I make no attempt to hide my age, and it’s with pride that I share today, November 18, an accomplishment 47 years ago. I was a Luther College senior, captain of the cross-country team, and in my 8th season of that sport including both a high school and college career. All told, I ran over 8,000 miles in training during college, including track and field. But there was pressure to succeed that final CC season, as our previous best was 8th place in D3 Nationals.
It may seem like a simple task, but numerous hashtag#executivefunctions are involved in competition. Diet, sleep, and scheduling all play a part in race preparation. I kept journals of every workout, pace, and race result.
During this season, I effectively replaced one of our top runners who was out due to an injury, performing as the second or third man until an Achilles injury slowed me slightly. With high-volume training of 80-100 miles per week, we all experienced injury at some point. Yet we all came together that November day, and I was our fifth scoring man as we took 2nd place in the nation by one point over third place. Fourth place was only four points behind.
I recall a clear sense of mission as I ran those last four hundred yards. Years of preparation culminated in a clarity surpassing my understanding. I wish everyone could experience that at least once in their lives.
As Olympic marathoner Kenny Moore once wrote, “Running is hard, clean, and severe.” It toughens us for many other events in life. When my high school coach learned of my late wife’s ovarian cancer and sensed what it would require of me in hashtag#caregiving, he told me, “All your life has been a preparation for this.” I knew what he meant. In some ways, the latter goal surpassed the former. I kept a journal of that too. Character. Caregiving. Community. https://lnkd.in/g4YkhK6
We Run and Ride 
So great to recall that day as I remember it like it was yesterday. I was there to cheer on the guys I trained “behind” for 3 of the four years (Duke for 2 years). It was a most remarkable finish from my perspective as it seemed each of you guys passed 20 on the way to the finish. I was ecstatic, as we all were when we heard the results and I realized we had beaten I think 2-3 of the teams that beat us in regionals. And this was after some of us feared we had already peaked. I remember Coach Finanger railing on you guys for the “poor” performance in regionals. Had to be to my greatest highlight of my time at Luther!
I can understand why Kent might have been pissed after regionals. We finished 5th and that was not indicative of possible success at nationals. We had lots of challenges along the way. But came through on the “day.”