A Message from the President (July 2024)

From the President,

Writing this column, typing those first three words, is very foreign to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like being in the thick of it, and being in control of the things that matter to me and where I spend my time.  But President?  Doesn’t really seem to ring true.  I like being in the background and that’s not where the president is at.

So I think I’ll go with something different here.  I just wrapped up 25 years of high school coaching last week, presenting at my 70th or so sports awards banquet, and to be honest, it felt really good.  Having spent a quarter century focused on helping high school athletes not just become better runners but better students, better all around athletes and just plain old better people has been extremely gratifying, I wouldn’t change it for the world.  

But doing so can be hard.  To be effective, you need to bring it every day.  You need to be willing to give up on other aspects of your life, like family events, friends outings, social occasions you’d generally attend but you can’t because you have cross country or track.

I’ve been lucky to have some great athletes that have done some very special things, Becka being one of them.  I’ve had extremely talented athletes that underestimated their gift and others that were not blessed with traits that make them fast but more with an abundance of grit that made them formidable.  From that we’ve seen some state and regional level performances.  Many of my kids have gone on to great things, not having to do with running.

And I’ve been along for the journey from the get go.  I’ve seen the successes, the trials and tribulations, and growth that both of those induce.  The highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  I’ve seen some of the greatest humility through achievement and the gut wrenching, soul searching feeling in defeat.  Both success and failure are an important part of this sport. It has been a fantastic ride.

But that ride is over.  Time to change horses.  Time to invest that energy into my own running and those that make up my running circle.  I love this sport, it made me who I am, and I’m interested in how it makes you, you.  So if you see me around, asking questions, talking smack, cracking jokes, and running slower by the day, certainly feel free to chime in, ask me a question, or let me know what you think.

And please don’t call me president…