First they came for basketball . . . Mizuno and Atlanta Track Club Combine Forces

Years ago, Nike made a value decision that sponsoring youth teams would pay off big when the kids got bigger and bought their own shoes. That decision included a second component - when a LeBron James turned pro, they'd already be in the Nike stable. 

It's Nike versus adidas versus Under Armour, not to mention the legions of others that want a fat slice of the lucrative basketball pie. The youth teams at all levels get sponsored by somebody, and the teams at the elite level get enormous benefits in travel expenses and entry fees. The coaches often earn very good livings shepherding their charges through the tangled system. Some reportedly double their money, acting as runners for agents for the most heavily recruited ballers.  

The money comes with strings, though. Ask Mike Flynn, who tried to set up a team for women, the Blue Star Select National Team in 2009. Two of the players that he invited to the squad were Nike athletes. The heirs of Bowerman were not amused. 

"I am going to suggest to the other Nike teams not to play in any events that this team plays in," said Roland McAbee, coach for the Nike-sponsored Georgia Elite . . .If we stick together on this, Mike [Flynn] will have to play under-talented teams and it will be very hard for him to find competition. Also, if teams do not attend the Blue Star events, it will have the same effect along with not providing him the income to support this team. Nike should drop all of its sponsorship and support for anything Mike has."

The official Nike response was more restrained.

Nike spokesman Knox said "In regard to the opportunity for players being involved in representing a national team, those players are expected to return to their original Nike team for all July competitions."

Feel free to color me as a nut job, but in neither of those statements do I see a concern with what is best for the athlete or the sport. Indeed, the Nike statement makes it clear that the athletes act as a property of the sponsored teams. The players lack the control to decide where they will play - and as made clear in McAbee's statement, any individuals that try to leave the existing system must be punished. 

The influence of the shoe companies actually dictates in many people's minds where a high school athlete attends college. If you follow the recruiting wars, which I don't in an intensive way, you hear rumblings that so-and-so won't be going to Illinois because it kid is an adidas product and the Illini play in Nikes. (Folks, I don't know the affiliations, I don't care about them, and I'm making it up on what they wear in Champaign.)

The Atlanta Track Club signed with Mizuno yesterday, a deal that moves us closer to the basketball model. At the plodder level where I run, it makes next to no difference at all. The races have had sponsors for years, from shoe companies to the local physical therapist. 

The space I expect to see the most change occurs at the elite level. We've already seen a bit of that competition building as first Mary Cain, then Alexa Ephrainson, joined the Nike stable of athletes, both before they left high school. The Atlanta deal proposes to develop two Olympic athletes in time for the Tokyo Olympics. I understand the intent, but the means escape me. To become an Olympian requires almost one of a kind genetics, a willingness to work at a brutal level for years, and a good measure of luck to avoid injuries.

The number of people that meet those qualifications consists of a handful of runners - perhaps 500 in the entire country that have a realistic shot in the running events, fewer if we count only distance events like the 5K and marathon - the ones most likely to draw attention. The pressure to identify these athletes early in their careers will be paramount - five years to get athletes ready is not long unless they're already in the pipeline. 

I expect that we'll see some of the strong high school runners get pulled into world of professionalism before they've had a chance to grow into fully formed people. Basketball went through a similar process when the first high school players started jumping right to the NBA. The league, after multiple expensive mishaps, instituted a program to assist the youngsters with the adjustment. 

I hope that the Nike Project and the new Atlanta consortium does the same but I don't expect it. We're in the early phases of the monetization of running athletes by the companies eager to sow their brand in the field of 40 million runners. The sponsorships will drift down the line. Universities already have shoe contracts. Soon (if it hasn't happened), the best high school teams will have them. A system of haves and have-nots.

I welcome the support of the athletes. The strings that come with that support worries me, though. I want to know that the best interests of the athlete get served, first and foremost, and that the sport is honored.  

I have my doubts, cynical old man that I'm turning into.

Run gently, friends - the payday is the run itself, at least for us. 

Highlights from a WIAA Cross Country Weekend

Started with a high five from Rick Riley as he ran by with his St. George women's team on warm-ups. Watched as they threw a major scare into NW Christian Lacey, coming with in a few points of taking down the eight time champs.

A pleasant chat with Craig Herlihy of Liberty Bell. His men's team qualified for the meet and took fourth, a couple of points behind Asotin. I like the kids on that Liberty Bell team. Next year, hopefully, they'll have some ladies running, too.

They do have an 8th-grader who's a heck of a runner. Unfortunately for Coach Herlihy, she's also a great Nordic skier. Hint: running is good cross-training for Nordic skiing.

Had an assistant who used to be an Asotin runner, and now, the first year away from the team, looked out of sorts. So she took most of the great pictures that I posted from the women's race, then went and joined her sisters and sister-in-racing. My thanks to Madeline for the help and the wonderful eye.

Seeing all the extended family and former runners swinging by the Asotin camp. It really is a community-supported program.

Finding out that little Lucy Eggleston refused to take the podium without her coach. In addition to goofing the published race times, the WIAA didn't stick to the schedule for awards and tried to do 2A/2B while the men's race was on-going. Lucy balked; Gundy has been her coach and mentor since she was a wee tiny thing. She didn't want him to miss it and didn't want to her final accolades without him present. Kudos for sticking to her guns.

Watching Chandler break the course record - and getting a picture of it, complete with clock. Right place, right time, fair degree of luck. The course record couldn't go to a nicer young man. A couple of coaches have asked me where he's headed after he graduates. I'm not sure he knows yet. He has the ability if he chooses to run at the next level.

Now, for a little down-time before I get back after it. First, before the weather gets to crappy, some runs. Then, according to Gerry Lindgren, get in more runs while everyone else parks on the couch. We'll see.

Here's how to get more media coverage for running - if you dare.

Something Larry Eder wrote over at RunBlogRun struck a nerve yesterday, the same one that Heather Romano struck that got me to write why Runners Will Never Have Parades a couple of weeks ago.

The piece that Larry wrote started with a discussion of Rita Jeptoo’s positive 'A' sample test when he was asked what his agenda was. He started by saying, quite appropriately, “In my mind, the agenda of the people who confirmed my story on Rita Jeptoo was a shared, sincere interest in cleaning up the sport. “

The article went on to discuss how to improve the sport by aggressively pursuing dopers and cleaning up suspicion that every major successful runner must be like Lance Armstrong, doping. It is grossly unfair to the majority of athletes out there who run clean and step with integrity to the line with to race.

It’s a very real problem, and Larry Eder is spot on that this is the top priority of the sport. He interjects a second agenda item that he ties back to the need to eliminate doping, that of the need to improve media coverage of the sport. His reason is that spectators need to  cheer for athletes they know are clean.

This segue to television made me wince.  Not because I disagree with him, not completely, but because there is a way to get what he wants – and none of us will like the answer.

Quoting Larry:

A reappraisal of the mediocre way in which many of our events are presented in the media is probably next on the list. We destroy any interest in young fans with our inability to provide them key events that are responsive on all media platforms. . . . Non-paid cable TV is key to providing Europe, Asia, Africa and especially the US with major athletic events. Streaming video is important, but terrestrial TV would gain a larger and wider audience and should be a beginning point for media coverage of our sport, not some add-on in 2014. 

Let’s start with the part that I don’t disagree with – I would love for more media coverage for the athletes. Hell, I write a blog that does nothing but write about local cross country and track. The traffic is minimal. A few of the kids that run get a kick out of the reports, parents that can’t get to the race send thank you’s, and everyone else couldn’t care less.  It would be great if the youngsters in my area got the same attention that sports with balls – football, basketball, baseball – get. It doesn’t happen because not enough people care. I keep writing it for those few who do - the same way I did with the books. 

Now for the parts that will rankle a few people. Television is an expensive medium to work with and non-paid television is an oxymoron. Somebody is paying for it, somehow. By asking for non-paid terrestrial coverage, we essentially are asking for a subsidy to the sport. I have a hard time believing that we’re the most special snowflakes that should get coverage, ahead of the other special snowflakes.

Football, to pick on the biggest of the elephants hogging the bandwidth, trades coverage for fans. Lots and lots of fans with lots of income they can be separated from.

Professional running athletes don’t have fans, because the average runner will opt a good run rather than  spend time watching someone else compete as a runner. People who run have heroes they look up to but that is a fundamentally different relationship than the average Seahawk fan has to Richard Sherman. The average Seahawk fan lives vicariously through the team because they don’t play the sport themselves. Runners don’t put themselves in the shoes of Ryan or Sarah Hall; they put on their own shoes and hit the trails.

So, the next question would be how to get the spectators, versus the doers, to watch?

The answer is you can’t, not the way the sport is configured now, mostly because the average running event is boring as hell to a non-runner. Everyone can see a touchdown. Very few can see a tactical change in pace of a few seconds along with a cover by the other runners in the lead pack. So marathon coverage breaks down to a hour and forty-five minutes of tedium, a timeout for a commercial in a sport that does not take time outs, and the inevitable missed break that happened while the network carrying the race tried to make some money. That’s about a scintillating as an chess match. Golf has more drama than the average marathon.

So, without a compelling drama, viewers won’t watch and television is a bust. The stories of the athletes are not enough. Every sport has compelling stories. We, as a sport, need the fans to care about what happens on the track or road or trail; and, pretty universally, they don’t.

They used to, though, a hundred and fifty years ago. Just as football and basketball started, pedestrianism began as a working class sport, along with foot racing. Athletes attracted a wide following, newspapers provided coverage, and fans showed up. Most of those events would be considered in the ultramarathon range of distances, but shorter foot races existed.

The spectators cheered for their champions, and jeered the challengers. Fist-fights would break out. The fans cared, mostly about their money, not the athlete, because they gambled on the outcomes. For them, the walkers were the equivalent of race horses, mounts to wager on, and cheer to the pole. Losers suffered vitriol from their backers.

With the gambling and the money came the corruption. This led to formation of the various amateur associations in the early part of the 20th century, both here and in England, and the eventual vilification of the professional over the pure in spirit amateur. As with everything, the major change was who got to make the money, shifting from the punters and walkers to the associations.

Gambling provides a driving force for the popularity of football, baseball, and basketball. It’s so entrenched that talking heads on ESPN talk about point spreads without considering the moral hazard of gambling.

(A quick aside – I have no problem with gambling. You want to gamble, nobody’s going to be able to stop you. For me, I figure there are two types of people that go to Vegas, losers and gamblers, and the only difference is their attitude when they walk in through the doors to the glitz and smoke. When they walk out, they’re all the same.)

Money acts as a very corrosive lubricant. Even as it smooths the path to popularity, it sets the seeds of the downfall. Look at USC and Reggie Bush, or, more recently, North Carolina and the paper classes that jeopardize their accreditation as a university. Gambling and scandals have been a part of the big three sports almost since their inception.

The sport of running already suffers from credibility problems. An athlete has a breakout performance and the first post up on Letsrun.com will question what PED they used. Not IF the used, what. Rumors abound.

So I applaud the effort to clean up the sport. We need it and I’d like to see the effort extend past the professional level and to the collegiate and high school levels, too. Given the influence of steroids at those levels in other sports, we should act proactively to protect our young athletes at least as diligently as the top guns on the track and road.

If you want to become a popular spectator sport, though, weigh very carefully the cost. There is no way to build it as a spectator sport that does not include giving the viewer a cheering interest and the race simply isn’t enough to the casual observer. They need something else to connect to, something that holds them personally. With football, the fan bonds to the players on the field who blast the running back and knock the ball loose in a huge adrenaline rush. Basketball has the monster dunk and the dagger three. Baseball has individual duels on every pitch and homer waiting on a swing of the bat.

Perhaps someone smarter than me has an answer - there are plenty of you - on how to make people care enough to watch running. Our best fans go out for runs instead of watching someone else run. The answer needs to be something more than the “beauty of the sport” and drama at the break. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and drama is life with the boring parts left out; running, when you’re not doing it, has a lot of boring bits. Substituting something else – gambling – to generate the emotion strikes me as a poor remedy. 

Not that I’m much of a gambler, but I’m betting you won’t recognize the sport when shady money finishes with it.

BPA 5K & 10K Fun Run

Hey runners! Lewiston High School is having a 5K & 10K fun run on 11/15 for support BPA. For those that don't recognize the acronym, it stands for Business Professionals of America and the kids are looking to compete against other high schools in Boise, then (hopefully) at Nationals in Anaheim.

First 150 runners that donate $10 (two lattes, plus tip) get t-shirts. They are perfectly willing to accept other donations, too, so don't feel you have to limit yourself.

Registration is onsite at Kiwanis Park starting at 800 AM.

Race starts at 9AM. I'm planning on being there to walk/run with one of my daughters and maybe help push a stroller.

I Hab a Code

The end of the month awaits, with the turkey at Thanksgiving and shopping for the loons on Black Friday. Right now, I get one last weekend of covering cross country races. The State Championships play out in Pasco next weekend at Sun Willow Golf Club. Asotin and Pullman qualified as teams. Clarkston had two young ladies, Lindsey Heflin and Olivia Lane, qualify.  Interestingly, by WIAA standards, I don't meet the standard for media. I'm betting no one else has written as much on cross country this year.

That will occupy all day on Saturday. I'll have a post up Sunday about the experience there - not the race, that'll be over at InlandXC - watching men and women that I watched grow from waifs to the top runners, or nearly so, in the state.

November business normally stays slow but this year is off to a roaring start. Hard to complain about except I didn't expect it. We can expect decent running weather for at least a few more weeks though I'm taking a few days off. As you might have gathered from the title, I'm feeling a little punk. That's what happens when you babysit little plague carriers. Very cute plague carriers, but  . . . my sinuses are filled with ick.  Not running today.

I'm trying something new with Trail of Second Chances - it's on a countdown special in the Kindle store at Amazon. Deal ends on the 8th, so click the link and grab a copy. Since I donate 10 percent of the profits, and those have been cut with the special, for this sale I decided to up the percentage to 20 percent. I would take it as an honor if you (collectively) would cost me a lot of donations. Tell your friends, too. A great book, a great price, double the giving. And yes, Amazon lets you gift Kindle books!

My Sellers Guide to Home Inspections book is nearly done. I start a cover design course Tuesday. I'm hoping to do the cover for that all by my little lonesome. Worry about that later.

Next post will be Thursday. Rita Jeptoo testing positive for doping bothers me and I think I want to do some thinking out loud on the subject.

Cold and Gloom Approach

Yep, a depressing title to the blog today. Patience.

I discovered, on accident which is the best way to learn new things, that I have many cycles to my life. In the post below, I whined about Daylight Savings Time. This, as it happens, occurs annually. Blogging allows me to take it public where only the family had to deal with it before. Happens nearly every year, right at this same time, as the days start to shorten.

The most interesting cycle occurs at the same time as DST ending; an annual evaluation and renewal. Spring in the fall, if you will. This wasn't conscious until I took some time and visited a therapist.

Me? A therapist?

Yep. Did it when I was having great gobs of success in running my own little business, winning awards and working seven days a week to catch up with demand. I was making more money than I had in my life. Had a wife and family that adored me and that I loved. And I was totally, completely miserable.

It was about this time of year that I made a management decision that something needed fixin', hunted around, and found a great lady two hours away in Spokane that I though could help. Set the appointments and made them all, about six total. I was right and she did help.

You want details? Too bad. . .

It was around this time of year that I started my first novel, Finishing Kick. Couldn't get a scene out of my head so I wrote it down and something inside cheered as it broke chains I thought could hold anything. I'll tell you the story sometime. It involves a seven year old and a spaceship . . .and being mocked.

This time last year, I started taking some classes on writing, courtesy of Dean Wesley Smith. I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm a complete pain in the butt that might . . .might . . .amount to something. I learned a ton of from him, most of it too late for the first novel, but just in time for the second.

This year, the same impulse flows in with the change of the seasons. If my count is right, I'm closing in on a half a million words written this year.

500,000. Words.

That is a heck of a lot of writing. Most of it has been on this blog and over at Inlandxc.com where I do the race reporting for the kids.

And that, my friends, is a problem.

I'm working on a novel but only in a kinda way. It needs, demands, my full attention.

I have a non-fiction book (a short one) that's 98.2% done.

Blogging interrupts much of that so . . .

I like blogging. It stays, but gets rearranged a wee bit. First, I won't be blogging nearly every day. Too much of my writing time goes to the blog, not the book. Fixable.

I'm going to keep the trail run photologs. Those are fun and I'm going to play out there any way. (Thinking of recreating a Narnia run, just for the pictures. What's a Narnia run? Ahhh, a story for later. Yeah, that's three times I've put you off.) Same thing with the interviews. I  have learned so much talking to people like Tim Tays, Rick Riley, and Jack Welch. They stay.

The same goes for the cross country blog, then track in its season. It stays because the kids love it, and someone who gives a damn should notice how hard they work.

Something has to go. And it's the content that I put up because I should write something on the blog today. A lot of it is good, some is okay, a larger portion than I'd like is drivel.

All of it is expendable.

I've going to aim for six good posts per month - four running, two interviews or book reviews. The time I recover goes to writing new words into new stories. The characters inside my head need to be free and I need to write while I can still hear their songs.

You folks that read my blog often, some of you daily, I love you guys. I hope you understand.

I told Dean, on a day where I was being especially difficult, that everything serves the story.

Everything.

Including me.

The End (of Daylight Savings Time) is Near

I don't know about you all (when I lived in a more southerly clime, that'd been y'all) but I positively hate time changes. I'm a guy that likes to follow life in a certain rhythm. Get up about the same time as the sun, go to bed with the moon, weird naturalistic practices like that. 

Those patterns assert themselves else where, too. I write best in the morning, exercise best in the afternoon. Work I can do  while there's daylight. 

It wouldn't seem as though a hour change makes such a huge difference but the evidence at this point is irrefutable. Heart attacks increase, accidents (both workplace and auto) increase, productivity declines. 

And I whine. I do it every year, though it does not change the circumstances. It does relieve a little pressure. 

This week, I'll be looking over the schedule and deciding how to adapt to the time change and to current demands on time. One of the few luxuries of self-employment is a smidge more control over how I decide to spend my time. It's one of the main perks that keeps me out of traditional employment. That, and the fact that I don't handle bureaucratic stupidity well and almost any company with more than about six people develops a bureaucracy. 

Sometimes I wonder if they're putting us on . . .

I tend to frequent LetsRun.com, which is a great site for all sorts of running information. The site has the best forum in the virtual world despite being testosterone fueled. While it attracts a certain percentage of jerks, always posting anonymously, it has a deep well of knowledge, too.

The questions posed can be thoughtful, interesting, and occasionally, inflammatory.  Or today, just flat out weird.

There is a very good chance my daughter will qualify for the upcoming state meet. However, her coaches consistently subtly undermine her confidence because they don't like her. They claim she is not very friendly to them... which is true because it is her way to protect herself from getting picked on.

I don't want drama, but if she does make it to the state meet (and the team doesn't), then I DO NOT want the coaches working with her alone for the week before the state meet. I also do not want her to have to ride over to the state meet with the coach(es). If I talked with the coaches in a straightforward fashion about this, I am pretty sure they would perceive me as being a difficult parent, and I think they would make things difficult.

What ironclad excuse could I use to meet my objective of not allowing interaction between the coach(es) and my child, and yet avoid other difficulties (like the coach trying to keep her from running at the meet)?

I really don't know what to make of this. Maybe because we have such good relationships with the parents of our kids, we don't see what happens elsewhere. Except I don't see any signs of it at any of our meets with other teams either. 

The deeper you get into this particular post, the odder it gets. 

Every coach gets the occasional odd or over-involved parent - Tim Gundy, Asotin's coach might even throw me in that category though I made him a deal - I'd train the girls out of season and deliver them to him healthy. Then I would butt out and cheer from the sidelines during the season.

I have never seen a coach that did not want his athletes to run well, so the idea of intentional sabotage hurts my head. Yet that is what the parent is stating, quite baldly.

His (possible) reason? He, the dad, was a better runner than the coach way back when and the coach is acting out of envy and pettiness.

And my thought? Is this guy for real? I can't help but feel that the guy asking the question is sitting at his computer chortling because he's having fun at everyone's expense. While, of course, besmirching coaches and making parents look like lunatics.

God, I hope we're not going to turn into Little League Baseball.

Anybody got some thoughts? Feel free to post them in the comments (if they work for you - Internet Explorer has problems with this platform.). You can email me too.

Run gently, folks. 

Visiting Mead High School

On Wednesday, I headed to Spokane, first to meet with Dori Whitford and her creative writing class. After that, I hung out in the runner/writer way until Mead High Schools cross country meet in the afternoon. A recap of the racing can be found over at InlandXC's Blog. 

A true pro at marketing would have gotten pictures of himself in front of the class. I was too busy yakking. 

Dori's creating writing class was interesting. For those that think teaching is easy, trying to hold the attention of 30-some odd teenagers can disabuse you of that notion. Fortunately, most of them were paying attention and a good sized group actually engaged and asked some very cool questions.

The questions ranged from the creative process - what do you do when you get writer's block (which I'm lucky enough to avoid for the most part) - to the process of publishing - how do you get a self-pubbed novel onto the different platforms. My favorite was "Do you have any plans for novels that don't include running?"

Yes!

As I expected, and Dori warned, some of the kids are very introverted and introspective. Since I'm that way myself, I get it, and appreciated the effort it took for some of those young men and women to ask questions. They won't understand how much I appreciated the help. this was my first presentation to a class like this and I was totally outside my comfort zone. I'm not a natural speaker and it takes major effort to get in front of people - but I love conversations and we ended up with a nice give and take. So much so that I almost ran the class out of time.

There was one young man in there that apparently reads tech manuals for HVAC equipment so we talked briefly about home inspections. My kind of kid.

After the presentation and before the meet, I went and ran the switchbacks near the school. For those interested, the pictures are a few posts below. It was a pleasant run, my first this season in long sleeves. Winter lurks.

I headed back up to a small strip mall to grab a bite to eat. The restaurant, conveniently enough, was right next to Runner's Soul North. I ducked in with a book and had a nice conversation with a young lady who had a creative writing degree and knew Rachel Toor. Very cool. I left her a copy of the book with an offer to drive up for a book signing. they had been thinking of having one with Rachel and might have us there together. I'm betting Rachel has more fans than me so I hope she doesn't mind .

It just dawned on me (it's early and I'm a pot short of coffee yet) that you may not know that Rachel Toor is the author - a good one! - of On the Road to Find Out. Her novel is very different from mine, with probably more mass appeal as it combines a coming of age story of a young lady with a new found love of running. 

I haven't met her in person yet despite the fact that we live only a couple of hours apart. Hopefully that will change soon. 

And think about buying her novel. It's an interesting read that goes in directions you don't expect.

It's okay to buy mine, too. Really, there's no reason not to do both.

Off to cover the District 7/9 2A/2B meet in Clarkston. Next weekend, it will be regionals in Pasco. If you want your book signed, track me down -any of the Asotin kids or parents can point me out - and I'll autograph your copy. 

Run gently, friends!

Mead Switchbacks

There is likely a proper name for this trail but I don't know it - I was introduced to it by Dori Whitford, the XC coach at Mead. I did a session with her creative writing class and she gave directions to the trailhead (Discovery Pass required). From the school, proceed west on Hastings Road to the first light. Turn right.  Make the very next left and angle right to the gate. That easy.

The top of the trailhead. You start at the edge of the valley with a downhill tack from the residential section.

After about half a mile of downhill running, I bottomed out in another residential section. I might have to knock off a bank or two, but I wouldn't mind living here. I need to slow down more when taking pictures.

Just. . . .wow.

There's a pretty little bridge to cross. Sidetracked by the views.

Not all the trails lead out. . . but even the dead ends are worth the backtrack.

Ended up doing a bushwhacked across the open ground. Yes, bonus miles were involved. Going off trail always puts me into bonus miles. Found a deer trail that finished in a pretty little clearing. The deer apparently like it. They left their calling cards.

Welcome to the Disruption, I hope you're enjoying the Ride

I'm heading up to meet with the kids in the creative writing class at Mead High School later this morning. I don't have a defined talk and, according to Dori Whitford who teaches the class, not all of them are aspiring writers.

No problemo.

These students are coming of age in the most disruptive technological period in history, one that started in the 1960's and has an equal number of decades to finish reordering our human society. That's under the presumption that Ebola doesn't stop us in our tracks, the Russians don't resort to nukes, and that fanatical Islam doesn't gain ascendancy among the more enlightened Muslims.

Hey, I'm a writer. I'm good at doomsday scenarios.

So the emphasis of the talk this morning will be to find the curls in the tsunami and surf them successfully.

I self-publish. That's one curl. Others design lives built around passions and simplify. That's another curl.  Dozens exist, each a small niche that leads to an exciting and fulfilling life. 

The trick is to see the curl. To do that, you have to stop fighting the wave, accept it, and flow. 

The future can be very bright. Assuming Yellowstone doesn't blow or we don't get hit by a meteorite. I like to worry about the crap I can control and there's a wave out there with my name on it. It's my job to catch it instead of getting swamped.

Linkfest

I've warned my girls against running with earbuds but JillWillRun has a nice review of a pair from Panasonic that might make me change my mind. Christmas is coming . . . 

I have a major sweet tooth that I keep under control by avoiding the bakery section and candy aisles at the store. My sweetie puts up wiith my whining about no chocolate, or cookies, or cake. Running with SD Mom has a banana split smoothie recipe that looks ripe to knock me clean off the sugar wagon but on the healthy side. There is also a giveaway. Check it out.

As I ramp up my running (and gym work) from coaching cross country, I think I'll need this. 3 Ways to Use a Foam Roller More Effectively to Treat Running Injuries

Sadly, any time there is a breakout performance in running, doping is suspected. In too many cases, it's found. Govt slams AK boss for dismissing doping problem

Got to go. Lots of good stuff at the links. All these are on my regular reading list (though Letsrun.com will bury you in information!)

Run gently, friends. 

Busy Week for Races

I'm headed up to the GSL meet hosted by Mead this Wednesday. Along the way, I have a date with a creative writing class at Mead High School. If you want your book signed, show up at the meet and I'd be delighted to sign it for you.

Saturday will be the District 7/9 Championships at Beachview Park in Clarkston. Same deal with book signings there. You just need to catch me between events - shouldn't be hard, I'm slow.

Have a great week everybody! Beautiful running weather for at least the next couple of weeks.