The Montoya's

Since XC ended I thought I would start to read more so I researched some good running books and one of those books was Running with the Buffaloes written by Chris Lear.  The book follows the University of Colorado mens cross country team during the 1998 season on their road to the NCAA championships.  Besides being regarded as one of the best running books ever written, one of the runners on the team at the time was former Socorro High School graduate, Matt Napier.  Matt has been a friend of mine since kindergarten when we were in the same class at San Miguel.  Although life has taken us on different paths since then, it is great to learn about the kind of success Matt had at CU and now that Matt is a triathlete (a very good one at that) it is not uncommon for us to send some emails back and forth and have a long chat at any race we both find ourselves at.  Back to the story...

It is a great read if you have some spare time or are an avid reader and runner.  The book follows the season's ups and downs on an almost daily basis in journal form.  There is no exaggeration in any of the stories and there doesn't need to be.  The book does a great job letting you inside the team and you feel like you really get to know the runners and coach.  I'd say it would be hard to read this book and not put it down and be a fan of CU running.   One of my favorite aspects about the team and coach was the success CU manages to attain using only American and mostly local Colorado kids at that.  Like Matt, who went to CU not having run more than 12 miles a week in his life and leaving as an NCAA All-American, many "blue collar" kids are able to find success in the program.

Coaching cross country has shown me that there is no closer team than in CC.  Pretty much all of the kids fit very similar personalities and the adversity that they share during training, racing and in life,  brings them together into a very close knit group.  The lowest point of the book is the tragic loss of one of the runners and the book does a great job of providing insight into the pain and emotion that the team felt and how they dealt with it.  The chapter before that accident took place, I was about to email Matt and ask what that runner was up to now.  I was just that interested in him and his life and it was unfortunate for even me to hear of his death in the next chapter.

Besides Matt, my personal favorite runners on the team were Oscar Ponce, a Mexican who grew up dirt poor on the streets of Juarez and who is now a teacher, coach, and mentor at his high school alma mater in Denver.  The other is Ronald Roybal, who was self described as a "little Mexican from Pojoaque."  Besides these two, there are many others to root for including 1998 NCAA champion Adam Goucher.

So if you have some spare time, I encourage you to pick up a copy.  I'd lend you mine but I signed it and dated when I finished it and passed it off to one of my runners to do the same.