3 feet tall

In 1976 our little high school decided to have a boys cross country program.  I was going to be a sophomore and knew nothing about the sport.  The thought process was I have always been just about as fast as everyone else so I signed up.  After several years of football this just seemed like a better path for a scrawny kid.  I remember getting some sort of schedule printed off on one of those machines for the summer.  Like everyone else I showed up the first day with basically zero training.  I will add that in that era we were highly active kids.  We were outside all day in the summer.  That's what we did and we rode bikes everywhere.  I can still remember those initial days of practice and some of the crap the seniors bestowed on us.  So basically the same as any other high school sport.  One of them sticks out in my mind.  He simply declared he was the best runner we had.  I had no reason to doubt him.

Today I just finished 13 kilometers.  I'll try and sneak out later with the dog for another easy 5k.  I've been moving around rather slowly and have been walking a lot more than usual.  One reason was the Doc asked me to after a simple procedure I had and the other reason is this continuing hip/back pain.  It really only becomes noticeable after a couple hours.  Well, as a guy who like long events that is a problem.  So I am trying to start exercises that might help.  Which I hate.  Plus the dog is 13 and needs a little break once in awhile, so I add in walking with her.

There is also a golden ticket event to be held in Wisconsin on April 3rd.  The winner gets into the big dance at Big's Backyard Ultra next year.  I've been looking at this for months.  But I have little success in anything that basically requires more than 8-10 hours of being out there.  I can't stop thinking about this, so I believe I'm going to be signing up.  I am very pleased that Brother Grub signed up.  He has as good a chance as anyone to do well.  That's partially why I want to be there.  Sure I want to go have a good go at it, but have to be realistic.  I think it would be neat to at least be a part of an event that sends someone to Big's.  I'm not getting any younger.  I tell myself to find a way to manage the hip/back, pile up some slow miles, and just go have fun.  So I thing that's what I am going to do.