21 August 2008

Mid Week Rundown

Running has again been sparse this week. I have, however, prepared several weak excuses substantial and legitimate reasons for my absense from the pavement.
  • 1. Usain Bolt. WOW.
  • 2. I'm still basking in the age group victory from last week, which involves me searching the local papers and internet endlessly for posted results, to no avail. I am very suspicious of hacker foul play.
  • 3. Usain Bolt. (Hey, he's got two golds, so he can appear twice.)
  • 4. The Olympics in General. What I find most humorous is the stuff coming out of China regarding the firewall. Click here and definitely click here.
  • 5. Usain Bolt. (He's still got one event left.)
I have managed two runs and a total of 20 miles. Both runs felt good and were at a decent clip. Once again, I'm looking forward to this weekend to get in some serious miles. Ahh, once again putting off the real running until the weekend. Once again, we'll see...

I used to have a picture of myself with an Olympic Gold Medal around my neck. No joke. Unfortunately, I can't find it. The medal wasn't actually mine, but Beau Hoopman's. Beau and I graduated from high school in the same year and it's a privilige to consider him a friend (even on Facebook, so you KNOW we're tight!). In high school Beau was one of those freak athletes, much like Usain Bolt, whom I usually hate because they make sports look easy. (And now he's been compared to Bolt...) I believe he lettered in Football, Soccer, and Cross Country in high school, which is remarkable when you consider all of those sports are played in the fall. He lettered in CC his freshman year, Football his sophomore, and then Soccer his junior and senior year as a goalie. When he was a freshman at the U-Dub, a rowing coach looked at him and thought he looked like a good athlete. Long story short, he's won a Gold in Athens and a Bronze in Beijing, and he's got a sign up on the outskirts of our hometown that reads "Plymouth, WI: Home of Olympic Gold Medalist Beau Hoopman." Really, really cool, and he couldn't be a better guy.


A couple years ago he was the Master of Ceremonies for the Plymouth Christmas Parade (just another little gem in a small town) and I caught up with him after at a local pub. After being polite and asking about his parents and talking about the weather, I cut to the chase and asked to see the hardware. To get to look at and wear the medal was most likely the highlight of my athletic career. Now if only I could find that damn picture!

Beau, if you happen to find this blog somehow, I'd like to let you know I recently won a RoadID bracelet for winning my age group in a half marathon. If you'd like to try it on, just let me know. I'll even snap a photo. Oh yeah, and it's an honor to call you a friend.

3 comments:

Marcy said...

I think I'm friends with Snoop Dogg on Facebook, we're def tight :P (I kid!)

That's pretty coolio, homie! He sounds like a nice dude.

Aron said...

oh that is fun! i want to try on a gold medal :)

Jess said...

You lost the picture?!