If Jackson High School cross country runners need an example of how to train and race, they need look no further than their coach, Brian Olsen. The 43-year-old Jackson resident earned his his first Michigan Runner Masters Male Runner of the Year award, compiling 80 points in the MR race series.

Olsen has been head coach at the school for the past two seasons after serving as an assistant for many years. His wife, Martha, has been active in running and coaching, and daughters Kristina, 16, and Hannah, 14, are harriers on his team.

Olsen, noting how many many excellent masters there are in Michigan, said, "I thought I had a shot to be in the top five, but my main goal was just to perform well." He accomplished that.

He was the top state master at five series races: the St. Patrick's Day Corktown 4-mile (21:35), Borgess Half-Marathon (1:16:16), Grosse Ile Memorial Day 8K (27:01), Cherry Festival 15K (54:11) and Steve's Run Trail 10K (35:34). He was the second age-40-and-older finisher at the Frankenmuth Volkslaufe 20K (1:13:33), and posted times of 59:44 for 10 miles at Crim, and 1:32:11 for 25K at the Fifth Third River Bank Run.

Olsen fared well on the local level too, winning the Jackson Citizen Patriot race series overall. He finished top master at the Advance Packaging 5K (16:41, second overall) and the Rose Run 10K (35:36, fourth overall).

Olsen started running at Jackson High School. After graduating in 1979, he competed for Jackson Community College, then Oklahoma State University. He posted times of 4:12 for the mile, 14:31 for 5K, and 2:28 for the marathon.

He credits Bill Lundberg, who coached him at Jackson Community College, as a strong early influence. Lundberg, who now coaches track and cross country at Hillsdale College, is a "great motivator," Olsen said.

Olsen's training regimen stresses consistency more than an intensity or volume. Never a high-mileage runner, he now logs 30 to 40 miles per week, and, he said, "If I'm lucky, I might get an interval workout in." One goal for 2005 is to break 16:00 in a 5K, something that eluded him in '04.

His running is just one of several priorities, however. In addition to coaching at Jackson High, Olsen owns Sun Control of Michigan, a window-tinting company, coaches a club cross country team sponsored by his business, and works part-time for a construction firm.

He counts the River Bank Run and Crim among his favorite state races, and the Rose Run 10K and Clark Lake 12K as top Jackson-area events.

Olsen recommends keeping a running log, something he has done faithfully during his 27 years of running. It is motivating to look back at what he's done, and the kind of workouts that led to better performances.

But the best approach to running, he said, is, "enjoy it, have fun and don't overanalyze.

"It becomes a way of life," Olsen said.

Writer Paul Aufdemberge - Michigan Runner of the Year in 1996, 1999 and 2000 - ran a personal-record 2:20:03 marathon in Columbus Oct. 17. He joined the master's ranks, turning 40 Dec. 30. M R