The Stride Report

Our man Garrett Zatlin is starting to find his rhythm with the awesome new site thestridereport.com. Garrett has been our main NCAA contributor for a while now and, although he will still be providing some strong alumni coverage for our PA fan base (I can hear the collective sigh of relief), is getting the chance to go all in on an NCAA centric site that will hopefully allow him to fully unlock the potential of his creativity and analytical fortitude regarding collegiate distance running. If you're a fan of the sport, it's definitely worth a look (and, hey spread the word if you can).

And to show him some support, I wrote my first (of what will hopefully be multiple) pieces for the site. I talk a little bit about the guy known as Ed Cheserek. Perhaps some of you may have heard of him (although he didn't come from PA, so maybe not). That can be read here: https://www.thestridereport.com/single-post/2017/04/07/Feature-Friday-The-Legacy-of-Edward-Cheserek So, yeah, if you like reading what I write it may be worth a skim.

To summarize real quick:
1) Check out The Stride Report.
2) Look for the site's official twitter on twitter (stunner) and help get the word out
3) Edward Cheserek is not from PA

But you know who is from PA? A lot of people! I'll be back later this weekend to talk about a subset of those people who ran races during the weekend. Ever heard of Luke Myers? Well you are going to! Stay tuned readers. Stay tuned.

- The Conductor

P.S. Garrett did the post about the Stanford 10k, but I liked it so I am linking it as well. https://www.thestridereport.com/single-post/2017/04/04/Digits-Analyzing-the-Stanford-Invite-10k

etrain11: Nothing Was the Same

There has been plenty of discussion both on and off the blog about the comment section and I understand your frustration as readers. Unfortunately, as a reviewer, I have not always been quick about updating comments especially when I'm working/running and not looking at my phone. Although comments don't necessarily need to go up right away to have solid discussion, long gaps is discouraging and disrupts the flow of conversation.

However, on the flip side, I hope that you as readers also understand that certain types of comments that have been all to prevalent on these type of blogs are rude, distasteful and, most importantly, can really hurt someones feelings or reputation. From my time with the two blogs, I've seen some pretty disgraceful conversation and, although I really don't mind the insults or threats aimed at me, I bring that sort of thing upon myself by being public here on this site, sharing my thoughts and becoming something of a public figure. The high school athletes talked about on this blog, on the other hand, are not asking for this sort of attention and many are likely not even aware it exists. Sure, it's fun to have a discussion and perhaps some people like feeling like a more serious athlete or feeling a little famous, but remember that I (and now I should say we) am the one making this site and organizing its content so direct your ire or frustrates at me if you feel you need to grieve. 

I've had many sleepless nights and panicked days before the moderation system was put into place because I worried about what would be unfairly said about our runners. So when searching for a reasonable compromise, I hope you can understand a piece of my struggle.

But here's what I've got for you. As you might already now, we redesigned the playground section of the blog. If you click on "playground" at the top of the page, it should take you to a whole other site rather than just one big post with a bunch of comments. The site link is www.etrainplayground.blogspot.com. We tried to set up a makeshift forum similar to what is on sites like penntrack and letsrun. On this new site, comments go live instantly, unlike the ones on here. I've enlisted the help of my full writing staff to police the site and they will be signing up for email notifications like me on comments going up. They will also be able to add new topics for discussion in the form of additional posts if requested by readers. 

The comment structure on this site will remain the same. However, I will be planning weekly discussion nights here on the blog where I will open up the comment section a bit more, choose a topic or two and have a live discussion with the readers on said topic. More on that to come as we iron out the details. Many of you out there are more creative than me, so hopefully you will have other ideas to help spruce things up in the discussion section.

The playground will still be held to similar standards as the comments on this site, although I will be a tiny bit more flexible. If the trust that we as a site give you with the playground is violated, I will have no choice but to rethink the system we have in place once again. 

I'm hoping that you all with give this a fair shot and embrace the possibility for a new system that may actually be better overall than the one we have had in the past. I really think the forum will be a better discussion option than anything we can provide on our current lay out.

Let's give this a shot. I'm trusting the process ... even on a day like today ironically.

Stay Classy,

train

STATE PREDICTION CONTEST: ETRAIN vs. PENNTRACK??

Hello everyone. As you know we love to do predictions here at the aftermath and, with states rapidly approaching, I've been studying up to prepare for the big dance. This year (my 10th season of predicting the XC state meet), I thought it might be fun to do something a bit more monumental than the usual predictions.

So, I am taking this time to official offer a challenge to our friends over at penntrackxc.com (or pa milesplit as some know it). I'm extending the challenge to have a prediction contest for the state championships etrain vs. penntrack for this year's meet on November 7th. 

My proposed set up is to predict the 25 state medalists in each division. Most correct medalist out of the 75 wins. Order doesn't matter. Simple and easy. Of course, I'm flexible with the rules, scoring and set up so there is plenty of opportunity to change it up to fit penntrack's preferences. 

I'm even down to throw in a little side wager that would keep things fun. Maybe if we win, then Don and Lex have to wear etrain shirts to indoor states or if penntrack wins I have to buy a subscription to penntrack or write a rap song about how awesome milesplit is. Like I said, it's up to you PTXC.

I think this would be a fun way to make predictions and hopefully create some additional excitement around the state meet. I honestly think it would be a good-spirited way to benefit coverage of the sport. 

However, I have no idea if milesplit reads this website (heck, who knows if they even know we exist), so that's where you come in blog readers. We need your help to spread the word and hopefully get these guys on board with the prediction contest! If you like the idea, spread it around on twitter, milesplit forums or even just comment and let us know you think this could be fun. Any support will go a long way towards making the contest a success and benefiting the sport on the whole. 

Penntrack, if you would like accept the offer, feel free to get in touch with me via email (jarrettfelix1130@gmail.com) or comments on this blog. We can then finalize terms and conditions and put the contest in motion! I look forward to hearing from you.

But wait, don't think I am going to leave my readers out to dry on the prediction contest! Although (if it happens) this will likely be billed as an etrain v. penntrack prediction contest, once the rules of the competition are finalized, I encourage all readers to post their predictions to the site and play along as well! I'll score anyone who posts predictions and put them in an official results page after the meet. We can also split the predictions based on classification (if you only know AAA, only prediction AAA and we will have AAA only results as well).

Plus the time honored tradition of the etrain State Fantasty XC draft will continue. This has always been a huge success and I look forward to putting it together once again. If you are interested in joining in on the draft or just finding out more information feel free to reach out in the comments section, by email or on facebook.

So have fun, enjoy the stretch run of the 2015 season and, of course, stay classy.

train11

Chesmont Championships

Your unofficial one stop shop for the 10/12/2015 Chesmont Championships.

CHES-MONT PREVIEW CLICK HERE (etrain)
CHES-MONT PREVIEW PART II CLICK HERE (Caleb Gatchell)

The Chesmont XC Championships are rapidly approaching and here at the blog we will be hoping to provide everything a fan needs to be ready on race day.

Monday, October 12th 2015, one of the best leagues in the state will gather for their championship meet. Early speculation is that the course will be fast. And we know the storylines will be fun to follow. The Chesmont features some of the most passionate runners in the district, as exhibited by the content of many of the comments on this site (not to mention the fact that two of my writers hail from the Chesmont as well as RTJ, Chris Cummings and possibly RJJL). 

Let's start with a quick outline of the meet schedule:

Varsity Boys- 9:30

Varsity Girls- 10:15

Junior Varsity Boys- 11:00

Junior Varsity Girls- 11:45

To get all the live updates and results check this link: http://www.runccrs.com/ches-mont-cross-country-championship-101215/. It's the place to go for any XC nerd like myself looking for more info on the meet.

This is the same site that provided quick access to results for the recent Carlisle Invitational (and I have to admit their results format is in top 2 favorite results formats alongside runhigh).

For those of you who use Twitter (I've heard all the kids are doing it these days) you can follow along with all the action @runccrs. They plan to share splits at one mile and two miles, including team standing information. 

A preview will be coming soon for this meet, but I'd like to make sure I can do it justice rather than the usual, wing it while I'm on the train. So stay on the lookout for more fun Chesmont stuff.

PS If you are looking for Weekend Recap Discussion, CLICK HERE (article itself will be updated tonight/tomorrow, comments are building up)

LutzGrind

Our man Craig Lutz is doing big things as a professional runner these days. He has made the transition to Flagstaff, Arizona where he's training with some of the best runners out there and being sponsored by (what has to be) the fastest growing shoe company in the nation (Hoka One One). Now, Craig is taking another step in his life as a pro and creating his own brand, LutzGrind. Check out the link below and snag yourself a shirt!

Click Here For LutzGrind Shirts!

Keep Grinding,

The Etrain Staff

Light Bulbs Revisited

by Jarrett Felix

Well it’s Wednesday, so I figure I should check back in on my Light Bulbs post to keep you guys informed on how things are progressing. Let’s recap the ideas.

NOTE: Sign-Ups for the Fantasy XC League and the Subscriber System are starting right now! Read Idea 3 and Idea 5 for more information.

Idea 1: Odds Makers
Odds Makers is back! I outlined the rules on lxvplus at a separate page exclusively designed for this competition. I just recently updated the site to include the “week two lines”. Hopefully, it’s not too much of a hassle to click over to that site to make you picks. I just wanted to alleviate some of the crowding that is going on over here at TheRealTrain.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions and get in your picks before Saturday at 7 am which will be the deadline (unless the meet is on a Friday). As a reminder, this is all just for fun. There is no actual money involved or any sort of real gambling. It’s just meant to be a fun way to make some predictions.

No real name has to be given, but make sure you leave some way to identify yourself so we can keep score over the course of the season. Preferably, make all predictions on the LXV+ page so it’s easier to keep track of everything, however, I will check both sites for bets.

Some top names last year:
RJJL $1,650
HSC $1,650
BJS $1,100
WeDemBoyz $700

In total, I got taken for about $4,500 which means the predictors beat the system a year ago. Thank goodness it’s not real money …

Idea 2: etrain Stock Exchange

I’ve put this one into action as well, also on lxvplus at this page, exclusively designed for this competition. The rules of the game are outlined on that page as well, but feel free to let me know about any questions or suggestions you have to help improve things.

Again, the stock market will be closed between Saturday at 7 AM (unless there is a major meet on a Friday) and whenever the next Top 50 is released so that no one can take advantage of this window to beat the system. However, trading between other investors is welcome at all times.

And of course, to reiterate, no money is actually involved. It’s just another way that I hope to get the readers involved making predictions! I will also add that this is the best way to influence my rankings on a weekly basis. If lots of people are investing in a certain runner, it probably means I have them too low on my board and I will consider moving them up in the future. So if you want to have a say in the list, get involved in the game now!

No real name has to be given, but make sure you leave some way to identify yourself so we can keep score over the course of the season. Preferably, make all purchases on the LXV+ page so it’s easier to keep track of everything, however, I will check both sites for sales.

Idea 3: Fantasy XC

I will be sponsoring the first ever Fantasy XC league here on the blog. I’d like to make it possible for people to enter the league anonymously, but that is going to be tricky because we are going to need to have a draft on some platform.

Here’s my idea to get around this. Assume, for now, this is how sign up will work and start signing up now to assure a spot in the league. If you want to be involved in the league, you can sign up in any of the following ways:

Send a DM on Twitter to either @jfetrian11 or @TheRealTrain11

Email me at jarrettfelix1130@gmail.com
Comment on the blog that you would like to join

If you are using any of these, and you want to be entered into the draft anonymously, make sure you tell me this is the case. I will need a code name to use in place of your name. For anyone who wants to remain anonymous, you or I can then set up a private gmail account under your code name. We can then house the draft in a google hangout page that does not include video. I think this will work well, but let me know if anyone sees some holes in the plan.

The league will have the following set up (rules subject to change, but here is the basic idea):

- Tentative draft date is this coming Monday, September 14^th at 8:30 PM. It’s a snake draft with somewhere between 8 and 12 picks per team.
- Set your line up each week prior to Friday at 7 AM by selecting 7 runners to be your “varsity squad”
- Your fastest five runners score, with only 5ks from invitationals counting in the competition
- Any course that is listed as a 5k, even if it is notoriously fast, counts as a 5k so keep this in mind when deciding your strategy for picking your team and setting your line up
- After the draft we will have a free agent waiver wire system, similar to your typical fantasy league with the ability to add and drop players
- We will have to decide if we want to do head-to-head weekly match ups or a different scoring system
- We will use cross country scoring (i.e. add up the places of the runners, lowest score wins, 6^th man is tie-breaker, etc.)

Questions, ideas, suggestions, etc. feel free to let me know.

So get your sign ups in now if you want to join!

Idea 4: Prediction Contest

This will be something of an informal competition as it was described in the Light Bulbs piece. If you are making some predictions on the site, feel free to leave your code name so that you can some respect after the fact for your picks. I can keep track of things in a “top contributors” type post.

We will also be holding more official prediction contests for Foundation, Paul Short, Districts, and States so be on the look-out for those.

Idea 5: Subscriber System

If you would like to receive email or text message alerts whenever a new post is made on the blog, sign up now for our subscriber alert system. Here’s what you will need to do:

1. Contact us using any of the methods described above (email and twitter are suggested over commenting for privacy reasons)

2. Provide the phone number and phone carrier or email address to which you would like your alerts sent. We will be sending the messages using an email account to both phones and emails.
3. Provide a list of the subject matter about which you are looking to receive results. For example, PAHS, NCAA, Evan Hatton, everything, everything not written by etrain, etc.

After that, you should be good to go. We will send you a sample message confirming your subscription once we have received your sign-up.

Now we are aware that you will be giving us personal information and we will do everything we can to protect it and in no way abuse it. However, we completely understand if you would rather not share this with us. We will still continue to post links to our site from our twitter account @TheRealTrain11 and that, in my opinion, is the best way to stay up to date without providing any personal information.

 
If anyone has some other suggestions related to this system, feel free to let us know. We think it’s a cool idea, but we understand the reservations you may have. Make sure you think over what you are comfortable with before subscribing.

Light Bulbs

So I was thinking about adding a few features/games/competitions here to the site. But this site seems pretty cluttered at the moment with everything going on at the bar on the top so a few of the new stuff may end up on our new site lxvplus.blogspot.com (which hopefully have some results on there).

So here are the ideas, tell me if they are worthwhile or not and feel free to add in your own.

Idea 1: Bring Back the Odds Makers

For those of you who don't remember, last year we did a little make believe gambling. I would create various odds for certain events and then you could wager imaginary money on whether or not these odds were correct.

For example, say this week I put 3:1 odds on the winning time being sub 15:45 at Viking. If someone wagers $50 dollars and wins, they get +150, if not they get -50 and the banker (me) gets +50. We keep a tally of the totals and keep track of how everyone is doing (everybody usually uses a code name so we can keep track of who is who). I think it went pretty well last year, I just need to stay consistent with it if it is going to be really successful.

Idea 2: The etrain Stock Exchange

So as you probably know, I do a Top 50 rankings for XC. This list will be updated throughout the year, culminating in a final list at the end of the season.

Say you are a fan of the list but think someone is not ranked high enough. Therefore, you think their value will increase during the season. So you could go to the etrain stock exchange and buy "share" in a runner. Their value increases by moving up the list and decreased by moving down. When you buy shares, you go into debt and when you sell them you gain back profit. At the end of the year everyone cashes out based on the final, post states rankings.

The list would be something along the lines of $5 for 50th, $10 for 49th, etc up to $250 for 1. $1 for anyone not ranked. Basically you do well by picking someone you think will improve and you can always sell at any time once you have bought someone. 

I also may add in some fun stuff like dividend payments based on certain criteria if you own the runner, but we will see. This one is a little more complicated and the last time I tried it, it didn't gain much traction, but I think it is a cool idea.

Idea 3: Fantasy XC

This is a tricky beast because not everyone races every weekend and every course is different. But maybe you just accept that as part of the game and have fun with it. 

We have an early season draft, and then based on weekly 5k times you score yourself against the rest of the fantasy league in class 5 man scoring. We just have to make the team's big enough to allow for "bye weeks".

Then, of course, you throw in the classic playoff draft for states which I have been holding every year since like 2011? I think. That's a fun one and will be happening again this year.

Idea 4: Prediction Contest

I'm going to inevitably make a lot of posts this fall, previewing races, ranking teams, etc. I am also optimistic that I will get a lot of comments from readers and some great discussion.

We can set up a contest pretty easily where I keep track of predictions left in comments and award points to those who made great predictions.

This can be set up arbitrary (I just award points to ppl how I see fit based on degree of difficulty, etc) or we can just give a +1 to everyone who gets something right.

I can also award arbitrary +1s to posters who I feel have done a particularly good job facilitating discussion, presenting ideas and bettering the blog/sport/world. That's right, the world.

Ideas 1-4 would most likely all result in a prize of some kind. I'm not sure what it would be, but hopefully I could come up with something good. Suggestions, as always are welcome.

Idea 5: Alert System

So this was an idea that Zat originally presented to me. It's going to be tricky to do because we will not have an automated system, but I think it's possible.

If you are a fan of the blog, you might like to know exactly when we make new posts. That way you can stay up to date on all the latest gossip here at the real train. You also may only be looking for specific subject matter or a specific writer or something like that.

Well, as of now, the best place to get the latest on our posts is our Twitter account @TheRealTrain11. But I'm also considering adding an alert system. We could potentially offer email alerts or text message alerts based on specific requests from subscribers on what they want to read/know.

This is obviously a little tricky because it requires giving private information to us, but all exchanging of information would be on a private basis and we would certainly uphold confidentiality. 

It's just something to consider. If enough people think it's a good idea, I will start to set things up.

So let me know what you think! 

You heard here first,

Train

Latest Format Changes

As many of you have likely noticed, we have changed our formatting here at therealtrain slightly to make things a bit easier to navigate and hopefully improve the experience for our readers.

Our "home page" will now contain all of the most recent feature posts in order by publish date, regardless of their category of Athletics (NCAA, Professionals, HS, etc). Therefore, we added a new tab, marked "PA HS" that will essentially match the traditional homepage and feature all the content that is this site's trademark. 

The other tabs are fairly self explanatory for their categories as well. Just click the tab and it will take you to the latest posts on this topic. We are still looking for more writers to jump on board and help round out some of the places where we have been lacking so feel free to get in touch. 

We are using a label system to separate out the posts by writer and category. You can click on any of these labels (located at the bottom of the post) and filter on said label (if you don't want to use the tabs). In addition, the contribution section has been updated so if you click on a writer's name, it filters based on their posts. Feel free to play around and give us your feedback.

The blog archive (on the side of the page with yearly and monthly post groups) is another useful tool for monitoring posts. It's nice to check back on predictions or relive a favorite post. And, of course, anytime you click the "Train Station" tab it will take you to the home page so there's no way to get lost.

We will continue with the rotation through our top of the page pictures, but now you can click on said picture to find posts related to site updates and site news. It's also a great place to make suggestions, ask questions or share concerns.

Be in the look out for more exciting updates and additional features and be prepared for the return of etrain. Knowing him he will probably try and make some grand entrance.

Presenting etrainLXV

Welcome to LXV

LXV represents a transformation of therealtrain.blogspot.com into a more complete site. Coverage on this site will be expanding and hopefully also increasing in quality for the year 2015 and beyond. As mentioned LXV is the Roman numeral 65. I have seen 65 different individual state champions crowned during my time. But E65 in combination with the 1/24 @ 7 release time is also meant to represent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In other words etrainLXV is meant to both honor the past, present and future history of our sport and also to expand into a larger role of the general running lifestyle.

I am hoping to expand into fields like Professional and Collegiate athletics in addition to other, non-distance running areas of high school. As a result, I am going to need to increase my writing staff. If you are interested in being a part of this transition process and contributing to the site, please get in touch with me. I will accept anonymous writers, part-time writers, one-time writers, etc. My email is jarrettfelix1130@gmail.com if you would like to hear more.

In addition to expansion, the goal is also to legitimize the site and increase credibility. Hopefully, this will expand the possibilities for what we can accomplish as a community and will increase the quality of coverage with things like interviews, video coverage and more. I'm looking to get people involved immediately for various levels of onsite coverage. If you are going to be at a meet and want to tweet about it, leave your twitter handle below a post about said meet. If you are willing to film races, post summaries/splits or conduct interviews, even better! I'm all ears for ideas and would love to hear from you as LXV is only in it's beginning stage.

This will not all be possible without additional volunteers and other great minds of the sport getting involved. I want to ensure that the increase in volume/subject matter does not decrease the quality of my posts which I feel is essential to continued enjoyment for my readers. 

If you have any questions on the new site structure, a guide has been created. Also you can always feel free to reach out to me and ask questions.

Editors Note: I've temporarily turned off the mobile platform so people can navigate the sight and get used to the new format. Within a few days I'll reactivate the mobile design as well.