mario fraioli | the morning shakeout

Good morning! This Sunday I’ll line up with my West Valley Track Club teammates at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for the Pacific Association cross-country championships. A few weeks from now we’ll head to Tallahassee to make a run at a couple national team titles in the 40+ and 50+ age divisions. I couldn’t be more excited to share in these experiences with a bunch of guys I’ve gotten to know and care about over the last couple years, no matter how the results end up shaking out. Joining...

Passing “ONLY” on the road seemed appropriate for Tamirat Tola at the 23-mile mark of Sunday’s New York City Marathon. He won the race by nearly 2 minutes and shattered the course record, running 2:04:58, the only person ever to run under 2:05 in NYC. Good morning! This week’s issue is coming to you from somewhere over the middle of the country. It’s Sunday night as I write this and it’s my hope that I can string enough words together on this six-hour flight to take Monday off from work and...

Good, hard fun on the dirt this past Saturday at the Matt Yeo Memorial Aggie XC Open in Martinez, CA. I finished 7th overall, 4th scorer for my team, the West Valley Track Club. I went out a little too hard and paid for it the last 1-1/2 miles. The effort was there but my execution needs a little work. There are two races left in the season, culminating at the national championships on December 9, and you can follow all of my training on Strava if you're so inclined. Good morning! I’m excited...

Good morning! I’m finally sitting down to write this at 8:37 on Monday night after spending this past weekend supporting my wife, Christine, at her Ironman triathlon. The last thing I want to do right now is use my brain and attempt to string together a bunch of words, but a commitment is a commitment and I’m giving myself until no later than 10:30 PM to make good on it. (n.b. Everything from the Training Tip to the end was prepared last week.) The story of Christine’s race isn’t mine to...

Sunrise snap on a stunner of a morning last Thursday. As of yesterday I'm 299 days into a yearlong personal photography project on Glass. There are some running shots (like this one) but most are of other things I see and experience during the day. You can check out more of my images at glass.photo/mariofraioli.​ Good morning! The Quick Splits piled up, uh, rather quickly this week. Let’s dive right in. Quick Splits In a recent blog entry, renowned running broadcaster Toni Reavis ponders if...

Paddy O'Leary is one of the most versatile runners (and best human beings) that I know. In just the past few months he's raced a 5000 on the track, a high-altitude ultra, an off-distance road race, and a few local cross-country meets for shits-n-giggles. Here he is finishing up a local 4 miler on the trails this past Sunday. Paddy's an interesting dude with an awesome story, which you can listen to (or re-listen to) on Episode 57 of the podcast from April 2019. Good morning! The conversations...

Clocking in for work at the oval office a few weeks back. Good morning! I’m in the thick of racing season for the athletes I coach, not to mention a major renovation on the homefront, so my usual reading/listening/watching/reflection/writing time has gone by the wayside this past week. What follows here is a punchier-than-usual version of the newsletter, packed with as much goodness as I could fit into it. Let’s dive right in. Quick Splits I’ve written about Markelle Taylor here a couple...

I love the sights, sounds, and smells of cross-country in late September. Good morning! I’m excited to kick off this week’s newsletter by sharing a couple conversations I’ve had recently that left a profound impact on me. The first is with Don Swartz, who coaches my wife’s Masters swimming program at North Bay Aquatics in Marin County, California, and is someone I respect, admire, and try to emulate in my own life. Don was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame...