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| MY STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BY MIKE SPINO (In his own words)
Upcountry a young man named John trained to break the State Schoolboy New Jersey Championship in the year 1962. Many times I had given him a good race but usually he won. Once I thought I could beat him at the County Championship, but he was hurt and I won. I trained very hard for the State Championship in the one-mile run but my circumstances were sort of strange for a top-flight high school athlete. My school, Lyndhurst High School in South Bergen Country, didn't have a Cross Country team, and barely had a track team. My parents drove me to the meets and I trained wherever I found someone who was interested in me. Sometimes it was the local college (that was legal then) where I was the best runner, other times by myself with my mother timing me, or a neighborhood person named Jerry who had taken me under his wing. He gave me material by a coach named Percy Cerutty from Australia and set up workouts and timings for me when no one else was interested. Actually, even though my parents got lost a lot taking me to meets, or I went by myself with my new drivers license. I saw the independence as a freedom rather than a burden. I had no one to cheer me on, but then no one to hold me back either. The day of the State Championship my coach had to work. I was determined to go so my best friend Joe and I to Rutgers University and I entered the race by myself. No team bus, no coach, no teammates- just my friend Joe and I sitting together in the stands until it was time to warm-up. I didn't know if I could beat John Loeschhorn. My mother just told me to do my best and not get hurt. I had broken my high school all time mile record by running a 4:25 mile, but Loeschhorn had run 4:18, usually covering the last 400 in 60 seconds and leaving everyone else behind. I remember the start well as it was a strange configuration. We started down in a chute, as there was a long straightaway at first so the runners wouldn't trip over each other. I felt very relaxed and sort of disconnected. The one thing I remember was the time at the half-mile. I had never crossed the half way under 2:10 seconds and when the timer said 2:08 I felt pretty good. I had run an unofficial 4:24 the year before in an all comers meet, but I wasn't sure of the time. I clung on to John as we left all the other runners behind us, hearing the roaring of the crowd and the silence of our legs. We ran on cinder tracks in those days and there was a different sound and feel to the surface. I hung on for as long as I could and then when John got away from me I knew I had a good time so I tried really hard not to give up or be discouraged. It was hot and muggy and the last 100 yards were very hard and I slowed up a bit. I gave it all I had and ran 4:22, one of the fastest times ever run in the state of New Jersey and my fastest time by 3 seconds-a new school record at Lyndhurst High School that stands till this day. My friend Joe and I got back in his car and drove home. I remember that night I had one of my first dates with one of the best looking girls in the school and I felt tired but really good. Forty years later as a track coach my friend Joe and I put on a race at my old high school track to show the neighboring teams what a really fast mile looks like. A thousand kids watched as we staged a race on the new track. It is a block from where I grew up and my mom used to time me. A lot of my runners competed and we brought in New Jersey runners who were training for the Olympics in California. My guys won and ran a 4:03 mile. It was great to be around the old town and feel the sense of sport honor the sometimes sport crazed town holds. Think about these stories. What message do they have for your life path? How will you get where you want to become? What about your dreams? Give us a story of what you visualize you can do with your life and what it would take to get there?. Perseverance is omnipotent! |
Copyright © 2003 by John Loeschhorn - Mail to:mtnrnr@pacbell.net April 25, 2003 |