Member-only story
Don’t Stop Believing
Thanking those who helped, inspired, or encouraged you.
On our morning walk, my wife asked me if I had ever been a morning person. I thought about it for a moment and said that the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in high school, my Dad and I got up early Monday through Friday. He’d drive, and I’d run about a mile and a half to Community Park, where our home cross-country course was set up as a warm-up. I’d then run about three miles hard for time. It was the only time I could remember actively being a morning person until my wife and I started a morning workout routine.
It got me thinking about my eight years running cross-country in high school and college.
As I was entering my freshman year in high school, my uncles (who played professional baseball and coached baseball and basketball for years) suggested I go out for cross-country to prepare for basketball season. Reluctantly, I showed up for my first high school cross-country practice, not knowing the first thing about competitive running.
That first practice was running on the track until we got bored. I remember Jeff Kyle, our number one runner and Journey enthusiast, complaining loudly, “Run? On the track?!” I had never been sorer in my life afterward. Soaking in the tub and nursing tight quads and broken blisters, I didn’t…
