Getting my happy on this morning with some of my favorite country music Christmas Carols, fresh brewed Java Estate, and oatmeal with blackberries and pecans.
Have to revisit yesterday’s column for a moment though. Good to hear from my old buddy Jordan Tucker yesterday responding to the scorched earth policy of mega events. Good kid with a sound head on his shoulders, we miss him here at Team Nebraska. Also heard from local running icon Ron Olsen. Seems it was one young lady’s idea of fun to jump into the run near the finish, ahead of eventual “winner” Roxi Erickson and second place finisher Emily Langdon. She was enjoying the non-race so much she decided to run through the finish chute to celebrate the awesomeness of non-competitiveness. What cheer! Wish I knew her name and I’d out her right here.
As we tick tock towards the end of 2012 I’d like to suggest we bury a couple of overused and misused words/phrases of the last 12 months. The first to be deep sixed should be “Woot Woot”. I’m all for congratulations when in order but this little double dose of nonsense has put a kink in my tinsel all year. The next isn’t a bad word at all, just misused or worse, misspelled, both of which curdle my egg nog. Epic. Seems like this word is dropped at any occasion, really now, just how many “epic” occurrences can you have in a day, or week, or year, or lifetime for that matter. Further, if something truly remarkable happens it is an epoch event. An epic is a lengthy narrative or poem.
My annual Christmas epic will be epoch this year.
Bring on the snow! Seven inches tomorrow night and I’ll be the first one out putting tracks around my beloved dojo. Perfect time to be in base building, long slow miles spent enjoying the winter beauty.
And now some of my favorite pics from the last 12 months:
We kicked off the year with our annual Hair of the Dog fun run. A nice donation to the Food Bank of the Heartland warmed many of our hearts.
A trip to Houston and the USA Olympic Trials Marathon was next up.
I hosted numerous Saturday morning runs in an effort to boost camaraderie among the mates. The breakfasts that followed always a highlight.
The mates out in force at State Farm 10 Mile. Where’s Luka? He was in the bathroom when the gun went off!
Our road race management team hard at work prepping for the Ni-Bthaska-Ke Trail Runs. The Upstream Brewing Company is a nice second office.
Linda & I did most of our 196 quarter mile repeats at Two Rivers State Park. We trained 1700 miles between January 1st and June 15th, alas Grandma’s Marathon proved to be a cruel mistress.
Linda kicked off our Wednesday Night Kids Fit Program, attendance continued to grow throughout the year, getting fun and fitness all summer long.
Our Team Nebraska studs came together for some very Real Running.
I took my dear sweet Alli to Coos Bay, Oregon in July. Visited a lot of Steve Prefontaine’s stomping grounds.
Our Wednesday Night Training group swelled to 50+ most weeks.
The 2012 USA Club Track & Field National Championships were held right here at Burke Stadium. I was proud to be the meet director, ably assisted by Linda for over 2 and a half years. A true labour of love.
Maybe some more pics tomorrow. This is fun!
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