Sunday, November 30, 2008

What lurks in Michtrack's basement?

A few people this fall have kindly said they were checking my blog occasionally. I was touched--how nice. Then there are the others who simply seemed surprised to see me alive. My fault entirely. If I were being paid to blog, I'm sure I could be more consistent at it. As it is, at least in the fall, I'm lousy.

I'm not the type to make excuses, but here they are anyway. 1. Coaching-every fall I venture back into the coaching ranks and mentor a middle school XC team. These kids rock. But there are 100 of them, and by the time the season is over I realize why I don't want to coach year-round. Middle schoolers are loud and often unresponsive to our urging them to practice civilized behavior. "Herding cats" couldn't be a more accurate term. My blood pressure always spikes in the fall, and I need a few months of absolute silence in order to regain my equilibrium. I break out the stamp collection. Watch leaves fall. Forbid my family from speaking. That sort of thing. I'm okay now, I think.

2. Teaching. I love it, so I'm not going to complain. But I will trade jobs with anyone for a day. And then you'll know what I'm not talking about...

3. The economy. And trying to sell a house. And putting a wife through nursing school. And dealing with a mortgage at Countrywide. Non-stop fun.

This all leads us to the original question: what lurks in Michtrack's basement? The time has come to clean it out, and sell the mountains of track and running publications. In no particular order, I'm listing it on eBay. Check it out. Of particular interest to Michiganders are some nearly complete sets of Michigan Runner, West Michigan Running News, and Western Runner.

Ranting about track is soon to come.