Rim Rock Revisited

Last weekend, I participated in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to go back in time and relive some of the glory days of my past. Well, not exactly. As an invited member of the KU Alumni Cross Country Team competing at Rim Rock farm (KU's famed home cross country course) against current college athletes, I was not exactly reliving the same experience I had a younger, fitter collegiate runner. My body had aged, but my competitive spirit and love of running hadn't diminished a bit. So, how did it go?

In an earlier blog post (Glory waiting to happen), I described the anticipated event: Regardless of fitness or injury, you can bet I'll be there to run alongside some of the best runners to suit up for Kansas. Just as appealing is the opportunity to run one of the most beautiful- and toughest- cross country courses in America. Add to that a heaping dose of pride, tested against a crop of current, enthusiastic Jayhawks, and I have all the motivation I need to get ready. I have 7 weeks. When I described the experiment to my wife, she said, "well that's an injury waiting to happen." I said, "No dear, the word you're looking for is 'glory.'

So, which would it be? Glory or injury? Believe it or not, a fair amount of both. In the first half-mile of the race, an old injury resurfaced from a workout leading up to the meet. A strained hamstring tightened, but allowed me to continue running. I decided to go with it, benefiting from the knowledge that I didn't have another one of these meets next week, or possibly ever again in my future. I ran easy, winced through the pain, but knew the worst I could do was pull it or tear it. In the meantime, there was a race to be run.



Although I had friends betting I would not break 30 minutes for the 8k race (which is about 4.9 miles), I stuck to my plan. First mile in 5:45, 12 minutes at the two-mile, 18 minutes at the three-mile. Right on 6 minute pace. I started to fatigue, hit the four-mile at 24:30, then passed a few more straggling freshmen from nearby community colleges to cross the line in 30:17. Fortunately, the Alumni Team did not need the services of its oldest member, as Paul Hefferon won the race, and the team placed 2nd behind KU's varsity squad by a mere 3 points.

I attended the post-race tailgate party with my wife and kids, catching up with former teammates and friends, and relishing whatever glory we had achieved. And although an injury had been sustained that day, my pride, at least, was still intact. I would live to run another day. (Photos by Chris Ronan. Top: Colby Wissel finishing. Middle: Joshy Madathil competes for the Alumni Team. Bottom: Chris Jones (right) and the author emerge from the covered bridge. Video by Lori Montgomery.)

It's Complicated

To prepare quickly for the Aug 30th cross country race at Rim Rock, I knew I'd have to adjust my regular summer training, consisting of moderately paced runs between 6 and 10 miles. Time to step it up with some interval work. Besides, I remember I used to visit a track near my home. It sounded like a good idea anyway, but, like so many things, my relationship with the track is complicated.

I used to love the track. Back in college, we had a very close relationship. I saw her everyday. We spent a lot of time together- sure there were some rough patches, but we had some great times too. Unfortunately, some time after college, I fell in love with other things, like cheeseburgers, a good beer, and well, we stopped seeing each other.

So I was a little apprehensive visiting the track last night for the first time in years. Would she even remember me? Would she be glad to see me, or not? Maybe, I thought, I could just pick it up where I left off...

No chance. Turns out, the track did remember me, and she wasn't happy about the way I had left her. Now, I found myself pleading for her forgiveness, and mercy. No such luck. She kept reminding me how long it had been, how I was taking things too fast. She said, "take it easy, we've got a lot of catching up to do." She was right. I was jumping the gun, so we slowed things down.

After a long night of getting reacquainted, I think we may be able to patch things up. I don't think I'll ever love her the way I once did, but maybe, one day, we can become friends again. We'll just have to take things very slow. One step at a time.

Glory waiting to happen

In the fall of 2007, Colby Wissel crossed the finish line at the NCAA national cross country championships to end his prolific career as KU's last cross country All-American, and the sport's first back-to-back All-American since 1959. Now, the KU alumnus is forming a team of KU alumni to compete again at Rim Rock Farm in the Bob Timmons Invitational on August 30th.

Regardless of fitness or injury, you can bet I'll be there to run alongside some of the best runners to suit up for Kansas. Just as appealing is the opportunity to run one of the most beautiful- and toughest- cross country courses in America. Add to that a heaping dose of pride, tested against a crop of current, enthusiastic Jayhawks, and I have all the motivation I need to get ready. I have 7 weeks.

When I described the experiment to my wife, she said, "well that's an injury waiting to happen." I said, "No dear, the word you're looking for is 'glory.'" I'll keep you posted.

Profiles in Leadership: Billy Mills

In a recent class, several of my students admitted they had not heard the story of Billy Mills (okay, all of them). Mills, who is one of my heroes, is someone every KU student should know about- not only because his story is so inspirational- but also because his story says so much about who we are and what we can accomplish.

Without going into a full biography of Billy Mills, which you can read here, I'll just offer a few of his quotations. The first is one he found in a psychology textbook when he was a student at KU. It said that "the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between reality or imagination." It was that simple message that initiated his vision of winning an Olympic gold medal. Another quotation attributed to Mills is the following:

"Every Passion has its Destiny."

This is something to keep in mind as you develop your own goals and set your own vision. Your will to prepare will help determine your own destiny and whether or not your passion is ultimately realized.

Finally, in response to his winning the 1964 Olympic 10,000 meter gold medal (he remains the only American ever to win the event), in what many consider the greatest Olympic upset in history, Mills simply said this:

"To me it was never an upset. I got myself into great shape, I went over there to win the race, and I did it."

In other words, winning became a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Mills' vision was realized in Tokyo. If you've never seen footage of the race, you absolutely must watch it.

First 5k

I remember my first 5k- I was 10 years old, and my childhood friend/rival (he came from a big Mizzou family) called me at 6am one Saturday, basically to dare me to run a 5k he was doing that morning with his mom. Naturally, I begged my mom and dad to take me, only to get beat by one second. The frustration of that loss probably fueled my entire running career.

So I didn't take it lightly when my oldest daughter, Sydney, asked to do the "Hilltop Hustle", a benefit for her child development center, with me this year. Since I still try to be competitive, I've been fortunate to win this particular 5k a few times- my favorite moment coming the year that Sydney (only 2 at the time) broke away from her mom to run after me at the finish- we crossed the line together, sharing the thrill of victory.

Now at age 4, she'll be going into kindergarten next fall, so she's in her last year of preschool at Hilltop. Frankly, I thought this was the perfect first 5k for her to try. Plus, I reasoned, once she tried and failed, it would give her a greater appreciation for the accomplishment once she was old enough to actually finish the entire distance. I figured the biggest challenge would be holding her interest, assuming she would want to go home after a mile or two.

Well, surprise surprise. Sydney was geared up and ready to go, running the first 3/4 of a mile before slowing to a walk. She then ran off and on, pointing out familiar landmarks on the KU campus ("There's Phog Allen's statue dad- is that really him?"). I almost lost her to the Chi-O fountain, filled with soap bubbles, but after multiple offers to stop and go home, she said she wanted to finish- even quoting a favorite storybook character, Madeline, from a recent movie who said "I can do anything."

She did, sprinting down the stretch after spotting her mom, sister Sophia and schoolmates, and once again, we crossed the finish line together. It took about one-hour, but she did it all herself. And she has the medal, and the memories, to prove it.