SimpleSoleProject

Cotton T-shirt.  Simple.  Comfy.  Terrible at wicking moisture.  Perfect for after a workout.

Over to the right there you will see a bunch of pictures.  Click on the top one and it will take you to a series of pics from the last week or so.  Included there are some post-race images from Hospital Hill Run in Kansas City (see a nice race  recap here) and my third (now annual) Lincoln All-Comers meet.  This edition featured the Doughnut 2k, maybe the truest test of grit and perseverance in Nebraska. . . With fantastic weather for a race featuring doughnuts, times were improved from last year. Results are below.

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Internet memes are all the rage right now.  I am hopping on the bandwagon.  Here are two from the “Overly Manly Man” series. 

I have the enviable position of being a high school running coach.  I get to influence and teach and encourage young people who are trying out running.  Some have a talent for it, most are just solid kids looking to be part of a team, get in shape for another sport, be part of something, or who knows the multitude of reasons why a person of any age takes up this seemingly ridiculous activity.

They look to me for guidance and support and quite frankly I don’t know what else.  But every time a season comes to an end, after each race I try to peak for, or maybe just on occasion during my run I reflect on what I have learned from this sport, from the perspective of a coach.

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Consider the picture above.  Class A 3200m Relay.  Nobody every said that sports, or life for that matter, is fair.  The person who is supposed to win, or is picked to win, or has put the work in to win, doesn’t always cross that line before the rest of the field. This is the result of competition.  If you run the fastest time of your life, but get second, is that still a win?  Does it even matter?

I have had the privilege to coach the young man seen above. His name is Mohamed Hamdan.  Likely one of the best runners I will ever get to work with.  He got outkicked in that relay, a rare thing to happen to him.  That relay team entered the meet with the fastest time in the state.  They ran one second faster, and got second.  Weird being upset about second place. Not “my team” mind you, a team I get to coach (I didn’t put a singlet on a race).  By all accounts we should have been ecstatic with the result.  But we had higher expectations, and the disappointment was palpable even though I had not run a step that day.

In the second picture you see Mo finishing the mile.  In 4:13.57.  The 4th fastest time ever run by a high school runner in this state.  He won.  It was his 3rd straight mile win.  Sometimes it goes your way.

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TIME HAS COME AGAIN.  THE 3rd ANNUAL LINCOLN ALL COMERS MEET.  INFO IS ABOVE.  HIGHLIGHTS:

DOUGHNUT 2k PRESENTED BY HY-VEE and LINCOLN RUNNING COMPANY, LNS MEET  $15 Gift Certificates to winning male and female

LINCOLN MILE PREVIEW.  FULL MILE ON THE TRACK AT LSW.