gvillain wrote:
Gainesville/Miami guy, just bear in mind that you have a warped perspective coming from Miami. Gainesville weather is only tolerable in relation to Miami. Compared to just about anywhere else, Gainesville weather is brutal for distance running. December, January, and February are usually ok but that's really it. May through October is completely awful. November, March, and April are iffy: sometimes nice, sometimes bad.
Solinsky seems to be doing a good job, all things considered. With the scholarship allocations and weather, he is limited in what he can do at UF.
Yes, Miami is awful and Gainesville is definitely not ideal. But Texas and Wisconsin have been cited as superior choices. Austin's average high/low is higher for every one of the months from May-October than it is for Gainesville. (Marginally so for May and October, more so for the hot months.) So if Gainesville's weather forvthose months is, as you say, "completely awful," what does that make Austin's? As for Madison, its weather is clearly a lot better than Gainesville's for most of the year, but for Dec.-Feb the average highs are below freezing and average lows are in the low-mid teens. Not to mention snow - except I just did. :)
Not fun!
Perspective: I lived/taught/coached/ran in Miami for over 30 years but I grew up on Long Island and went to college in upstate New York. And the first three marathons I ran were all in c. 30 degrees temps. Even after all these years in Florida, I hate heat - and HUMIDITY. Never really acclimatized as a runner. In 1978 at age 40 (yup, I'm pretty ancient) I ran 5:50/mile pace at Boston and a month later, in Miami I ran a 20k, less than half the distance, at 6:10 pace. And ran my ass off to do it.
My main defense of Gainesville is that it is, weather wise, FAR better than South Florida and really quite good for most of the year. And UF is much stronger academically than it was in decades past. Even the stingy Republicans in the legislature have bought into the idea that UF, as the pre-eminent state university, should be funded sufficiently to challenge Michigan and UNC and Berkeley.