Running is one of the elemental shared experiences of the world.  You can try and describe a race of any distance to a non-runner and they might kind of, sort of, maybe vaguely, possibly have an idea of what you are talking about (but probably not).

But you sit one half marathoner down with another, well that right there is an hour conversation.  You come across people in running all the time.  Some remain in your life, some pass through, some pass on. For those that remain, you share in this experience all the more.  The miles, the sweat, the bugs in the eye, the chafing is all part of it.  When they have trouble you feel the pain.

Tom Nichols (former roommate, current teammate, lifelong friend) put in some serious training for Twin Cities Marathon this year.  Hip pain stopped him at mile 21.  As he texted me, “damn marathon”.  Word brother.

Quinn Lewandowski (volunteer coach, current teammate, developing friend) rolled his ankle on MoPac last week.  One more in a long string of weird injuries for him.  His optimism is inspiring.  Good health brother.

But there have been many stories that I have been meaning to catch up on.  Two came from today, two from the fall cross country season. All come from amazing racing that I have had the privilege of sharing this experience with.  Enjoy.Start with my brother, Scott.  His marathon PR was 2:35 and change heading into today.  Not bad at all, but we both believed far below his ability. Trying some new training this summer/fall and great Chicago weather allowed him to catch on with a group and break 2:30 for the first time.  While I hope he has time to write up a race report for the site sometime, I talked to him earlier this afternoon and you could hear the satisfaction in his voice. To say I am happy for him would be an understatement.  Well done bro.

I am not going to spend much time about either of the athletes I coach.  They will earn their own place in Nebraska running history on their own. But 10 days ago at the LPS cross country champs he ran the course in 15:54. He joined only a handful of prep harriers to have accomplished that mark on the clock.  We’ll see what the rest of his senior campaign brings.

Another runner I get the opportunity to coach is Jeralyn Poe.  She is a sophomore.  Defending state champ.  One of the nicest people I have known.  She also works her a** off.  At the Roosevelt Heartland Invite back in September, she ran one of the fastest 4k times in the country up to that point of the season (no idea how it has held up).  Jeralyn will go down as one of the best runners I have ever coached.

Speaking of runners I have coached, Eric Noel (former runner, former student, current teammate) ran a PR up in Minneapolis this morning running a 2:29:34.  He has put in some serious training balanced around a life of work and grad school.  One of the guys you are proud to call a member of your training group.  Kind of cool that the top runners at Chicago and TCM, with Nebraska ties, are both familiar to me.  Coincidence?  Probably.