Nike Farm Team LA

don't know who's idea it was to write "Farm Team" in the name as we are definitely not called the farm team but it is a new pilot project by Nike LA. Likely to stick with "Team Run LA", at the moment it's Antonio Arce, Todd Witzleben, Justin Patananan, Aaron Sharp, Hesch, and Mark Pilja soon. similar to the Farm Team but more loose knit, and we don't have to pay $350/year, but we don't receive any travel money either so it's a toss up. looking more at club level guys right now but at some point could be a competitive club (like WRRC, FT, Hansons, etc....It'll be a while though for that to happen). hope this helps.

Cheers, Christian.

Do you guys have a coach and/or train together? It sounds like you guys have the potential for something great if you can stick with it for awhile.

why would nike call it "farm team LA"? "the farm" refers to stanford.

There are plenty of good places to train. Hills, trails, tracks and of course great weather. The problems are too many distractions and a high cost of living.

alright woody!!!

Alberto Salazar is moving his operation for Nike to Eugene to set up shop for December renamed Oregon Rebuilding Project"

8hundo wrote:

Anybody know much about this group getting going? Details would be great...thanks.

I think most of the guys have their own coach, it's not like the FT where you have to do exactly what coach so&so says, every day, show up at a certain time, etc. like i said, much more loose knit, which is nice for the rebel ne'erdowells like myself :). I think that some of the guys do train together, on occasion.

CH.

ChristianHesch wrote:

I think most of the guys have their own coach, it's not like the FT where you have to do exactly what coach so&so says, every day, show up at a certain time, etc. like i said, much more loose knit, which is nice for the rebel ne'erdowells like myself :). I think that some of the guys do train together, on occasion.

CH.

You don't live anywhere near LA do you Christian? Do you ever meet up with them?

Shoe Dog wrote:

There are plenty of good places to train. Hills, trails, tracks and of course great weather. The problems are too many distractions and a high cost of living.

The high cost of living also means that you might be able to find better jobs and therefore attract some good guys who are coming right out of college and looking to work in the LA area. I don't think distractions of bars and the like are all that big a distraction for the serious runner. If a guy is really motivated to run drinking and staying out late often hits the back burner.

Best of luck to you guys. Hopefully we will see you at team cross nationals in Portland later this year.

RB

well, last weekend, I met up with them on saturday (to win a little 5k) and sunday (to win a little 10k) so if that counts as meeting up....:)

CH

oh, and no, I live 3&1/2 hrs north.

So your on the team, but not training with the team. Any required races that you have to do for them? If I can ask what are the qualifications to be on the team and what do you get?

email me if you're interested, if not and you just want details, you probably want to ask the coach, eric barron

ericbarron@adelphia.net

but, more or less the same deal as the farm team guys get, without paying dues (since we don't have the same kind of structured training/coaching to pay for).

you need to do certain races like the LA 5K Championship, Nike Run Hit Wonder, etc. There was a great road mile that Nike LA put on, Aug 27 in Venice, on the boardwalk (at midnight no less). great time had by all.

CH.

ChristianHesch wrote:

well, last weekend, I met up with them on saturday (to win a little 5k) and sunday (to win a little 10k) so if that counts as meeting up....:)

CH

oh, and no, I live 3&1/2 hrs north.

Tom was none too happy about you beating him for the second year in a row. I think he is vowing revenge in 2005. Nice race BTW... I hear you picked up 52 Jamba Juices for the 5k. Do you have to declare that on your taxes?

what does he expect, he's only been training for what, two months?

ok, so i've only been running for three, but still, it's homefield advantage man, they only make me run 6mi and all the out of towners have to run 6.2 :)

not only did i score jamba, but the girl who kicked my butt couldn't accept hers so i made a donation to the race charity and scored another 52. twas almost a $2k day when jamba is factored in. and yes, i'll claim it on my taxes. see you at new years ray.

Cheers, CH.

The Hesch Monster has been officially named Head Recruiter for Team Run LA.

It’s pretty cool to find a group of hard-core guys to run with out here. Eventually, I’d like to see us getting together more often for some decent workouts. It’s hard to go off and do everything on your own after running with a group everyday since 7th grade. But it seems like everyone is so spread out in Los Angeles. For now it’s just nice to have some type of support to keep the cost of training and competing down for us poor kids trying to make it in Cali (Nike's been really good to us). We’d all like to see the team continue to grow to the point where we can dominate the roads in this area, and someday compete with the top clubs.

-Woody

Go La Salle XC!

The Farm Team guys I've raced against are 800/MD guys, but the races you're mentioning are 5K and 10K. Is the LA Farm Team going to have more of a long distance orientation? 800 guys can run a road 5K, but it's not like we're going to set the world on fire in that event.

hh

I heard that Mark Pilja is gay....Someone, say it ain't so.

And if so, is this affecting his running?

I saw his girlfriend at a race and what a nice piece....oh shit, sorry mark.