 All right, everyone. How are you doing? Welcome back to the vlog We're starting in the studio tonight. Just got a little too busy for filming outside the studio today So anyway, we're gonna dive right into the topic which probably makes some of you high schoolers out there watching very happy Who are interested in learning about Mark Webmore and the CU cross-country and track programs Oh man, where to even begin is the difficult part. I guess I'll start here I was in Boulder at the unit. Yeah, so the University of Colorado where I went to college is in Boulder, Colorado That's where I remember two days ago. I filmed the Boulder Boulder the 10k race. You see footage there of the race happening well, I was standing in a parking lot and I was doing my doing my thing put the drone up in the air Filming some beautiful shots for you and I glance over my left shoulder and I see This across the parking lot and real quick I was here next to the next to the stadium and look what I found This is right here This is the old van that I used to ride in with Mark Webmore and the whole CU team It's probably a van from the 1990s and I guarantee Mark still drives it and I guarantee he's just old school and very humble and Like you got to earn your keep around here as a CU cross-country and trackrunner and I think Basically, I'm gonna make another video maybe tomorrow about what it was like to run under Mark Webmore's leadership So that's right. That is the van that I used to ride in from ten years ago The van I rode in to go to the airport to go fly to races to go on long runs. Oh, we use that van a lot I mean we rode in it everywhere And I think the fact that they have as I mentioned already that van being in the parking lot ten years later And who knows how long it's been in service to the CU cross-country team But that isn't that personifies so well the approach that Mark takes to running to life to coaching to Getting down to business like Mark is not gonna. He's not gonna sugarcoat it He's not gonna. He's not gonna hold your hand across the across the finish line it's all about showing up and Being responsible for your actions and getting down to business to run as fast as possible and no no bells and whistles No, no nothing fancy at the CU cross-country and track Practices and how he just approaches Training his athletes like you're not it's it's you're not gonna be pampered. That's the best word for it You're not gonna be pampered and the fact that that van is still parked in that parking lot ten years after I've been gone I think just proves his approach to to everything So I just love the fact that I spotted the van there and you might be sitting there wondering wait a minute I'm not in high school. Why should I listen to Seth like talk about his collegiate cross-country coach for the next ten minutes? Well, here's why first of all Mark influenced my approach to training and coaching in a big way So that's one reason so if you're interested in my training philosophy It's really good to know more about mark is the bottom line second I think it's really important to know About the best long-distance coaches in the world and yes, I'm gonna say it I would put mark wetmore on the Mount Rushmore of long-distance running coaches currently Okay, and what do I mean by that? So Mount Rushmore? There's four faces up there, right for former presidents I should say so in sports. You've got Michael Jordan Wayne Gretzky Gretzky Babe Ruth and probably now for better or worse Tom Brady. I'm sorry for all the Patriots fans out there They would be on the Mount Rushmore of professional sports in the United States Sorry for all the soccer fans out there not trying to exclude you but at least in the US That's how I would approach the professional athletes. Well in long-distance coaching Mark would take one of those spots. All right. Why is that? Well, I will list for you some of his accolades and Accomplishments, I can't even I can't even scratch the surface of how many Success stories have come through the University of Colorado cross-country and track Program, so let me just see if I can find a few here Mark has been named 30-time conference coach of the year Let's see. He had his teams have won 23 big 12 cross-country team titles 11 for the men 12 for them 11 for the women 12 for the men on the track Mark has coached a hundred and 34 individual Titles and earned a 201 all-american honors as a track coach CU athletes have broken seven collegiate middle and long-distance records Gosh, I don't even know where to begin as far as the Olympics. I'll just say this since 2010 CU athletes or graduates have earned 19 u.s. Olympic team births at distances from 1500 meters through the marathon 14 current and former buffs have earned 31 spots on u.s. World championship track teams and 25 have combined for 61 births on u.s. World championship cross-country teams. Oh my goodness. It just goes on and on as far as Metals that have been won. I got to stop because we'll be here all night some of those accomplishments That's what I'm talking about when I tell you I would definitely put mark on the Mount Rushmore of long-distance coaches So I had the bright idea in 2004 as a senior in high school after run reading this book running with the buffaloes Somebody gave it to me. I didn't I didn't know that so I was a 16 27 guy in high school Not that like fast, but not incredibly fast But I had the gumption to think huh after reading this book Maybe I could walk on to the CU cross-country team It might I add in 2004 the men and the women both won the NCAA team titles at the NCAA cross-country championship And gosh, I'm like, huh, maybe I could walk on maybe I have what it takes to train with the buffaloes Well, I tried my freshman year didn't make it trained a year on my own made it walked on to the CU team it was crazy and So I'm not gonna go into that whole story of training and how I actually walked on I want to focus more on what it was actually like to run under mark wetmore So I think this is a story and yes story is the keyword again because mark was first of all one of the best storytellers I've ever he's one of the best storytellers. I've ever met very smart Witty and he studied English so he knows how to tell a good story and he told us this story When I was there and I think it just personifies so well his approach to to running to life To training and to coaching. So here it goes basically and I'm not gonna I'm gonna not gonna tell the story as well as he does But he basically told us that you know in high school when he was in high school in the 60s in New Jersey Teenagers would drag race they would race cars back then it was a probably a little more legal back then nowadays I don't think you could get away with that but back then high schoolers would Basically work on the weekends work at nights in their garages Trying to build fast muscle cars American muscle cars and then on the weekends They would meet at a location and they would drag race they would they go fast So some of the some of the racers would show up and they would roll up in a kind of a beater car But it would be souped up on the inside with a good a good engine that maybe the the teenager had gone to the local Salvage yard and pulled some parts that he thought would make the car Faster so this teenager put the work the blood sweat and tears into his car and then another Teenager would show up and he'd show up. Maybe I don't know maybe with a new Mustang And it would be a brand new Mustang right off the car dealership lot that his dad built and The guy in the new Mustang would win But nobody respected him Why because he didn't put in the sweat the blood the tears into building that car From the ground up So I tell you that story about the cars the kid building the car from the ground up and the other kids showing up with a brand New Mustang right off the car dealership lot To showcase for you how mark approaches his cross-country Teams he builds them from the ground up He doesn't fly kids in from around the world the fastest kids from Kenya or Norway or Anywhere else in the world he doesn't you know He recruits the from a grassroots level and he keeps an eye out for the little guys The little guys who are just trying to walk on the little guys who ran 1627 in high school and have a pipe dream to run with the buffalos at CU now we can't take everybody there's a lot of people that try to walk on you got to have talent and you got to have a Work ethic, but he took a risk with me and I just love that story because ah It's like that is it just like that's that is the University of Colorado Cross-country team to a tee to a tee I could talk all night about CU and mark wetmore, but I'm just gonna share a few more things That are just on my mind I think mark is a little bit of a an enigma to the outside world and I think it's a good thing He he keeps his cards very close to his to his chest He he he doesn't he doesn't want media attention even though he's won all of these championships He's coached so many Olympians He'll win an NCAA team title and he'll wake up the next morning And he couldn't be more excited for 364 days of training till the next NCAA championship He celebrates for maybe made maybe 12 hours maybe and it's it's on to the next thing. It's business Traveling to races. It's a business trip. You're there to to run fast and There's no as I already mentioned no holding your hand a lot of Like it's it's a passage into adulthood running for mark You if you are partying on the weekends if you're If you're not doing well in school if you're not paying attention to your grades And if you're not working hard in the classroom, boom, you know You're out of there like like that and a quick story to drive that point home about if you're not on top of your Academics or paying attention to the details with your training. You're out of here Boom. See ya. So mark worked at an apple orchard in high school and the owner of the apple orchard told mark to go down the line Of trees and start cutting off the the dead branches and the branches that are not Bearing fruit and he told us that story frankly as a warning to us If you're not paying attention to the details working hard and saying no to the you know The college lifestyle and if you're not going to bed early if you're not if you're not doing all the little things You're gone. I'm gonna trim you off of this team so quick so that the tree can come back stronger The team can come back even stronger when all the dead is cut out and I just love that story and just a couple more points about running for mark and He also he told us, you know, you don't want to be a well-rounded person You know, you kind of hear that maybe maybe in high school or maybe a school counselor or I don't know Some people you like be a well-rounded person and mark was like no no no no no be a one-sided person meaning Find what you're passionate about and go at that a hundred percent All in at that one goal that you have and you will reach great great heights I just always love that it always stuck with me like find your passion find what you're good at in this world and Drive at it a hundred percent all the time until you reach that end goal that you have set before yourself So anyway, um, yeah, he would share that story that story with me as well As I was you know discerning the future of of of work and of life and oh man now I'm realizing I'm not getting into very much specific training in this discussion about mark wetmore That'll be for another day. It's a whole another topic. It's a huge topic I want to talk I'm talking more about the man mark wetmore and the personality and the His approach to coaching kind of his bigger philosophy And I will say like he's definitely he's he's as many other NCAA cross-country coaches are but he's definitely It's the team like cross-country team championships. That's the goal like track is amazing track is awesome I love track. I love cross-country more but like that cross-country team championship That is the goal at the end of every single year So if you're an athlete out there, that's like interested in individual championships like that's great But frankly, I don't know if mark would be the best fit for you Like even though mark has coached so many individual champion champions champions It's like it's that team unit that I think really lights his fire At least based on my experience being there and just to wrap it up Like I could talk all night about stories of running for mark and we'll share more stories at some point And I'll dive into more of the training and what it was like to train and race under mark But I was able to go from a walk-on to racing at the NCAA cross-country championships I had a lot of injuries along the way as you know, but that's okay. I wouldn't trade it for the world I wouldn't I would take those injuries all again just for the opportunity to learn and to experience true grit Cross-country under the leadership of mark wetmore so again keyword is story and the question of the day What can I ask this question? I've asked this question probably five months ago Maybe four months ago, but we have at least 10,000 new subscribers since then so what coach has influenced you the most? And why in your life for me, it's definitely mark wetmore hands down you just heard a couple of the reasons why and That is that ah man I got to stop there because we could go on and on and on all right that is it folks see beauty work hard