Running with the Buffaloes Read online

  Voted one of the top five best books about running

  Lear

  by Runner’s World magazine

  A celebration of a sport and an inspiration to anyone who has

  Runn

  ever had the courage to beat the odds and follow a dream

  “Lear’s tale of the 1998 Colorado cross country season is part tragedy, part biography, and part training window to one of the country’s best programs. It deserves its cult-classic ing w

  status and is worthy of another read every few years.”— Running Times

  ◆

  “[T]he reader must marvel at the dedication and self-motivation unning with the

  R

  of these young men as they run more than 100 miles a week

  ith the

  for nearly seven months.” —Library Journal

  B

  R uffaloes

  A Season Inside With Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher,

  At the outset, the 1998 cross country season appeared to hold magnificent promise for the men of the University of Colorado. With 2000 Olympic hopeful Adam Goucher poised for his first-ever NCAA cross country title and the Buffaloes shooting for their first national team title, it seemed nothing could stand

  and The University of Colorado Men’s Cross Country Team

  in the way of their victory. But in the rigorous world of top-level collegiate sports, B

  blind misfortune can sabotage the dreams of individuals and teams alike. Plagued uff

  by numerous injuries and the tragic loss of a beloved teammate, the Buffaloes found themselves challenged in ways they could not have foreseen. What they managed to achieve in the face of such adversity is the stuff of legend and glory.

  alo

  Chris Lear is the author of Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile.

  New Jersey’s fastest high-school miler of the 1990s, he went on to graduate from Princeton University, where he earned All-Ivy, All-East, and All-America honors, and was a two-time cross country captain. He lives in Boulder, Colorado.

  es

  LyonS PreSS

  Guilford, Connecticut

  $14.95/ Canadian $16.95

  www.LyonsPress.com

  Lyons Press is an imprint of

  Globe Pequot Press

  Cover design by Sheryl P. Kober

  Printed in the United States of America

  LYONS

  PRESS

  Chris Lear

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page i Top five Best Books About Running— Runner’s World Magazine Top three Best Books About Running—readers of Runner’s World Magazine

  “Lear’s tale of the 1998 Colorado cross country season is part tragedy, part biography, and part training window to one of the country’s best programs. It deserves its cult-classic status and is worthy of another read every few years.”— Running Times

  “[T]he reader must marvel at the dedication and self-motivation of these young men as they run more than 100 miles a week for nearly seven months.”— Library Journal

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page ii

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page iii RUNNING

  WITH THE

  BUFFALOES

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page iv

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page v

  RUNNING

  WITH THE

  BUFFALOES

  A Season Inside

  with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher,

  and the University of Colorado

  Men’s Cross Country Team

  Chris Lear

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 3:27 PM Page vi Copyright © 2003 by Chris Lear

  Second Lyons Press paperback edition, 2011

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher.

  Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press; Attn: Rights and Permissions Dept., P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

  Lyons Press is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press.

  ISBN 978-0-7627-7398-5

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows.

  Lear, Chris, 1974–

  Running with the Buffaloes : a season inside with Mark Wetmore, Adam Goucher, and the University of Colorado men’s cross country team / by Chris Lear.—

  1st Lyons Press ed.

  p. cm.

  Originally published : Victoria, B.C. : Trafford, © 2000.

  ISBN 1-58574-328-3

  1. Colorado Buffaloes (Cross country team) 2. Cross-country running—Colorado—

  Boulder. I. Title.

  GV1063.L397 2001

  796.42'8'0978863—dc21

  2001018621

  Printed in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page vii

  Acknowledgments

  RUNNING WITH THE BUFFALOES would not have been possible without the help of many people. First, Mark Wetmore. He granted me total access to everything and anyone in his program. This book exists because of him.

  Second, the men of the University of Colorado cross country team. They welcomed me into their lives, and they remain a special part of my life.

  Special thanks to Adam Goucher and Adam Batliner, whose help and can-dor have incalculably enriched this work.

  Thanks also to my editors: Tom Coogan, Tom Kloss, Tim Lear, and Andrew Goldstein. In particular, my gratitude goes to Andrew, who edited the manuscript so adeptly and inspired me to finish when the task appeared daunting.

  Thanks to Shawn Feeney, for continual support throughout the project.

  Thanks to Kristen Coogan for her original cover design, and Adam Batliner for the original cover photo. Thanks to Colleen Reilly and the CU athletic department for their help and cooperation.

  Finally, thanks to my family, Tim, Freddy, Mom and Pop, for giving me the courage to follow my bliss.

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page viii

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page ix In Loving Memory

  Yvonne Tock

  May 22, 1922– July 13, 1999

  Christopher Severy

  June 22, 1976 – October 12, 1998

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page x

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page xi Foreword

  I got to know Chris Lear in 1996 on an eighteen-mile run through the Big Basin Redwood Forest. He had this crazy idea to follow a Division I cross country team through their season. He wanted to write a book about the trials and triumphs the team would encounter. As we ran through the towering redwoods, we talked about how much fun and interesting it would be to actually do it.

  A year and a half went by before I heard from Chris again. This time, though, he was in Boulder preparing to do exactly what he had discussed with me while running through that redwood forest. He was in Boulder to document three months of our training, the University of Colorado Cross Country team. Little did he know that within those three months he would be documenting one of the most trying years in CU history.

  Chris was there through it all; every step of every run. He witnessed each moment of pain, distress, excitement, and happiness with every workout.

  Almost instantly, his presence among the team became natural, he fit in, and he became one of us.

  Looking back, I can see how Chris helped me through my last collegiate season. At the time he was recovering from foot surgery, and wasn’t able to run with us. Instead, he woul
d bike alongside us. Typically, at that point in my career at CU, I ran the majority of my workouts alone, and I looked at Chris as somewhat of a training partner. There were many times when he would ride along with me and help me maintain the pace I desired.

  He brought an element of competitiveness that kept me from settling, and gave me the perfect edge of the intended workout. Some people would say that I was racing, and there were times that this was somewhat true (mainly on a 22-miler in 2:03 out at the Boulder Reservoir). But I was in the process of taking the next step, and Chris was there helping me. He became one of my closest friends, someone I could confide in, someone I respected tremendously, and someone I could hang out with!

  Through a season that commanded the courage of every CU runner, through the good times and definitely the bad, Chris was there every moment, living it with us, and he, too, was just as much a part of it as we were.

  Adam Goucher

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 1:17 PM Page xii

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 3:27 PM Page xiii Contents

  The 1998 CU Cross Country Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

  94 Days to Lawrence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

  Like Ten Pounds of Shit in a Five-Pound Bag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

  The Unspoken Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

  The Day of Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

  Fuck This Shit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

  The Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

  Monster Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

  Rest . . . Finally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

  Short Specificity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

  You Need the Melon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

  Res Severa Verum Gaudia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

  The Right Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

  Time to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

  So Many Gouchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

  St. Crispin’s Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

  Bluebirds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

  Oh, Goucher! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

  Seasonal Affective Disorder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

  The Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

  The Miracle Doctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

  AT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

  The Arapahoe Invitational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

  Vengeance Is a Very Useful Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

  Casualties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

  It’s My Last One, Bitch! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 3:27 PM Page xiv

  Flagstaff Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

  More Trouble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

  Strength Kills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

  Ponce Has His Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

  Money in the Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

  The Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

  Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

  They All Want to Be You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

  Forty. Four Zero. Forty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

  Step It Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

  Edge City Blues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

  We Believe in Our Fitness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

  Bluebirds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

  Death March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

  Milers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

  Without Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

  Percolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

  Shakeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

  Unleash the Lions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

  Mags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

  Welcome, Captains Reese and Burroughs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

  It’s in God’s Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

  Biding Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

  A Day of Rest—for Some . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

  Black Monday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

  A Struggle to Understand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

  Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

  Impressions from Afar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

  Memories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

  Tornado Coming—PFB’s! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

  Into the Sun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

  Slattery, I Think You’re Full of Shit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

  No Doubt about It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

  xiv

  CONTENTS

  Lear i-xxiv:Lear i-xxii 1/5/11 3:27 PM Page xv

  Welcome to Anaerobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

  Changing of the Guard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

  Who Is Friedberg? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

  One More Victim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

  Musings . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

  Let It Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

  How Good Are We? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

  Remember, We’re Buffaloes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

  The 1998 Big 12 Cross Country Championship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

  Back to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

  Master Blaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

  Skeleton Dreams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

  Down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

  Another Casualty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

  Punchdrunk Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

  Call to Arms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

  Edge City Is a Scary Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

  I’m No Wildlife Expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

  Earning Their Shot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

  Fired Up!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

  Anyone Like Duck? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

  Priorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

  The Hay’s in the Barn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

  Time Crawling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

  Lawrence, Here We Come . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

  A Push from Above . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

  The 1998 Men’s NCAA Cross Country Championship . . . . . . . . . 239