Recitations of time and tactics is great and all, but an exceptional book about running must engage on a visceral level. It must make readers feel as if they were, to borrow from “Hamilton,” in the room (or track) where it happened. It must evoke emotions and address directly the bad times as well as good, avoiding hagiography.
Matt Baxter and Ron Mann, in their exhaustive (but not exhausting) account of how Northern Arizona University built its cross country and track distance running supremacy over the decades (from the Leo “Red” Haberlock era to the current Mike Smith dynasty), fortunately struck just the right balance.
It’s a quick read, as quick as George Beamish on a bell lap.
Don’t misunderstand, the facts and race recaps pepper “Running Up the Mountain: Northern Arizona Altitude, Lumberjack Attitude, and the Building of a Distance Dynasty” (Soulstice Publishing, $28.95, 274 pages). It also doesn’t hurt that Baxter, a former NAU All-American and current Hoka NAZ Elite marathoner, and former coach Mann have vivid writing styles.
From the 1960s through the early 2000s, NAU steadily built a program that just a few years later would start to dominate the traditional NCAA cross-country powerhouses. It did so despite budget difficulties, the dissolution of a cutting-edge Center for High Altitude Training, headed by the legendary Jack Daniels and employing a young buck named Michael Smith, and numerous coaching changes that threatened to derail momentum.
That history is important in fully appreciating the scope of NAU’s accomplishments. (Quick aside: When he came to Flagstaff to train before the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, mile legend Jim Ryun needed money, so he got a job as a photographer for the Arizona Daily Sun.)
But, at least for this reader, the best parts of the book were the documenting of small moments and odd ball events that go far to humanize a bunch of lithe runners in matching kits.
A few examples:
- It was so cold before the 2018 cross country nationals in Wisconsin that Luis Grijalva’s pants caught on fire when he stood too close to a space heater. There was plenty of snow around to put out the flames.
- During the Vietnam War, NAU runners of draft age used to gather to listen to the draft lottery on the radio. Though most had college deferments, the anxiety was palpable.
- The night before the 2016 nationals – NAU’s first championship – the team’s “loose and laid back” culture was put to the test. After the pre-meet NCAA banquet, NAU’s men were among the few to stay for the dancing, especially Tyler Day and Andy Trouard. With coach Eric Heins gnashing his teeth and muttering “Don’t do it,” the injury-prone Trouard did it – he leaped into the mosh pit.
- In 2019, after the painful loss to BYU that broke NAU’s winning streak, the runners’ “hands were so cold it became impossible to untie the laces on their spikes. … Smith grabbed a pair of scissors from athletic trainer Jamie Spicuzza and cut through the laces of Bosley’s shoes.”
- There’s a nice section detailing the trash talking between NAU and BYU runners, especially Baxter and BYU’s Rory Linkletter. The two would later be teammates at NAZ Elite, and Linkletter still lives and trains in Flagstaff.
- Blaise Ferro back injury in the fall of 2020 was so bad a doctor told him not to run. What did the irrepressible Ferro do? He set up a skateboard ramp in his garage – not exactly the rehab Smith and the doctors had in mind.
- During the COVID lockdown, Smith rented four houses in Flagstaff via Air BnB to put his team in a “Bubble” to repel possible infection. Abdi Nur, by the way, talked in his sleep, annoying roommate Brodey Hasty.
Though readers who do not run might have a difficult time relating to the extremes and idiosyncrasies for NAU’s dynastic program, those with even a passing interest in the sport can, indeed, relate in the work ethic and camaraderie that imbues the program.
Note: Matt Baxter and Ron Mann will read from and speak about “Running Up the Mountain” on March 21 at 6 p.m. at Flagstaff’s Brightside Bookshop.
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