Michael Letendre Athlete Blog
Check out MaineTrackXC's winter athlete blogger Michael Letendre's first blog. Letendre is a senior distance runner & captain for Lewiston High School. Michael has personal best 2:11.2 for 800m & 4:56.4 for the Mile. Follow Michael as he chronicles the 2011-2012 indoor season.
Happy new year to all of you wonderful people.
I suppose this is where I begin my cliché introduction about who I am. Where to begin? My name is Michael Letendre and I’m currently a senior at Lewiston High School. I began track and field in the 8th grade when a friend suggested that it would be a fun experience. I didn’t have anything else planned for a spring sport so I figured I didn’t have anything to lose. I began my track career as a thrower. That season I broke the school record along with John Peters (who continues to throw to this day) but he broke the record by a few more feet than I did the same meet so my efforts were only for personal enjoyment. During that season I had asked if I could participate in a track event and I was denied a chance to run in an event when is when I decided I would cross country my freshman year in high school.
I remember my first day of practice for cross country. I was super nervous and intimidated by the one and only Coach Putnam. For those who remember Putnam will know what I’m talking about when I say his methods were radical but I loved every moment of it. I owe a lot to Coach Putnam because it was probably his unique personality and coaching methods that really got me hooked on running. If Putnam didn’t like the shirt an athlete was wearing that day at practice he would reward them with pushups. Needless to say I didn’t go a single day of practice with rewarded pushups. In just one season I lost twenty five pounds and I’ve been running ever since.
My junior year I earned the opportunity to travel to Boston for the New England Indoor Track and Field Championships to run as part of our 4x8 team. The experience as a whole was a great memory spent with some truly great teammates. Thinking back to the actual event it felt like the officials would herd us like cattle to keep the meet flowing but to be able to spectate during the event watching some of the best runners compete was truly awesome. This year as a senior I hope to take another trip to compete once more this time not only as part of a 4x8 but as an individual.
Now as a senior I have become one of the captains for the Lewiston track team. I’m currently training for the 800 and the mile. I have a lot to work for because I took off the outdoor season my junior year and cross country my senior year as it felt necessary so this season I’m looking to build back up to where I was a year ago and then PR come this outdoor season. Although if all goes well and I run faster than I predict for this season then all the power to me. One of things that I find really beneficial this season is I believe Brunswick’s team is running against Lewiston in all but maybe one meet during the regular season which is going to be super helpful for not only me but my team as a whole because Brunswick is a strong team so we’ll have competition to run hard against the whole season. So for anyone on the Brunswick team that may be reading this I expect each and every one of you run hard so we can help each other perform better.
So when I’m not running what am I doing? Prepare yourself. Sounds exciting right? When I’m not running I can probably be found doing something involved with video production. About once a week I collaborate with a friend of mine to produce music videos or acoustic covers to which ever song my friend decides since he’s the one with the voice. I actually just own the equipment to record so do not be confused that I have the ability to sing or play the guitar. I can however play the drums and a little bit of piano. I also like to record some of each meet so I can share the videos with my teammates. This year I’m looking to produce better videos so that they look like ESPN or Sportscenter with the layout of the shows during highlights and whatnot. If you are going to be at a meet with Lewiston and would like your event record I would be more than happy to help you out if it does interfere with event I am running in so feel free to send me a message on Facebook or any method using the contact information provided at the end of all this blabbering. When I’m not doing either of those I can also be found producing content much like that found on Machinima Respawn for those who are familiar with that. When I’m not doing any of that I’m probably hanging out with my lovely friends or buried in some book doing homework for school.
Every blog I also wish to share some helpful tips I come across during my many hours spent on the internet so this week’s tip is going to involve different methods of tying one’s shoe. A while back I was experimenting and found that the extra hole in running shoes actually has a purpose while the shoe feels snug without tension. Anyways, here are the two articles provided by Runner’s World.
Custom Tying: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--12334-0,00.html
The Proper Way: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--13001-0,00.html
Haha, I suppose I wrote a bit more than I expected to write so if you are still reading this I applaud you. If I haven’t scared you away yet I plan to expand this blog to provide links with the videos I record for track for those of you who are interested and share some of the funny events I may encounter especially those found on long runs. Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful start to 2012.