Running With George

My running career began when my parents refused to let me play football in high school.  There was a certain rationale behind their decision, since I weighed a scant 82 pounds.  The only other athletic option was to follow my brother into cross country.  For four long years of cross country and track I managed to bring up the rear of the pack.

After a hiatus of several years I once again took up running, primarily for fitness.  A fortuitous meeting with Lori Schutt, a phys. ed. grad student at the University of Illinois, changed my running career.  Under her tutelage I dropped my mile time from high school by over 30 seconds, then extended my racing range up to 12 miles.  Later I would add the marathon.

With some modest success in local races, I attacked my training with a certain level of fanaticism.  This did result in significant improvement, but never to the level I hoped for.  I wasn't bringing up the rear of the field, but I usually fell just short of winning awards.

Over the next several decades I continued to race with modest success in small, local races.  The advent of age-groups opened new possibilities as I moved through my thirties and into my forties.  Nevertheless, time and age gradually slowed my down.  My focus began to turn from what I could get from running to what I owed running and what I could give back to the sport.

 After almost four decades of running I joined a Fast Tracks, a local running club.  There I found a forum to express my thoughts and dispense advise based on 40 years of experience, during which I made most of the common mistakes one can make in racing and training.  So here I am, as I try to broaden my audience on the World Wide Web.

George