Interesting ride as lead bike at yesterday’s Lake Wehrspann 10K. My boy Jimmie Doherty showed he’s got huevos, taking it out at an honest and respectable 5:23 first mile. His training has been going well and he wanted a test of fitness on this USATF Certified course.
I’ve pushed local course certification for over a decade, legitimizing performances and promising Real Competition. Well I got it half right. I know you get tired of me harping on this but tough. Jimmie was the only Team Nebraska runner to support the Omaha Running Club’s race. Seriously, only one single athlete could make this? Not even one female?
It becomes more and more apparent that Team Nebraska is decidedly not the club it used to be, not the club that I built into a local, regional and national powerhouse. I’m getting over it but these painful reminders are still tough on me. For every critic of my management style (In It To Win It), there is no disputing that I was able to get results. Kelly Crawford has had a tough row to hoe following in my footsteps. He’s a good guy with the right intentions and does well what he does. Which leaves me scratching my head. Why doesn’t my former team race anymore? On the other hand I hear the team party was well attended and a hoot.
I urge everyone to make time this evening, say from 6:00-7:00, and get yourself to the Upstream Brewing Company. Everyone knows I’m a big fan of the Amazing Joe Cole, as fine a magician as you’ll find in the Midwest. Joe takes a couple weeks off every year and his buddy from Phoenix comes up to fill in. He scared the bejeezus out of me last year and I will be front and center tonight to catch his signature trick once again. In a nutshell, he asked me for a coin, I produced a penny from my pocket, and he proceeded to levitate it and make it travel around the bar and then back to me. You’ve got to see it to believe it.
My old buddy Deena Kastor set the American Record for masters females at this past weekend’s Beach To Beacon 10K. She turned in an excellent 32:28, how did she get to be 40 already??? Next up for the masters will be Magdalena Lewy Boulet. She turns 40 on August 8th and will compete in the USA Masters Road Mile Championships the next evening. Both of these Olympians will be re-writing the record books in short order.
I worked with Deena back when she was Drossin. Shown here racing Marla Runyan. I worked with her too when she was winning road and track titles. Marla was interesting, a former heptathlete turned distance ace, and legally blind. They were the top females of the 90’s, Deena continues to amaze.
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