chance to see what kind of shape I was actually in. I got to the front of York at 7:15 in the morning and there were only a few guys already there. It gave me a chance to catch up to see what was going on, and also, to think about what I was about to go through. A few minutes later, a brown station wagon pulled up and parked on the side of the drive in front of the school. Mr. Newton stepped out and walked towards the group.

“It’s a beautiful day to be in Elmhurst,” he exclaimed. He walked into his office and then came right back out. He would then go through the workout, makes some remarks, some jokes, and then get us going.

He noticed me and said, “Oh, Newms is back from vacation.” He paused for a second as he looked at me. “Group 2.”

It was a big shock for me. I knew I should be in Group 1 with the top guys on the team. I think the reason that he did that was because I was on vacation and he had no idea what kind of shape that I was in. I think also he wanted me to prove that I deserved to be in the top group. It was one of the many tests that he put in front of us. I just needed to pass this one.

In my typical fashion, I was suddenly pissed off. I did not know what I would do. On the other hand, yes I did.

Group One and Group Two had a gap half way through the first part of the first segment. I decided to go. All that frustration came out in the last 25 minutes. I passed the first group. I have no idea who said “What the hell are you doing Newman?” when I passed by. I lapped everyone on the team. The second time around when I came up to Group One, I stayed in that pack. I was not going to pass them at that point. The first run ended. As I was walking inside to get a drink, Heds pulled me aside.

“I know you wanted out of the group last spring because you could not stand some of the guys,” he said. “They are not here anymore.”

I got the idea. I told him I was just pissed because I was in the second group. The first couple of weeks that I had missed they had done a good job of group running. I just wanted to be part of that group. From that moment on, whenever an individual would take off from the group like that, it was called “That Does It.” The problem was, no one wanted to look bad and would try to stay with the individual. It was either to stay with him or try to kill him so that he would slow down. I give Henry full credit for that bit of our lingo.

From that moment on and for the rest of my high school career, I stayed in Group One. I was not going to look back.

The idea that was told to us again and again and again by Mr. Newton is that it was not going to be one individual that was going to win the state meet. It was going to have to be seven runners on that state meet day working together. It was apparent as the summer went on what our motto was going to be for the rest of the year. It was going to be a group that would work together and give each other everything we had for one goal. We wanted to win the seventh state championship for the school. We wanted to win the seventh state championship for Mr. Newton. We wanted to win that state championships not for ourselves, but for each other. That is how tight we became during those summer runs.

Like I said earlier, almost all of our runs were done around the front of the school. When we did interval workouts, those were done across the street on our track. I think if you have been there, you can realize what a great facility that the track at York is. Back when I was running, it was a different story. It was a cinder track. The summer of 1978 was one of the driest on record. It meant that when we ran around the track we would kick up a cloud of dust that hung over the entire oval. When we left at the end of the workout, I was afraid that I would get black lung disease. More so, we all looked like we had been in the coal mines digging as we were covered with cinders from head to toe. I know there were a couple of times when I got home from practice and my mom threatened to hose me off outside. In most cases, I came in and took a shower before tending to my chores. The tub was an ashy grey by the time I was done.

The one thing that I realize now about that track was how hard it took us to run 70-second 440’s. The track was so soft. It meant we had to push harder. At the same time, our legs got stronger. I’ll get into our interval workouts later on.

On some of the days where we would have easy tempo runs they could have been boring. I do not think there was a run where we not bored. However, we made up for it by having some of the most fascinating conversations or arguments that were ever told in the history of mankind. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating just a wee bit. Maybe it was some of the most absurd conversations that I have ever heard.

It was supposed to be an easy run. I seriously do not remember how the conversation swayed in the direction that it went. Boydo and Heds started talking about the planes of World War II. They started to argue which plane was better. Please do not ask me what the planes were. The argument got more intense. So did the pace we were running. A few in the group were pissed off. At the same time, we were just trying to stay up with them because we wanted to hear where it was heading. At the end of the run, Newton was sitting by the gym watching. He asked us what in the world was going on there. We were trying to stay serious and not burst out laughing. I think Heds finally did say what had happened, which caused us to laugh anyway. At the same time, we were just getting closer and closer as a team. To this day Steve and Jim are the best of friends. I still wonder if they still argue about airplanes.

There were some traditions that went on during those runs in front of the school. One of the biggest games came from some of the runners that were in the lower groups who were hiding so that Mr. Newton could not see them. The term that Mr. Newton used to call this was “cutting sneaks.” Somehow, he would always find out. It would always happen when he would go inside of the school to either talk to the principal or get his mail. Kids would start hiding behind trees or behind the tennis courts or within the bike racks. Newton would always find out. He would come storming out of the building yelling “I see where you are at (fill in name here)!”

We would sing in the group. Not popular songs. Try theme songs from TV cartoon shows. None of us could carry a tune, which made it even harder to listen to. The songs had to be short because we did not want to be singing by the time we came around in front of Mr. Newton. We were afraid he would add time to the workout. It was a quarter-mile loop, so you get the idea. We had the Spiderman theme down pat. We also knew the Underdog themes and the Go-Go Gophers song. We were a demented group. It was anything to break up the monotony of going around in circles again and again.

My addition to some of the runs started something that would happen at the same time at the beginning of the workout. About a thousand yards into the warm-up, I would break into Rocky and Bullwinkle. It was either “Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!” or “Now here’s something we hope you will really like … Mr. Know-It-All.” I have no idea how it started. There would be some days where I would start to do it and it would annoy somebody in the group. Rags one time said, "Newms … just shut up!” In our hearts, this was a way of showing one another that we loved each other.

Perhaps the biggest one came from Willie. During one of the runs, he mentioned about a Lite Beer commercial that had Joe Frazier in it. I think we had all seen it. If you have not seen it, here is the link that I found on You Tube. Willie would be the one that would take the lead while the rest of us would be behind him doing back-up and snapping our fingers. We had it down. This was one of those songs that we sang away from the front of the school. We were not trying to disrespect Mr. Newton, but the first line was “When you order a beer, do like Smokin' Joe.” I think he asked us one time what we were singing. Phil did create a monster when he started that.

There would be times in the cool-down of our workouts that someone would start snapping their fingers. And the noise would get louder and louder with the sound of snaps within the group. Phil would turn around and go “no-no-no.”  Sometime during the year, one of us dared him to do it in the gymnasium at Peoria High School when we won the state meet. All he would do is say, with a sheepish grin, “We’ll see.”

The hard days were hard to say the least. If one member of the group would start to drop back, one of the seniors would go back and get him and talk him back up into the pack. If someone had a “That does it” moment, no one wanted to be left behind. More so, no one wanted to go back into Group Two. I think it was that no one wanted to be left off of being on the starting line at Detweiller Park in November.

Every time we would come around on those hard runs, Mr. Newton would be calling out “We have to stay together! That is how we have to do it!” It hurt. There would be days where I would go home and could not move my legs. We would have a workout in the morning and then come back in the afternoon for a five miler un as well. The second run was never intense. It just got the lactic acid out of our legs.  Every workout brought us closer. All we wanted was to get to August and start those first season workouts.