Our first mandatory practice this year will begin on Wednesday, August 12th at 8:00 am at Palatine High School.  In order to participate, all athletes need the following:
 

Parent permission form - Your parents must sign this form allowing you to participate. Emergency card - You must include all emergency information on the green card. Physical form - You must have proof of a recent physical.

All of these forms are available outside of the Athletic Director's office at the high school.  Furthermore, all forms should be turned in to the nurse prior to the first day of practice.  You cannot practice until all forms are cleared in the Nurse's office.

It has been a great summer for me since I have seen so many of my favorite alums at Early Bird and elsewhere.  Here's a rundown of the latest news:
 

	Don Macatangay has been around most of the summer.  He ran with the team on most days and also worked as a special education TA all summer long.
	Brian Dankowski stopped by while he was in town.  He is now living and working in Des Moines while continuing to pursue his career as a race team mechanic.  He gets flown around the United States to serve as a crew member in one of the lower level race series so he is well on his way.
	Glenn Morris was in town for two or three weeks after finishing basic training in the Marines.  He is now going to Missouri for further specialized training before being deployed.  It was great to see he and his family at the reception the Morris' held at their house in mid-July.
	Tim Larson ran with us a ton at Early Bird this summer and is really rounding back into solid shape.  He continues to manage at Running Unlimited and is one of our greatest allies in sponsoring running in the Palatine community.
	Steve Finley had a successful outdoor season at the University of Virginia.  He advanced to the Division I national meet for the first time in the 3000 meter steeplechase and also competed at the USATF National meet in an attempt to qualify for World Championship team.  He gained a lot of experience racing at the highest level, and I am sure he will continue to develop as he gains confidence.
	I saw a number of our recent grads from the class of 2005.  Brian McLain graduated from U of I and is now working for the FBI is some top-secret location (Virginia?  Africa?  who knows?).  James Macatangay also finished up at the U of I and is looking for a job.  John Lancaster graduated from North Central and is studying vigorously for his CPA exam in September.  I think both James and John are going to run the Chicago Marathon.
	Alex Soto and Matt Dettloff trained quite a bit at Early Bird and are both going to keep up with their running careers at Eastern Illinois University.
	Alec Bollman calls our most recent grads "the freshmen," and they maintained a pretty stellar Early Bird attendance record for new collegiates.  Colin Morlock, Adam Bethke, Vlad Novikov, Eric Blyth, Jacob Starcevich, Juan Perez, and Fremd grad Austin Bruns had a pretty sweet group going all summer.  Vlad and Austin are both going to run for Augustana College while Jacob Stars will compete for Illinois Wesleyan.
	Speaking of Wesleyan, we also had a ton of Paul Kwak sightings as he gets in shape for another solid cross country season there.
	Matt Moss was around for a bit in June at Early Bird, and he will continue his seminary studies this fall in Fort Wayne, IN (I think).  Moss continues to stay in shape while pursuing his dream of becoming a minister.
	We were privileged to see Kevin O'Brien the last two weeks as he is on leave from the United States Coast Guard Academy.  He successfully completed his first year and now gets to look at his food when he eats it (among numerous other luxuries).  He will continue to run on their cross country team this fall.
	Mat Smoody has been at Early Bird off and on and is running solid base mileage in preparation for his first collegiate cross country season at Illinois State.
	A number of our alums ran the Bix 7 road race in Davenport, IA in late July.  I got to talk with J-Mac, Lancaster, Donny, Mike Ducore, and Sagar Patel after the race.  Ducore still runs on Purdue's club XC team and looks fit.
	I was mailing some letters at a mailbox by my house and ran into Chris Wojdyla, Tim Anderson, and Andrew Kretschmar on their way to Chipotle.  Wojdyla recently completed a half-marathon down at the U of I and is working on becoming a scratch golfer.  I know that his handicap is coming way down as he pursues golfing greatness.
	Tim Brodeur is back in town after a year at USC.  He accepted an art position at Oak Lawn High School in the southern suburbs of Chicago and will be volunteer coaching with their team in the fall.  His twin, Brian, continues to attend school out in Baltimore as he works on a M.A. beyond his B.A. in architecture.
	Joe Roth and Nate McPherson are both teaching and coaching in high school now as rivals in the North Suburban Conference.  Joe coaches girls XC and boys track at Libertyville while Nate has been a volunteer coach for Zion Benton.
	I'm sure I forgot a couple, but it was great to see everyone around town this summer!