When I went back home to Schaumburg after the Boston Marathon this year, I had one person I had to see right away. At 3:00 on the first afternoon I was home, I drove over to the high school to watch the track team run their last workout before the conference meet and to gain insight from the man I would credit with transitioning me from wrestler to runner, my high school coach, Jim Macnider.“Mac” is one of the most inspirational yet realistic people I know all wrapped into one. He has never been one to give somebody false confidence or to cut an athlete slack. He is fair and he is tough, much like the sport that has shaped his life and character. He is also the most committed and passionate runners I have ever met in my life. As a 1980 US Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, he fit in his training goals around his teaching and coaching high schoolers. Stories exist from good sources that he would train three times a day, using his lunch hour to get in the extra mileage. But by the time I got to Schaumburg High School in 1997, Mac had both knees and one hip replaced already.
Though his days of racing are now behind him, running remains a part of who Mac is and what he does. Time and mileage may have had their place for Mac in his younger days (4:13 full mile up to a 2:20 marathon) but by the time I got to run for him, those days were in the past. Still, Mac’s competitiveness NEVER faded with time; and he knows how to tactfully incorporate his vast wealth of experiences into coaching a rowdy group of high school guys. Mac’s personal experiences influence how he has done things as a coach and more importantly, as a role model to many young men like myself.
As my career progresses from one level to the next, I always value my increasingly limited (yet increasingly insightful) conversations with Mac. We always find time to meet up when our paths cross. In our discussion on this particular May afternoon, Mac and I discussed the marathon and its current direction in America. He started out by casually complimenting me on my race at Boston, but what followed shows the kind of coach Mac is…and why I have always valued his perspective and realism. “So do you think you have another 4 minutes in you?” he asked me. “I guess we’ll see at Chicago this year,” I replied before inquiring why. “Well if you want to take that next jump, move to the next level, you’d better be looking at 2:13 to get on a world team or to have a realistic shot at the next Olympic.”
ShareThis