If you ever see a shirtless man running shirtless around campus with cool socks, split shorts and a determined look on his face, chances are that’s sophomore Thomas McNamara. Running is in McNamara’s DNA. He first ran the sport competitively in the sixth grade with track and field and trying out Cross-Country in the eighth grade. Outside of running McNamara enjoys several hobbies including collecting baseball cards, watching TV, as well as playing video games and hanging out with teammates. What Thomas loves most about his sport is the people he meets, his family that comes supports him every race, and that generally Cross-Country athletes are very nice people.
Although Cross-Country on paper may seem like an individual sport, it’s a lot more about teamwork then you may think and it’s clear that McNamara is a very team oriented person. His team’s success is just as important as his individual accomplishments. McNamara puts hard work and dedication in practice so he may reap the rewards later. While he has quality times with his personal records in the 5k, 2 miles, and mile being 16:17, 9:54, 4:29; his goal is to take it a step further and break his schools 3k and 5k records as a sophomore. With his talent combined with his dedicated work ethic, there’s no doubt in my mind that he won’t be able to achieve these feats. Many of his teammates, coaches, friends and family members will be rooting for him. These are also the people that gives him the motivation to be successful in his sport, while also getting motivation from the idea of good times and watching motivational videos.
Always making sure to drink lots and lots of water, he also makes sure to consume low intakes of sugar, while consuming Nature Valley granola bars as his go-to prerace snack. In terms of music, before his races he often listens to 70’s funk, 80’s rock and songs from the Rocky 4 soundtracks.
McNamara generally trains 7 miles a day, every day of the week. While having no major injuries throughout his career, he has had minor issues with his hamstrings. If he had to pinpoint his greatest weakness as a runner it would be puts too much stress and pressure on himself, understandable knowing all the goals and aspirations he is working for. One of these aspirations is after college cross country, he still wants to continue his running career and train to run in the Olympics at the 5k distance. In addition, he aspires to give back in his sport and become a Cross-Country coach at the division 3 level. As a team oriented person, the reason why he wants to become a coach is to help other people succeed and reach their goals. He is confident that he will be a great coach, with his best qualities being his hard work ethic and his natural ability to work with other athletes.
Thomas McNamara is a person one can see becoming one of the greatest athletes Cross-Country that ever walked through Concordia University Chicago. One-day Thomas McNamara may be looking at his name on Concordia University Chicago’s athletes hall of fame.
