Come Get Some!

Yesterday I ran with two college guys, Lino and Mikey, for a nice 9 mile run. It was also the NCAA DII National Cross Country Championships yesterday and having competed in this meet exactly 20 years ago I pulled out my favorite piece of memorabilia from that day, a Slippery Rock University t-shirt. Now, you might be wondering what is so special about that, especially since I did not run for Slippery Rock, well, I will tell ya!

Our coach at Sonoma State had competed in several NCAA championship meets and internationally in his days with Athletics West and he had told us that when you compete in a meet of this caliber and internationally athletes would exchange t-shirts and jerseys. Since this was our school's first and only appearance at the NCAA champs for the men, we wanted to have the full experience of competing at this level. So when we got the list of competitors, my teammate Phil and I perused the names and came across Slippery Rock. Phil, being a geology major, stated that this should be the team we exchange shirts with. So on the day of the meet we made it our mission to seek out and find a couple of "Rock" athletes to exchange swag with.

Fortunately while searching for the restroom we ran into two guys from Slippery Rock and started up a conversation that lead to "the exchange." Amazing enough, they were the same size as Phil and I! But the best part was the saying on the back of the shirt, "Come Get Some!" When you run at this level, everyone has a little swagger in their step and sometimes we let it spill over into our apparel. Wishing each other the best and commenting on the virility of the slogan, we headed off to duke it out with each other on the 10k course on a nice chilly late autumn day.

It is hard to believe that twenty years have passed since that day, but here I am after all these years, still sporting the "Come Get Some" while running with college guys. I may not be as fast as I once was, but I still have a little swagger left. To all my Sonoma State teammates, happy 20th Anniversary of the greatest achievement in our little school's cross country team's history and to the two "Rock" runners, here is hoping you are still out there in Pennsylvania tearing it up with the kids on the trails and roads.

As always, keep healthy, keep running and don't forget to have a little swagger in your stride!

p.s.. Streak update: 37 straight days and 60 miles for this past week.