- Mar 10, 2010
- 41,040
- 101,982
When I was a kid I participated in a sport called Cross Country (USA and not sure what it is called elsewhere) and our events were 5K (3.2 miles for those of you that do not want to Google it) and I had a blast.
I had great friends that ran with me, great friends that ran against me and even guys who were not friends but we all knew one another on one level or another. A great time for all involved and a great experience to grow from.
But I sucked.
I was like the 2nd slowest guy on the team so although I was a part of the team I was basically a fill in for the mort part originally.
I was either 14 or 15 years old and only joined because my friend Matt recruited me and I have no idea why he did.
Anyway, I realized I would have to out work the other guys to be anything that the radar picked up so I did. We trained every day after school under the guidance of the best coach ever, Coach Motzenbecker, an history teacher in our school. Best Coach Ever and one of the finest human beings to walk the earth.
Coach had a plan and worked us as he saw best for us to grow into decent runners... some days I hated his workouts though as he really pushed us but was as gentle as one could be while having us run 400 meter sprints over and over again (I really hated when he had us do those). Not the point of this post though but a shout out to Coach.
So, anyway, realizing I sucked, and sucked is being kind, I figured I had to do something more than the others to be competitive.
I did. I began my day, before school, putting in some training and had a 5 mile route set up and did that every day before school and then after school trained with the others. That got me a little advantage others did not have as the extra 25 miles a week gave me a little bump. Enough of a bump that some said I was the fasted kind in school at one point (I most certainly was not!) and in a small school like ours it was nothing to hang your hat on.
I just outworked the others and ended up with a few accolades that are minimal in nature but were large to a 15 year old kid.
Fast forward to today and I see someone who makes that part of my life so insignificant as I see value being brought that we have not ever seen on this forum.
If you wonder why the BST approval subforum is so tight, it is because we have a staff member that would beat me like a rented mule should we ever compete.
That is your Moderator, @Echo. Not only is she a pleasure to work with and is super smart, she kills it in the BST approval subforum as she makes us all look like me when I first started training.
Quality, quantity, bleeping so tight on what should or should not be allowed and faster than a speeding bullet.
@iModBot is the face and a few of us are behind that face but @Echo is the one that should be getting the glory.
Next time you go to your local coffee shop and cruise the sales thread on BHW, remember it is @Echo that was probably involved in getting a thread approved, or the person that protected you from something that should not be approved.
She outworks anyone and I can see that from miles and miles away and now you can see too.
I had great friends that ran with me, great friends that ran against me and even guys who were not friends but we all knew one another on one level or another. A great time for all involved and a great experience to grow from.
But I sucked.
I was like the 2nd slowest guy on the team so although I was a part of the team I was basically a fill in for the mort part originally.
I was either 14 or 15 years old and only joined because my friend Matt recruited me and I have no idea why he did.
Anyway, I realized I would have to out work the other guys to be anything that the radar picked up so I did. We trained every day after school under the guidance of the best coach ever, Coach Motzenbecker, an history teacher in our school. Best Coach Ever and one of the finest human beings to walk the earth.
Coach had a plan and worked us as he saw best for us to grow into decent runners... some days I hated his workouts though as he really pushed us but was as gentle as one could be while having us run 400 meter sprints over and over again (I really hated when he had us do those). Not the point of this post though but a shout out to Coach.
So, anyway, realizing I sucked, and sucked is being kind, I figured I had to do something more than the others to be competitive.
I did. I began my day, before school, putting in some training and had a 5 mile route set up and did that every day before school and then after school trained with the others. That got me a little advantage others did not have as the extra 25 miles a week gave me a little bump. Enough of a bump that some said I was the fasted kind in school at one point (I most certainly was not!) and in a small school like ours it was nothing to hang your hat on.
I just outworked the others and ended up with a few accolades that are minimal in nature but were large to a 15 year old kid.
Fast forward to today and I see someone who makes that part of my life so insignificant as I see value being brought that we have not ever seen on this forum.
If you wonder why the BST approval subforum is so tight, it is because we have a staff member that would beat me like a rented mule should we ever compete.
That is your Moderator, @Echo. Not only is she a pleasure to work with and is super smart, she kills it in the BST approval subforum as she makes us all look like me when I first started training.
Quality, quantity, bleeping so tight on what should or should not be allowed and faster than a speeding bullet.
@iModBot is the face and a few of us are behind that face but @Echo is the one that should be getting the glory.
Next time you go to your local coffee shop and cruise the sales thread on BHW, remember it is @Echo that was probably involved in getting a thread approved, or the person that protected you from something that should not be approved.
She outworks anyone and I can see that from miles and miles away and now you can see too.
