He touched so many...

No run Friday, and a relatively short posting.
However, some thoughts:
I had the difficult job over the past few days of passing the news of Lairds passing on to friends of the Prosser family.
I contacted several friends, mutual to Dylan and me, who knew the Prosser family well. Kent Wallace, Kristin Johnson, August Teague and Zach Hill.
I spoke with Kent first as his relationship with Dylan, and the Prosser family went back 16 or 18 years. Before I was able to finish my tearful dissertation Kent said “I’m there,” and asked “when will the memorial be held?” I talked to Kent, who lives in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday. He arrived in Anchorage on Friday.
I contacted the Anchorage Daily News on Wednesday. I spoke in length with Beth Bragg and Eric Hill. Beth wrote plenty of articles and Eric took plenty of pictures of Laird during his time at Dimond High. Beth had heard the news though Eric had not. What blew me away was that Eric, someone who knew Laird only through a camera lens was so shaken. Not only did Eric remember the name, he was able to recite Lairds results and records as if they were his own. Our conversation was held several times while Eric regained composer.
More and more every day I am shocked by the number of people in our communities (Anchorage, running and otherwise) that have expressed concern and grief.
As I have written before, Laird touched so many people in such a positive way. His grace, style, smile and laugh influenced so many people and will never be forgotten.

A run with good company

I had another good run Thursday. Again, it was about 7 miles. Nice and easy 8 - 8:10 pace. I got off the road a bit and ran on the trails in Bicentennial Park. Porter loved it. She saw four moose. One was pretty close that she gave a “woof” at to show who was boss.

(Porter at 4 months. She's 1 year now and still just as ferocious.)

I picked Dylan up from the airport Thursday night and we had a nice talk with Maylen up at the Prosser house. Tried to keep the conversation light but found that rather difficult with all that is going on. I imagine that will continue for some time.

We had all missed the live news but heard that there was a clip about Laird on the KTUU news Thursday evening. We watched it on the Internet and were generally happy though, as Maylen said, there was a lot more to Laird than just the runner. How true that is.

My run felt good. I am very happy to be active again, though this is only day two on a long road. There were some slight aches and pains that I have become accustomed to and some sore joints from trying to keep my balance on the ice but nothing too uncomfortable. Porter truly enjoys glancing back at me as if to say “come on dad, let’s get moving.” Take it easy pup. We’re just getting going.

Rebuilding, healing and a new start

I got really ambitious today and decided to go for a run. This was my first run since November 16th and, well, I decided not to overdue it. I took my dog, Porter, and we ran a nice easy 7 miles at about 8 minute pace. Of course the battery in my watch died after about 5 minutes and my iPod ran out of juice after about 20 minutes.
I want to thank everyone who has commented on my blog, sent an e-mail with their thoughts or called with their condolences regarding Laird. He clearly left a lasting impression on everyone. During my run today I thought about something that a good friend wrote in an e-mail. “I’ll always remember that goofy, infectious smile and laugh.” That was Laird. It brought a smile to my face throughout my run today and will likely do so on many runs to come.
Last year I decided that I was going to run my first marathon. Because I am often somewhat over confidant I decided that in my first marathon I was going to run fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Well, that didn’t happen. I needed to run 3:10 and I ran 3:17 at the inaugural San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. At 21 miles I was on pace to run about 2:55. I kind of fell apart over the last 5 miles.
So I took some time off. Initially my plan was to take about three weeks off to recover. Three weeks somehow turned into two months. Not that I did absolutely nothing (I skied two times) but I did my share of sitting on the couch, taking naps and eating junk.
I learned a lot after completing my first marathon. I know that I am very capable of not only running 7 minutes faster to qualify for Boston but finishing under 3 hours is a realistic goal for this summer. Most importantly I learned a few things, related to my training as well as race day, to help me accomplish my goal.
Wish me luck.
Oh, and don't forget to watch the season premier of Lost tonight!

And we begin...

I’ve finally committed myself to giving it a shot. I have toyed with the idea of starting a blog for quite a while but always wondered if I had enough to say to keep “regular readers” entertained. I don’t want to bore people. I don’t want to write a bunch of worthless BS just for the sake of completing a daily entry. Sure, I have a story. The question is whether or not my story is worth sharing with everyone who happens upon my posts.
Well, I decided to do it for myself. I’m not going to write for anyone other than myself. I’m going to write to get things off of my chest; thoughts, feelings and emotions. I absolutely welcome and would love for anyone to read my thoughts and feelings. Please share yours with me as well. Give me some feed back. Let me know what you think of my blog, my posts and my thoughts.
Here’s some background.
In high school I was a successful runner, skier and swimmer. Due to a number of factors, primarily choices I have made, about 9 years ago I begin to separate myself from regular competition. Don’t get me wrong, I did continue to make “appearances” at local races but my results were on a steady decline. More to come later...
For 5 years I was head coach of the Team Alaska Track Club summer training program as well as the Service High School Cross Country Running Team. As I was as an athlete, I was successful as a coach. I had fun working with young runners and being able to share a bit of my knowledge of the sport. For various reasons, I decided to step away from coaching, for the time being. Again, more to come later...
As non-committal as I am, lately I have had a hard time getting back into any sort of serious training program. I want to do it, but often other things get in the way and get me side tracked.
I read a post last night on my friend JC’s blog. He wrote a beautiful tribute for a mutual friend of ours who was found dead at his home in Seattle on Monday. While my relationship with Laird Prosser was not nearly as close as JC’s, my best friend is Laird’s little brother, Dylan. So, for the past 15 or so years, I have had very close ties to the Prosser family.
Laird has always been a great inspiration to me. His records were always in my sights (some closer than others) during my high school “glory days.” Laird always made me believe that we are all capable of anything that we truly set our minds to. Since hearing of Lairds passing I have again been left with a feeling of inspiration.
While I have had many successes as an athlete and coach, I know that I am still capable of more…