[Josh McDougal]

Greetings everyone.
Glad to see we finally have our own forum on this thing. A team that won all 5 of the schools conference titles last year deserves their own forum after all!!!
Anyway, the main purpose of this thread is to allow the guys on the team both returnees, transfers, and incoming freshmen to post summer training logs, plans for the summer, get to know each other a bit before the season starts, ect. It will also allow the faithful flame fans / alumni to get to know and learn more about the guys on the team, and the guys who are soon to be on the team. Hopefully this can generate some excitement for the upcoming season. Posting is open to everyone, though I ask that all of you LU Cross Country runners don’t post anonymously and in your first post give everyone a bit of background info.


Ill go first..

I’m Josh McDougal a 22 year old SR from Peru New York. I was home schooled throughout high school and was not able to compete in any high school sanctioned meets. I chose to attend Liberty University because it stands alone in its goal at the D-1 level to glorify the Lord through its athletic performance. It is the one program in the country where I fit in, where my athletic goals, and life goals, match the goals of my teammates and my coaches. Its been a wonderful first three years here, and I’m hoping that the last year will outshine the first three. I’m a Kinesiology major here at Liberty with a Fitness/Specialist trac. I also live off campus in a house with all the other cross country guys who are JRs-SRs this year.
This summer Ill be working as a counselor at several running camps in order to finish my internship requirements. I’ll be in Gettysburg PA next week working with Jim Ryun at his camp, and then I’ll be heading back to New York to work a few camps (near Peru) at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid.
Since I just finished up my track season a few days ago I have no current training to report. In fact due to the length and intensity on the indoor/outdoor season Coach has decided to have me just take and easy month of training to try and get my legs back under me. So I’m afraid I’m not going to have a whole lot to report for mileage until early August.

Let’s get this thing rolling!

God Bless

<>< Josh McDougal

[olldflame]

I just love how you mention in passing, like it was no big deal, that you will be working with the greatest American middle-distance runner of all time and a living legend!

Have a great summer Josh.

[Knucklehead]

Great to have you on board Josh. I ran from the car to the office today!

[Dan Hibbs]

Well I guess I'll continue what Josh started. My name is Dan Hibbs, I'm 18 years old and I live in Hatboro, Pennsylvania about 25 minutes outside of Philadelphia. I attended Hatboro-Horsham High School, where cross country and track are the most successful sports, but of course are the least recognized. I made my decision to attend Liberty after the first day of my visit during CFAW. I think I realized right away that this is where God wanted me, and it was probably the first time I had ever really felt like God was really nudging me down a path. I am really excited about the upcoming season, though I have no training to post as of right now because of shin problems that I hope I can get taken care of soon. Hopefully by the end of July or early August I will be able to post something. To everyone else on the team I wish a great summer of training and I can't wait to meet you all. God Bless.

[Sly Fox]

Glad to have you back on the board, Josh. I know I probably should've given you guys your own forum prior to this point but its better late than never.

I admit the Jim Ryun name drop perked up my attantion as well. Not all great athletes are great coaches, but I'm guessing being around that guy can't be a bad thing.

I certainly believe you guys deserve some to to recuperate. But somehow your down time is probably a tad more strenuous than my "training".

Josh has opened the door, now it is time for the rest of the team to step on through as well.

[Sly Fox]

Welcome to the board, Dan. Its great for us to get a background on the new guys as well.

[BJWilliams]

Hey Josh, any chance you trim that crazy hair of yours before heading back to the mountain for another year of kicking major butt?

[Sly Fox]

Back off, BJ. It worked for Sampson so let's not mess with a good thing.

[Scott Taylor]

Hello All...

My name is Scott Taylor, I'm 18 years old and live in Battle Creek, Michigan-the home of Kellogg's. I attended Harper Creek High School and the Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center. I ran cross country and track for Harper Creek for the last three years. I visited several other "Christian" Universities in Michigan but was not inspired. After attending a CFAW last February, I knew that Liberty was the place that God wanted me to attend. I will major in Math. I was accepted last June.

I ended my high school career with a pr and all-regional finish with a time of 10:20 for the 3200. I started running again after two weeks of rest. I have struggled motivating myself to getup and run since this is the first time I have ever trained alone. But I'm getting used to it and am excited for what the future holds. I'm in the middle of 50 miles this week and will continue to increase until late July. Have a great summer and I am excited to meet the rest of the team in the near future.

In Christ,
Scott

[Sly Fox]

Welcome to the LU family, Scott. I can't imagine being a distance runner training in the winnter in Upstate New York or Michigan. You have to have serious intestinal fortitude in my book.

[PAmedic]

thanks for the update, guys.

I walked quickly from the refrigerators to the cash registers at 7-11 today while purchasing Cool Blue Gatorade.

feelin' pretty fit now.

[Kyle_Davidson]

Hey guys, my name's Kyle Davidson, I'm 19 from Charlotte, NC. I started running xc as a junior which is a bummer, because it was only then that I realized how much training at 8,000 ft would have helped me when I lived in Ethiopia for 8th, 9th, and 10th grade. Shoulda, woulda, coulda huh? I chose to come to Liberty because it's a Christian D1 School, I visited it and I straight up loved it and because my sister and her husband go there and they both love it. I'm living on the Hill this year, but I have no idea who I'm roomin with. I'm also working as a counselor at sports camp this year, it's amazing how much energy 8-12 yr olds have. I actually went to the Jim Ryun running camp last year in colorado when Joe Falcon and Jessica Barringer and Jack Daniels were all there. It was fun, they play a lot of ultimate frisbee at that camp. As far as summer training goes I just run whatever's on that schedule Coach sent us. So... basically that's me in a nutshell.

[Sly Fox]

Welcome to the board, Kyle. Finally an Ethiopian connection in our distance program.

[SuperJon]

I just had an in grown toenail removed and I'm fat.


Yup, that's my training.


What you guys do is crazy, running for fun.

Hey, you're all good at it though.

Thanks for what you do for the school.

[01LUGrad]

Minus the old/fat/lazy comments in this thread, this is EXACTLY what I had in mind when I was demanding a track/xc forum about a year ago. This probably got me a little too excited, to be perfectly honest. I look forward to meeting the new guys on the team and hearing about the progress of the runners as we head into the season.

To Scott and Kyle...I understand exactly where you are coming from. I was basically in your boat when I first attended LU in 1997. Transitioning from HS to college athletics is a difficult task. One thing I would tell you is to not get discouraged if your first few races don't produce the results you would like. Keep going. My story at LU ended way too early with very little to show because I didn't have people telling me the above info. Another guy on the board and I swore we wouldn't let that happen to anyone else if we could do something about it. You have a great team to work with and Josh is really showing some great leadership by encouraging you to stay accountable in your summer training.

Good luck to all of the guys (and girls) as you prepare for the season. I will be following your progress like most of the guys on here would follow a doughnut rolling down Candlers Mountain Road.

[Tatchi]

Hey everybody I'm Josh Edmonds, a sophmore this year. I was a homeschooled upstate New Yorker well kinda central western NY but anyways. I came to LU because god comes first in my life and I needed a running program that made that possible. I was a swimmer in highschool and added running to that my junior year. right now i'm just doing base miles with some biking and swimming thrown in. This summer i'm working construction/painting. I'm looking to meeting all of you that I havent met yet and looking forward to seeing you who stayed in 210 last year on visits.

[PAmedic]

I'd like to welcome KYLE and mention that, in an incredible coincidence- I, too, once trained with Jack Daniels.

didn't work out so well- I'm much better now (the late 80's and early 90's were not kind)

welcome to TATCHI as well; are you some kind of watch, or compact car?

[PeterParker]

...I actually went to the Jim Ryun running camp last year in colorado when Joe Falcon and Jessica Barringer and Jack Daniels were all there...

Though not LU sanctioned, that guy always makes a run fun.



BTW, Welcome to the board and to the school...I echo 01's comments above. Push through the first year because something magical seems to happen with runner's times after they get through that first year to year-and-a-half of the more intense, more demanding collegiate training schedule. I have seen it so many times where the runner comes in with mediocre to good HS times, pushes through some disappointment/disillusionment with the race results based on what they were doing the previous year in HS, and then reaps the "sowing" of the increased intensity and transition of the Freshmen year with some pretty steep drops in PR's.

Good Luck, bros, avoid the red clay puddles at all costs.

[PeterParker]

Hey everybody I'm Josh Edmonds, a sophmore this year. I was a homeschooled upstate New Yorker well kinda central western NY but anyways. I came to LU because god comes first in my life and I needed a running program that made that possible. I was a swimmer in highschool and added running to that my junior year. right now i'm just doing base miles with some biking and swimming thrown in. This summer i'm working construction/painting. I'm looking to meeting all of you that I havent met yet and looking forward to seeing you who stayed in 210 last year on visits.

Edmonds channeling the inner-triathalete; that tri-training is paying dividends for several rising runners (i.e. Duplinsky over at Stanford, Aussie Craig Mottram.)

Do you feel that the tri-style cross-training is paying dividends in your development (training strength, race times, etc.)

[Josh McDougal]

Wow,
This worked a little better than I thought it would. People are actually replying!
Great to see some stuff from incoming guys. I don’t know most of you yet. I had a lot of fun chillin with you at USA’s though Dan, sorry I didn’t get to find you and say goodbye.
01LUGrad really hit it on the head guys. College running is a real adjustment, a whole different ball park from high school. Fortunately we have a larger and more experienced coaching staff now than we had a few years ago. The atmosphere/vision in the program has improved drastically since I have been here. Its like an entirely different program from a few years ago. With all this in mind hopefully turnover within the team won’t be that high, though a few people always drop off. Basically anyone who buys into our philosophy and perseveres is going to get results; it’s just a matter or time. It can be a real struggle, but James 1:12 says “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.” I think this verse applies very well to the transition from high school athletics to college athletics.


BJ. My hair received a very healthy trim promptly after my sub 4 mile and appearance on stage with Jerry at Convo. The call slip from the Dean of Men was issues within the hour, and the reps were handed out in the blink of an eye. Not really sure why the dean of men would be so concerned about a 4 rep offence, I see RA’s in the hall all the time, I’m free game….Oh well, I used the Sampson reference all in good fun, they didn’t seem to find as much humor in it as I did.

PAmedic – no one is quite sure what TATCHI means. It is Josh Edmonds nickname/SN though he will not tell anyone the meaning behind the name. It’s a mystery that non of us on the team have been able to figure out yet. Though I think you might be onto something with the car reference….He has a thing for cars...

[Dan Hibbs]

oh yeah i'm on The Hill too in dorm 18, room 212 i believe. i'm gonna be rooming with cory reed who is also on the team, and hopefully he'll get on here soon as well.

[Scott Taylor]

I'll be in East Campus number 313, rooming with a guy from California.

[Jordan McDougal]

Hey everyone! Its great to hear from all you new guys, and i can't wait to meet all of you!
I'm Jordan McDougal, keeping this thread alive! I'm 20 and i'm going to be a redshirt junior. I was also homeschooled in upstate NY and came to liberty because it was the only D1 christian school that had a mission statement that clearly proclaimed christ as the center of their education. I'm also a Kinesiology major, which i love. I also love music, and almost anything active, hiking, biking, disc golf ect.. I live off campus with my bro and a bunch of other great guys, and i'm really looking foreward to this coming year. I had some IT band trouble at the end of track season so i took a good deal of time off and just started training again so i dont have much to report for my summer training yet. As for this summer i'm playing the part of a jobless bum. I'm actually quite a natural! I'v taken the time that would normally be spent working or running to improve my disc golf skills and watch some good movies! its been a good summer so far. But i'm really exited about this XC season and i'm really want to start training really hard now that i'm healthy. I know if we stay dedicated and focused and keep christ at the center of everything we do this could be the best XC season that Liberty has ever seen.

[ATrain]

Welcome Josh, Jordan and the other track & field/cross country peeps...

I played tennis late last night/early this morning.

What you guys do though, is just plain crazy. But at least y'all are great at it and have always represented LU well. Thanks for that.

[Sly Fox]

It seems nearly everyone has checked in. But where is Jarvis? He was here just a couple of weeks ago and now that this thread is off and running he needs to check back in.