MIAC 2025 XC

It was said before that Power says it’s 80 meters long. I doubt he walked that far to wheel it, so we’ll have to take him at his word. It used to be longer when they did a short loop near the baseball field. They don’t note that in the course records though.

On a different note, why did Johnnies come to the meet wearing team gear? Seemed like a weird flex.

Can the average Ole Jv runner beat Harry Styles in a marathon? Like for yes, downvote for no.

Hey, there was that one carl that raced in a neon green t-shirt... weird flexes all around.

I would like to think that any college runner can run sub 3 solely off a normal XC training plan. The mental toughness to push past mile 21 would be the hardest part. I know some of the Oles are really low mileage so maybe it wouldn’t be possible.

Carrying over a conversation from our run to the chat -

MIAC Coaching Rankings based on who I would most like to have a beer.

Tier One -

Ricks, Devon, Brendo, and Maddie. An evening with Ricks will be awesome. I love how he talks to teams and always knows when someone has had a big race. Devon and Brendo seem like the type that would share all the MIAC gossip and ancient MIAC stories. Maddie was (still is?) an elite runner and her D1 experiences would be interesting to hear about. She also seems super chill.

Tier Two -

Maxwell, Chad. Both have spent a lot of time in the MIAC and seem chill AF. Maxwell both ran for and coaches the Johnnies. He likely knows more about the traditions of the Johnnies and the MIAC than anyone around. All of Chad's international ski experience and coaching Lars/Calvin are sure to entertain.

Tier Three -

Darren, Nick, - I'm sure they're good guys. I'm not sure they talk. Darren's D1 experiences all over the country could be entertaining. I thin Nick coached both Hassan Mead and Bati, so if you can get him to talk, that would be interesting.

Tier Four -

Power - nobody wants to hear how good about running from a fat, bald guy that thinks he's something special. Maybe he can teach me how to add instrumentals of early 2000's rap songs to IG reels

Special Tier - Kevin & Dan. I'd love to hang out with Big Kev, but Bethel doesn't drink. So maybe we'll find a soda shop or something like that. Does Dan have any vices? I don't think he even drinks coffee. Maybe we could eat a gluten-free sprout sandwich and hear about running for a Carleton coach not named Ricks and his thoughts on the current Carl group.

We talked about an assistant ranking, but we only know Hallie, the bearded coach at Olaf, and Al. I'd have several beers with any of those three.

If you’re Chunko and trying to recruit, how do you manage the disappointment of plummeting national rankings? Do you say, sorry my women’s coach ranked us to high. Or just make up something about you’ll be the person to help us finish anywhere close to what my predecessor’s teams did with regularity?

I'm going to need you to quit distracting from the discussion of my coach rankings. Waiting for someone to challenge that Maxwell should be moved up or a Brendo for Larson trade.

Oversight not to include Coach Balder from CSB. She's been in and around the MIAC for close to 40 years (putting her beyond Maxwell in traditions (but Go Johnnies)), and has done tons of cool stuff in running, beyond her collegiate racing and coaching activities.

Add Tim Miles to the top of the assistants list! He’s forgotten more than any of these coaches will ever know.

what was the name of Phil’s assistant at Olaf. That dude was beloved.

Can she run a mile before Chunko can run a 400?

Yes. She’s still an incredibly competitive runner.

Mo running a sub 50 min 10 mile in the middle of his workout today with a 14:54 5k and low 30s 10k en route.

Blugold will be interesting if Mo has anyone to race or maybe he’ll just run a 23:30 by himself.

That's so impressive. He's gonna smash the course record. It's realistic to think he can run 23 low if it is cool and dry, but more likely he'll chill with group until the 6K or so because he won't want to embarrass anyone.

What is this dumb workout the Oles did? Did they just take the Michigan and make it slower?

Genuine advice from a former MIAC runner.
Stop thinking about the MIAC like a high school girl thinks about different cliques in the lunch room. You think training and racing decisions are based on vendettas and rivalries among coaches. You think every training, racing, or schedule decision is internal politics and maneuvering, reacting to and pre-empting the actions of others. You seem to want the MIAC to be a source of intrigue and drama. It isn't. It is the pond in which you are swimming, and you should try to be a bigger fish.

Here's a Tier List for you:

Tier 1. Your grades

Tier 2. Your 8k time

Tier 3. Your career prospects

Make this LR page about MIAC accomplishments, breakout races, impressive training blocks, dark horses, predictions, and reviews of races.

This is totally wrong. The MIAC fulfills the story of the classic epic. Power is the villain, having seized control through the work of prior rulers and holding on with shady methods, so despised for his behavior he is given a new overlord, in this case a strength coach with a behavior contract. Ricks is the cunning jester designed to fool and entertain, racing athletes in non-legal equipment and speaking nonsense to other in court (on the course) all the while working to seize power from across the river. Young Maxwell is the prodigal son and hero destined to restore good and balance to the MIAC through many tests needed to overcome the wackiness of Ricks, shadiness of Power, and challenges of Huber/Schofer.

Probably some Coach Chunko "creation"

Guy thinks he's the best coach in the State and probably the country because they train "with intensity and recover intensely"

Groundbreaking stuff here

Ur a bum

It can be entertaining to talk about coaches, as they are pretty important to the team, but the work of individual athletes as well as their talent are arguably much more important (and interesting imo) than what the coach has to offer. Many coaches have been successful just from running their guys hard without grounding their training in any science whatsoever. So much talk about coaches around here, but you ever see them run during races? Maybe that's the problem here. For miac specifically, have all the runners train their coaches and have them run against eachother