McMillanElite :: Tracy McMillan
Entry #185 Lots of the same going on here in Flagstaff right now: more snow, good training and great racing. Andrew Middleton has become the king of the half marathon lately, with a win in Tucson in December, a 4th place finish and new PR at a windy 3M half marathon in Austin, TX in January, and then last weekend another win and course record at the Sedona Half Marathon. All of this is in preparation for his marathon in LA next month. Jordan continues to tear up the indoor track, having raced almost the equivalent of a 4-minute mile at 7,000 ft in mid-January and followed that with a 7:52 3,000m in Indiana, which got him the USATF qualifier for Indoor Nationals and an IAAF World Indoor qualifying time as well on a legal track. He heads to Seattle this weekend to hopefully get that sub 4 at sea level. Emily will also be in Washington State, albeit at the eastern end and braving the elements at US Cross Country Nationals. We wish them both the best of luck! I did a little racing myself in early January, competing in my first snowshoe race! It was only a 5k but it was a lot of fun. The Flagstaff Nordic Center (FNC) hosted the event and Kahtoola was the sponsor. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery as I jogged through the woods on my Kahtoola flight decks (snowshoes). And to top a wonderful day off, I won an overnight stay at the FNC yurt in the raffle! We can’t wait to plan a weekend out there; I’m leaning toward fall when the aspens turn golden. Besides finishing up some consulting projects, shoveling snow, and taking care of a sick 2 year old, most of my activities of late are focused on planning our first fundraising event. The Run to 2012 will be held in Flagstaff on March 26 from 7-10pm at the Orpheum Theater. The event will be for our larger group, Team USA Arizona, which encompasses all the elite athletes that Greg coaches here in Flagstaff, and will benefit not only our athletes but will also raise funds for our community service mission: Reducing Childhood Obesity in Northern Arizona. We have a great planning committee made up of team members and community members and everyone is working hard to make this first event a success. We’re thankful for the donations we’ve received thus far from businesses and individuals in the community for our raffle and silent auction. We’ll also have a live auction with some great offerings! If you would like to donate something to the event, please shoot me an email at tracy.mcmillan@pphpartners.com. And if you live in Flagstaff or want to come visit, we hope you’ll join us on March 26th for a great time! Entry #175 The McMillanElite 2009 racing season ended with a bang! In the last two races of the year, Andrew Middleton won the Tucson Half-Marathon and the Women’s team took 2nd place at the Club Cross Country Championships. Both are amazing accomplishments given that: 1) Middle has struggled with injuries for the past 18 months and this was only his third race completed in that span of time; and 2) we have a women’s team full of talented athletes, but I would guess the number of them that say they thrive in cross country (especially a short 6k cross country race!) is closer to zero than the five you need to score! The women wanted the win badly and trained so hard as a team throughout the fall and gutted it out that day with some very competitive teams. Unfortunately, they fell just a bit short of their ultimate goal. Knowing this group of women as I do, while okay with 2nd place, the race left a fire in their collective belly to come back next year and win that trophy. This is all to say that there is so much potential in women’s racing and I would love for more of the amazing female athletes graduating from college to consider the impact they could have in both the short and long-term on US distance running and beyond—and stay in the sport. We want women (and male, of course!) athletes to know about the opportunities that exist for competitive running after college. Since we can’t directly contact athletes still in college due to NCAA compliance, I would like to encourage those who do know these athletes to pass along this link from the USATF Foundation on distance training groups around the country: http://www.usatffoundation.org/distance_project/centers.asp. While I have my own personal favorite, there are many great training groups out there! Well, time to wrap this up since there are presents to wrap! Happy holidays, everyone—here’s to great racing in 2010! Entry #160 Identifiable tracks seen while running this week: running shoe, mountain bike, elk (big & small), horse, canine (dog and likely coyote since we hear them at night), and last but not least, raccoon. I wish I could bottle the little bursts of joy that I feel when I plop my foot down next to a raccoon track in the dirt in the trails near our house, so that when I’m lacking motivation to run the next day I could uncork it to get me going. I am here to report that I did not accomplish the running goals I set out for myself this past spring in this very blog. I only specified the goal of racing, but underlying that was the goal of fitness and I don’t feel that I’m there, or even close. Now, I’m just the business manager of the team, not one of the athletes, but still—I am an individual with a desire to be fit, both mentally and physically—so what’s my problem?! While I couldn’t physically run a marathon tomorrow, my barriers are definitely mental, not physical. I need to find my athletic mojo again. For me, athletic mojo is tied to overall happiness and maybe that’s the ticket. I am very happy with the decision made in 2007 to no longer be a full-time professor; but yet I still haven’t come to terms with what I want to do. Being a consultant, part-time instructor and business manager for the team (and mom!) is great, and I at least feel like I’ve been honest with myself about what I don’t want to do, but what do I truly want to do? I know what I really enjoy, but pursuing it along a business path involves a steep learning curve and no true clarity and that right now is scary. So, I will search for clarity through running and yoga. I did yoga classes while I was writing my dissertation proposal and it helped me see each day in a better light, and it helped my running. I hope the combination will work its magic this time too! Entry #145 It’s my turn to write the blog and I don’t know where to start. We just returned from spending 4 weeks in Europe preparing Paige for the marathon at the World Championships and then witnessing the event in Berlin. It was a great time, and I actually blogged throughout the stay so you can catch up on nearly all of our activities (I still have a couple of entries left to complete the trip!) here: http://mcmillanfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/. I am still trying to get my energy back and get oriented to life back in the USA 5 days after returning. Here are the things I’ll miss about Germany: 1. Smaller cars, narrower roads, bike paths, Woonerfs, playgrounds (rail too, but we didn’t use it this trip at all): I’m a transportation planner by training and one that advocates for multi-modal transportation systems. As a whole, we fail miserably at this in the United States. We are a car-centric nation that loves our big cars and have a transportation system built pretty much for that mode only. In my other job as a consultant, I work hard with many other folks around the country to make walking and bicycling possible and safe for schoolchildren in the US. While we’ve made progress and more kids are using these modes and rediscovering the joy and freedom of doing so, we have an uphill battle to get our Senators and Congressman to support the idea that these things matter (if it matters to you, let your representatives know!). Yes, roads and bridges are important but so are sidewalks, bike paths and better-designed street networks. Evidence is beginning to mount that these items can reduce congestion, auto emissions and increase physical activity—a very good thing for an overweight nation like ours! In Germany you learned to share the road in places where there weren’t off-road alternatives for walking and cycling, but in so many places there were. These paths lead you to local stores, schools, playgrounds, work places, etc. Our host in Herzo, Mike McManus, rode his bike to work at adidas World Headquarters every day and I bet he never touched a surface street except to cross it—awesome. 2. User fees: OK, this is still the planner in me talking. I am a proponent of user fees. You want it? Well, pay for it. Don’t want it? You don’t have to pay for it. This is a fairly logical way to keeps costs, use and waste in check in everything from roadway use to shopping carts! Toll roads are an obvious example that we are seeing more and more of here in the US (I grew up in the Northeast and lived with them all my life, but they were a relatively new phenomenon in CA when we arrived in ’97, and in TX in ’04!). While people think we pay for roadways via the gas tax, the tax hasn’t increased in years while the cost of maintaining and building roads has, so we’re nearing the end of that road pot of gold that we’ve lived on for so long. Two not so obvious examples from Germany that I loved were “renting” a shopping cart and paying to use the toilet in a public location. First, the shopping cart: all the shopping carts are locked together at the market and to get one you insert a Euro into a slot. It releases the lock, you use the cart while shopping and when you’re done, if you return the cart to where they are collected and locked together, you get your Euro back. While this is not necessarily a straightforward user fee, it is the same general idea and the market does not have to pay an employee to run around the parking lot and beyond to collect carts, because everyone wants their Euro back! OK, on to public toilets. We quickly learned to carry 50 cents (euros) with us in case you needed to use a toilet. While some folks grumbled about this, I thought it totally made sense. Hey, do you want a bathroom available and a clean one at that? Well then, pay for it! There have been plenty of times I’ve made a quick exit out of a US restroom for fear of what I might catch while in there! So I’ll gladly pay to use a toilet if it helps to employ someone to keep it sanitized. And if we were in an establishment where we were purchasing something (e.g., gas station, McDonalds) you got your money back because you were contributing to their business. Simple as that. 3. Toilets with a dual flush option: I promise, this is the last toilet reference! We are beginning to see these in the US but they are fairly common in Germany. Pick your flush mode based on how much water is needed to get it down the drain. Enough said! 4. And finally, something related to running! The smell of fresh baked bread on a morning run: there are wonderful bakeries/cafes that open first thing in the morning and the smell of the fresh baked bread wafted out their doors, making me regret I didn’t put a few Euros in my running shorts! Bread-making lessons begin this month at home! Entry #131
I am sitting on a plane flying home from the U.S. Track & Field Championships in Eugene, OR. What fun! As always, it was great spending time with our adidas family. We also had the good fortune to see two of our other sponsors at the race—NYRR and Houston Marathon Foundation. There were some fantastic distance races on both the men’s and women’s side; great tactical racing and some amazing finishes. The Schumacher group sweep in the men’s 5,000m was impressive—I hope they all are able to get the standard they need to go to Berlin for the World Championships. On the McMillanElite side of things, I am so proud of our athletes that competed over the past few days in Eugene. Jordan and Matt raced really well in the men’s 5000m. It isn’t easy performing on that bigger stage, particularly when it is your first time, but they did a great job. Jordan put himself in a good position early on and Matt really made some good moves in the middle of the race, enabling him to finish in 13th place. Not bad for a guy whose qualifying time was about 30th on the list!
Lindsay showed everyone that she is one of the top steeple chicks in the nation. She sailed through her semi and then in the final she put herself in a position to compete for one of those top three spots. Others had better race day legs than her on Sunday but she still placed high in 7th. Again, not bad for someone who didn’t make it to the final last year in this same event! Plus, Lindsay ran faster in every steeple race she competed in this year than her personal best from last year, and dropped that PB from 10:01 to 9:40.83 (she also dropped her 5K PR by about 40 seconds!). Not a bad spring…
Things will now get a tiny bit quieter for a few weeks around McMillanElite. Several athletes are taking a much-deserved break, or are just starting to run again after taking one. Ian is still racing and will make some road race appearances in July (Peachtree, along with AC and Trina; and Bix7). Paige continues to put in the miles in preparation for the World Championships marathon on August 23rd, and Emily is starting her base build-up for her fall racing. She’ll join us over in Germany for a few weeks in August to help Paige in her final race lead-up. I’m so looking forward to that trip; my next blog will likely be written from Herzo, adidas headquarters! I’ll also post updates on our German adventure to the McMillanElite fan page on Facebook. If you belong to Facebook and aren’t yet a fan of ours, please look us up! (here) Before I sign off on this week’s blog, I want to thank the Painter family for watching Angus while Greg and I went to Eugene. It sounds like he had a great time with them but I’m sure they are tired! It was nice to have some Greg and Tracy time but we missed him dearly. He’ll be with us when we return to TrackTown in 2011! Now I better take a nap to get some Angus energy…
Entry #120 Greetings, everyone! Well, I was hoping that the next time I wrote a blog I would be feeling fit and ready for the Summer Running Series here in Flagstaff. Unfortunately, shortly after my blog the week of March 23 I had issues with illness, some travel and a busy period of work stuff that I allowed to get in the way of my training. This frustrates me, because I so easily fell back into the old habits I had as a professor. One reason I left academics is because of the impact I felt it was having on my health (or that I allowed it to have) and here I am, two years later, putting my health (and the happiness that physical activity brings) to the side because of really poor excuses (except for maybe the illness). Time for that reality check, which entails a good, fun run in the forest with Amber (our dog). All is well otherwise here in Flagstaff. Angus is more active each and every day, which causes me to have at least a heart attack a day it seems as I see him climb, fall, run, trip, crash, get up and keep going. He appears to be fearless—I guess as mom I carry the fear for both of us! To the moms out there that read the blog, how do you get used to this?! The team is running really well this spring. Lots of race action this weekend with Martin and AC at Healthy Kidney in NYC, Lemon at the Great Manchester Run in the UK and Lindsay and Jordan at the adidas Track Classic in Carson, CA. Greg and I will be at aTC with Linz and the Hornet while Angus stays at home with his visiting grandparents. The frequency of races will slow down after this weekend as folks get back into a few weeks of focused training in preparation for the US Track & Field Championships (with maybe a tune-up race a few weeks out) or begin a rest cycle after a busy spring race season. The exceptions to that will be Emily, who is itching to get going after a careful recovery from a stress fracture and is now starting to run, and Paige, who was just selected for the U.S. Women’s World Championship Marathon team. We are all so proud of Paige, and are excited to have her begin another marathon training cycle in preparation for the race in Berlin in August! I hope to be there to see her run an amazing race.
Entry #108 I just got back from an amazing run on the Ft. Valley trails here in Flagstaff. Spring has arrived and the snow is almost gone. The trails are open, except for the occasional stream hopping! The run was great because it really was my first full-fledged run on trails with our dog for quite some time. I’ve been slow to return to a consistent routine of aerobic activity since Angus’ birth. I get a wonderful anaerobic workout from the Stroller Strides class, but my aerobic fitness is definitely in need of some help! Luckily, my husband is a coach, so I’ve asked him for a return-to-fitness program, with the intermediate goal of participating in the Flagstaff Summer Running Series (6 races, most on trails), and the long-term goal of doing a longer distance trail race at a fun destination in the fall sometime around my 39th birthday. Angus started daycare a week ago so I have more time to get the runs in (and one less excuse!). Also, I have some fantastic new trails shoes from adidas to make my feet feel light and ready for the rugged trails! You can see on the home page that right now I’m wearing the Supernova Riot GTX, the Gore-Tex version of their trail shoe, since I’m doing some puddle jumping while running right now! As I mentioned above, life has just changed for me with Angus starting daycare. He loves it, and comes home doing all sorts of fun new things (we just met “Scary Bear” last week!). This change allows me to return to more consistent work in both my consulting and team activities. My consulting work is in the area of public health and community planning. I’ve focused for many years on children’s school transportation and physical activity, specifically on a program called Safe Routes to School that encourages safe walking and bicycling to school. I’m involved at the national, state and local level, and just got back from a great meeting in Washington, DC that really helped to re-charge my professional engine. I also do grant-writing for a non-profit here in Flagstaff that works with adults with developmental disabilities, and some evaluation work with the county health department. I couldn’t manage any of it without the help of Lindsay Allen, who works as my research assistant. For the team, I am in charge of race communication and travel coordination and will take on a larger role with fundraising this year. Maybe one day we’ll raise enough funds so that I can get paid a little bit! Right now the rewards of great race performances, happy athletes and a happy coach (= happy husband!) is enough. Next time they ask me to write a blog I will hopefully be able to update you on my training and race performances! Until then, enjoy the return of spring! Entry #87 Hello and Happy New Year to everyone! I hope the holiday season has treated you well thus far. The McMillan clan just returned from visiting family on the east coast. We got caught in the travel delays on Saturday and got to spend two unexpected extra days in Charleston with the McMillan side of the family. That was nice, and much warmer than Flagstaff! What a year 2008 was. It started with an amazing miracle—Martin’s marathon in Dubai—just kidding! The miracle was the birth of Angus Scott McMillan (while Martin’s run was impressive, I think I may have beat him on the pain spectrum a few days later!). I could never have guessed that parenthood would be so much fun, work, enjoyment, happiness and just pure joy, really. Everyone was right when they said cherish every day because they go by so fast—I can’t believe that Angus is now 11 months old and walking. It seems like yesterday when I looked up in delirious exhaustion to see Greg cradling our son for the first time. It was snowing the night Angus was born so the first snowfall of the season was special this year. We then had a good spring with races and a great summer of recruiting. We feel we brought in a great group of athletes who are excellent people as well, a requirement for our team (though I haven’t met many track & field athletes who aren’t good people!). The late summer and fall were chock full of training and racing, culminating with the great U.S. Club XC race, which you’ve already read so much about. 2008 seems like it went by in a whirlwind for so many reasons, but each day involved focus on the part of everyone involved in McMillanElite, whether it be athlete or support staff. For my own part, it was challenging at times to juggle my many roles in life—new mom, business owner/consultant (in my non-McMillanElite identity), spouse, and business manager for the team. I felt sort of like I did as an assistant professor at a high level university; trying to give 100% to everything, yet always feeling like it was 50% (though everyone was nice enough to tell you it was 100%). Either way, it was tough at times. At least I won’t ever be “up for tenure” with the team! But I love what I do for everyone, the team as a whole and each athlete individually. Organizing the travel, race communication, team events, etc. appeals to my nature to plan things (whether it be travel, meals, research projects, college course curriculums, you name it!). I love interacting with the road racing/running community across the U.S.; it is a small but happy family that I love seeing each time I travel with the team. We appreciate the support and friendship of so many folks out there—thank you for believing in our vision. I guess I’ll end this blog with my personal goals in relation to the team for 2009: 1. Focus on fundraising at the local level: 2008 was a good year for us in terms of obtaining support at the national level for the team; that support is critical and we will work to maintain or increase that in ’09, but we must also work on increasing the support of local sponsors. 2. Help athletes achieve success at the national level: I get a kick out of reading the message boards. It seems most elite athlete programs are blessed because of the presence of either “blue chip” or “blue collar” athletes. Having not been born of any “blue blood” in a particular direction myself but feeling like I’ve succeeded thus far in life, I believe it is as much nurture as nature (and self-belief, determination, etc…) that will get people where they want to be. We have athletes that want it bad, and work hard each day for it. My goal is ’09 and beyond is to help them get there. 3. Have fun each day (or most!): what each person in this program is doing is hard. When the athletes come for recruiting visits, we tell them that the life they say they want to lead is not normal for a 20-something; that you will be challenged every day in training and by life outside this cocoon we call McMillanElite. They have to want IT; as I say, you cannot approach this commitment thinking that you are sacrificing something (e.g., that “normal” 20-something life). THIS has to be norm you want. NOT living this life is sacrificing something, the chance at something big, whether it is ultimate athletic success or fulfillment of a life dream. That goes for the athletes and the supporting staff (Trina, myself and Greg). I am sure I have more but that seems plenty for now! Sometimes, I am overwhelmed when Greg and I discuss our goals for the athletes. However, if you could just see them, and him—you can’t help but believe. Our door is open in 2009; please come visit the team in Flagstaff, AZ. Entry #62 I thought I would write a bit about the 3 constants in my life right now - family, team and food (no, I am not pregnant again but I do love food!). Family: We had a wonderful summer with lots of family and friends visiting. My mom and stepdad just left last week, and now we are in recovery mode until the holiday season and more visitors arrive. Greg treated me again to a wonderful birthday this week. For some reason, this birthday has made me feel old. Maybe it is having a baby when you're 37? Or hanging around early 20-somethings all the time who didn't just have babies and are fit and trim?! I'm working on the fit and trim part. Angus and I are now doing a mom & baby exercise class in beautiful Buffalo Park - Stroller Strides! I am shocked at how sore I am sometimes - it is quite a workout! The first time I went I thought "why do I want to work out around all of these crying babies?" (not Angus, of course...:-)). But you know, there is a nice camaraderie that has developed amongst the moms, and I find myself now confident to ask questions about being a new parent to the other women rather than just searching for answers or support on the internet. It's nice. Plus (leading into my second constant), I think the team gets a kick out of seeing all of us moms and babies in strollers when they do their Wednesday workouts at Buffalo Park! Team: Everything with the team has been exciting so far. It is incredible how we've essentially doubled in size this summer. We finally became complete last week with the return of Lemon. Everyone is here now, and it is wild to see the team runs - such a big group. However, with the training underway another emotion arrives as well - race anxiety. Not them - me! I get so nervous when they race! I want them to do so well, for themselves, for the team, for Greg. Of course, they do as well. In the past I traveled to races as often as I could but that decreased somewhat this year with the pregnancy and the baby. Now I am forced to endure restless nights and early morning searches of the message boards, waiting for the first word of results (the downside of living in the west!). Luckily, the U.S. 5K Championship race started at 11:15am east coast time this past Sunday, so we got to sleep in a bit (great race, Ian!). This is just the team - how in the world will I be if/when Angus competes in sports?! Food: Finally, food. I am a self-admitted foodie. I love food - preparing it, eating it, sharing the experience with others (this surprises my mother who claims I hardly knew how to boil water growing up). One of the things I love about the team is the group dinners. Sometimes we do potluck, but other times I just make the whole meal because I love thinking through the menu and striving to prepare a meal that is healthy, fresh and nutritionally well balanced for them (there may also be some deep-seated control issues popping up here...). However, this has become more challenging as the team has grown. The menu options change when you go from feeding 8-10 athletes to feeding 20-25! So, as I prepare for another team dinner next week, I am making a request to all those who read our blog: if you have a good main meal recipe to serve a group, please pass it along! Remember the criteria above: healthy, fresh and nutritionally well balanced (carbs, protein, fat). You can send it to me at tracy.mcmillan@pphpartners.com. I'm making dinner Monday night so any ideas are appreciated! Have a great weekend.
First, thank you all for being great people. We always said that we didn't just want talented runners; we wanted talented runners who are good people and I think we achieved success in that regard. I can't think of a better group of folks to spend my days with and I'm always proud as you head out to races because I know that no matter how the event goes the race will enjoy having you because of your good spirits. You make promoting the team easy, and make our lives fun. Secondly, thank you for being understanding and helpful in so many ways as Greg and I took on the challenge of becoming parents this year. From the minute Angus arrived in our lives you've greeted him with smiles and laughter and he is such a good-natured little boy because of his daily experiences with all of you. Finally, thank you for your patience, support and participation as the team has developed over the past year or so. Obviously you can't have a running team without athletes but you've all contributed so much more than just your race performances over this period of time. In so many ways, we couldn't do this without you. Some people wonder what motivated Greg and I to form this team. There are so many reasons, too many to list in this blog, but each day I am around the team I am reminded of the most important one. It is a labor of love, and I truly love my new extended family—all of the members of McMillanElite. |
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