If you don’t have a challenge, find one. – George Sheehan
Dr. Tim Tays never reached the heights of running stardom, but that’s not what running is all about.
How did you get your start in cross-country?
I ran eighth-grade track and was immediately badly addicted to distance running. So, I ran ridiculous mileage the summer before high school, went out for cross country as a ninth grader, made varsity, and all I could think about for the next thirteen years was distance running. Cross country was my worst event (I preferred the harder surfaces of track and road racing), but all of my best and most-enduring friendships were with cross-country runners. I ran cross country to stay in shape for track and roads, and to not be left out of doing what all my buddies did.
Tell me about that first race?
My first race was the cross-country time trial my freshman year. I was so nervous I only recalled the beginning and end of the race after the race ended. The older boys were a bit peeved that a freshman made varsity, but I was ecstatic!
What surprised you about the second race?
The second race was in Los Alamos, New Mexico (where the first atomic bomb was developed during WWII and later dropped on Japan). Midway in the race we were all strung out (it was a three-mile race). Some tall boy from another team ran up behind me, grabbed my shoulder, and pulled himself up to me, then pushed off my shoulder to get ahead. He did the same to the boy in front of me, so that he moved up the struggling line of runners like some crazy Tarzan swinging boy-to-boy. I was so new to the event that I didn’t know it wasn’t within the rules and was very unusual (in fact, I never saw such a thing again). A half mile further on, I saw “Tarzan” in the arroyo puking, having been slugged in the gut by our tough boy senior captain who apparently knew it wasn’t OK to pull that kind of crap, at least not with him.
Please describe your training (progression) for the season.
My high-school coach was a University of Kansas protege of Coach Timmons and trained with Jim Ryun. Which meant I did Ryun workouts, but scaled way back. I moved from fifth man varsity to as high as second man. By the time track season arrived I began winning races on the varsity level.
What do you consider your greatest XC performance?
My most satisfying performance was winning the Albuquerque Cross-Country Championship (fourteen high schools) as a senior, after having been runner-up the previous two years. My best performance, however, was getting eleventh in Big Eight Cross Country as a sophomore at Kansas University because it signaled that I could be in the mix at the conference level going into the future.
My most awesome race was NCAA XC 1979 in Bethlehem, PA when Rono and Salazar dueled it out and UTEP was so unbeatable. Sorry I don’t have any great races to relate like Greg Meyer (but I wish I did!).
Favorite race or venue?
In New Mexico in the 1970s, cross-country races often took place in the mesa, meaning the surface was clay, dirt, and sand, and usually hard and faster than grass or softer soil. I liked the hard clay, always ran better on it, and dreaded races on soft golf courses that seemed to sap the spring from my legs.
Any XC memories you care to share?
My strongest memories about cross country are the heinous workouts in the heat, and the crazy tight camaraderie I had with my running brothers.
How important is the team aspect of XC?
Even though cross country is a team sport, it falls apart if each individual doesn’t approach each race personally. Nobody can do the running for you; nobody can pull you up (sure, they can encourage you, but that’s not much). I enjoyed it when my teams were good and did well. In high school when we won City or District and I got patches on my letter jacket I thought it was very cool. In college when my teams qualified for the NCAA meets I felt I had been given a gift to participate in such competitive races.
However, even when my teams were “rebuilding” (i.e., weak), I could still get great satisfaction from my individual performance even when the team sucked. All I could control was how I ran, and then just hoped my teammates also ran well, but either way I would put it all out there. My attitude benefited my team and me.
