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By STEVE MAZZONE Sports writer When he was in high school, he was told he was too small to succeed. By the end of his senior year, he was the state champion in the 1,500-meter run.
When he moved on to a small Division I college, he was told he didn’t have the talent to excel at that level. Before receiving his diploma, he twice earned Athlete of the Year by his peers.
Former Mount St. Charles standout Roland Lavallee got used to proving everyone wrong early in his career. Now at the ripe old age of 31, he’s defying the odds again and it appears his best years have yet to come.
Overcoming a series of nagging injuries and sickness that have derailed his continuity over the previous five years, Lavallee has been healthy the last year and has shown to his competitors that he hasn’t gone away.
He’s still around and he still means business when he toes the line.
“It’s funny,” he said. “I’m 31 now and because of what I’ve gone through, I should be a tired old dog, but it seems my new miracle age is (31). I’m running like I’m 26.”
Lavallee, a biology teacher and the boys’ cross-country coach at Mount St. Charles, is coming off a solid tenth-place showing at the 20th annual Mayor’s Cup Cross-Country Race this past Saturday at Franklin Park. Competing with some of the best national and international runners, Lavallee finished the eight-kilometer course in 24 minutes, 41 seconds to lead New Balance-Boston to the team title.
His performance over the weekend is the latest of superb outings for the diminutive runner since returning to competition last November after a nearly eight-month break, spurred primarily by tendonitis and a bout of the flu.
Those two setbacks were among a multitude of other injuries and sickness that have plagued Lavallee only a few years after he starred and graduated from Quinnipiac College in 2001. Despite running some top-level times in distances ranging from 800 meters to 10 miles in his post-collegiate career, Lavallee hasn’t had much success in staying healthy for a long period time.
Since returning to competitive running after a short two-year break following his stint at Quinnipiac, Lavallee has endured a laundry list of setbacks, including illness in the spring and summer of 2003, Achilles tendon injuries in 2004, pneumonia/pleurisy and patellar tendonitis in 2006 and his tendonitis problems along with the flu in 2007.
“It’s weird, because I have never had any ‘glamorous’ injuries requiring any fancy doctors or surgery, however, I’ve had terrible nagging injuries,” said the 5-foot-4 North Smithfield resident, who packs a well-toned 115 pounds on his small frame. “My biggest problem is that I have not been able to have many full consistent years due to pretty much bad luck.”
When he is running, Lavallee has shown the same gut-wrenching tenacity he displayed as high school runner for the Mounties that was capped by his victory in the 1,500 at the 1996 outdoor state meet at Brown University Stadium when the then-senior beat the favored Brian Norton of North Kingstown by a mere stride with his time of 4:05.36.
“That was a fun exciting race,” he recalled. “When you’re a young kid, just to run at Brown University - a big stadium and Ivy League school - you can feel the electricity.”
Lavallee demonstrated his ability to excel on the track and cross-country trails at Quinnipiac before continuing his career as an elite runner for both Reebok-Boston and currently New Balance-Boston.
His breakthrough year came in 2005 where he had a bevy of impressive victories and strong times, including a win at the Arnold Mills Road Race, where he christened the new four-mile course in 18:25 and a sub 50-minute effort at the Blessing of the Fleet 10-miler where he set a course-record winning time of 49:44. Also that year he was the 5K titlist at USATF New England Outdoor Track Championships, defeated a good field to take the overall prize at the USATF-NE Cross-Country Championships and was the sixth American finisher and 19th overall at the prestigious Falmouth Road Race.
With his strong year, Lavallee was eying a possible attempt at the marathon where he was looking to qualify for the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials. Instead, he found himself fighting the injury bug again missing a good portion of racing and training from the fall of 2006 to the fall of 2007 due to some tendonitis problems in his knee.
Even though he was limited to training in 2007, Lavallee still managed to finish second at the New England Cross-Country Championships that November and, just a couple of months later, ran a PB of 8:11 for 3,000 meters at the BU Terrier Invitational.
“It was kind of difficult and discouraging,” he said. “I wanted to get ready to qualify for the Trials. I managed to somehow lower my PRs in some events, but I was never able to get the ball rolling.”
Illness twice during the winter months forced him to miss a good portion of 2008. His first race back, though, turned out to be a preview of a coming attraction when, after a 10-month layoff from competition, Lavallee placed third overall at the USATF-NE Cross-Country Championship.
Lavallee’s top finish at the N.E. meet earned him a trip to Ireland where he represented the United States in a couple of races in February. He ran a road best of 14:32 at the Armagh City International 5K and was 15th overall at the Ras Na Heir International Cross-Country Race.
From there it’s just been a steady stream of high-level performances. In June, Lavallee ran a track PR of 14:15 for the 5K at the New Balance High Performance Series, held at Bentley College. He earned his second crown at the Arnold Mills on July 4 where he blew away the field with a 19:12 clocking and, prior to the Mayor’s Cup race, he won the Snakes Alive 5K in Glocester with a solo effort of 14:52.
“Usually at that race there are one or two guys looking for a good tune-up,” Lavallee said. “I ran 4:35 for the first mile and ran solo the rest of the way. I went out and figured I would test the waters…The course is tough, kind of winding roads. I thought it was an excellent effort.”
In this past Saturday’s race, Lavallee was just looking to see how he measures up with some quality competition. Like the Snakes Alive race, he was 4:35 after the first mile.
“This was basically my first competitive race of the year," Lavallee said. “I hadn’t had too many leading up to it. I just wanted to go out and run against some good competition. I figured what better way to see where you are at then to run against some of the best.”
Although it’s been often frustrating, Lavallee feels maybe the setbacks the last few years have had somewhat of a positive affect on his career.
“I definitely dangle on the line of pushing too far and you can’t back off if you want to make it (to that next level), however, maybe this has helped my body temper itself so that I can sustain the training longer into my 30s,” he said. “Many top distance runners are now peaking in their mid-to-early 30s, especially in longer events. In either case, my body being a smaller frame has also matured slower. I really feel like I’m (26 or 27) and not (31).”
Lavallee has obviously proved to be a positive role model for his runners as Mount. Since he came on board four years ago, the Mounties have steadily become one of the elite teams in the heavily-talented Northern Division. This year’s squad finished 7-3 in the league with all three of its losses by three points or less to rivals Cumberland, Smithfield and North Providence.
“Quickly, in the last three years we have picked ourselves out of the cellar and are now a respected team,” Lavallee said. “We’ve really come together like a Band of Brothers.”
“I think they have actually helped me as a runner,” he added. “It’s been good, very rewarding. We have a special bond – I motivate them and they inspire me.”
With his injuries and illness hopefully behind him, Lavallee’s confident on a strong finish to the year and an even better 2010 where he hopes to consistently improve on his times for the 5K and 10K distances. In the fall, he’s looking to attempt his first marathon with a lofty goal of 2:13.
“I have managed to stay healthy and am excited to see what this year can bring,” he said. “I haven’t had back-to-back healthy years in a long time. It will be difficult, but I am a believer. This past weekend at Mayor’s Cup is definitely a sign that things are headed in the right direction.”
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