There were no meets this week for Court and Jess and when I ask what happened at practice this week, I get the extremely enlightening answer, “We ran.” Instead of ending my weekly blog here, I’d like to take you back a bit.
I’ve met a lot of people over the last 3 ½ years at my daughters meets and I have been asked many times if I ran in college. I’m 6’ 2” and 175 lbs., and keep myself in pretty good shape, these days. I also know that there are lots of high school runners around the state that had parents that ran at a very high level in high school, college and even competitively beyond. Heck, my daughters have a teammate whose father ran a 4 minute mile in college. So when I’m asked that question I sometimes feel like answering, “Yeah, I had a 3:59 PR in the mile, how about you?” But in this day of fast search engines, I’d be busted quicker than Aaliyah Brown can run the 100 meter dash. So, I just answer honestly, “No.”
But truth be told, I didn’t run in high school either and it wasn’t because I was playing football instead. You see, I may have been the laziest person to come out of Peoria. The talent was there but the motivation, drive and desire were not. Remember in my last blog where my daughters got theirs? Yeah, not me. Starting around age five I became close friends with Steve LaCroix. Steve’s father is Bob LaCroix.(Pictured Right: Doug Ackerman with the original architect of the Illinois Cross Country State Meet, Bob LaCroix).
Bob just so happened to be a teacher and cross country coach. Bob LaCroix is a legendary coach and the reason the state meet is run at Detweiller Park each year. He got the meet to Peoria in 1971 and is a member of the Peoria Sports Hall of Fame. (Yes, there is one. And, no, the list of inductees is not kept on a 3 x 5 post-it-note on the bulletin board at the local Tractor Supply store.)
So, when Steve and I were 7th and 8th graders, Bob would take us down to Detweiller Park on Wednesday nights to run an organized Fun Run. We would all line up right about where the state meet starts today and run out to the far lone tree and back. It was ½ mile. I would smoke it! I don’t think Steve ever beat me. (Steve went on to become a top varsity runner on a talented Peoria Richwoods squad). But, running an 800 can be ripped off on natural ability as a 13 year old; anything longer and you need to work at it.
Let’s fast forward to high school. I probably weigh 140 lbs.; the perfect runners build. It is the first day of practice and I laced up my Adidas Superstar basketball shoes and took off down University Street with the other runners on a hot, muggy morning. I made it about 1,000 yards. Whoa, this was brutal; I’m done. Yep, I quit. I was borderline on the whole thing anyway because I knew once practices moved to the after school hours, it would interfere with me watching Gilligan’s Island re-runs. Gilligan won. My high school cross country career lasted 4 minutes.
My kids know this story. I wanted them to know what a pathetic kid I was and I regret my decision to quit to this day. I took up running and triathlons after college (I’ll tell you the story in next week’s article) and have been very active the past 23 years. I use my apathy story to motivate my kids of what not to be at their age. Our 10 year old son, Tyler, is built just like me and has natural running talent. I actually became the slowest runner in our family when we all did a 5K Turkey Trot in 2011. Tyler finished in 21:00. I actually thought I could catch him in the final ½ mile (I would have tripped him to beat him…kidding) but to no avail.
I have so much respect for every high school runner in Illinois and the US that are constantly working to get faster. Maybe I should send the Gilligan’s Island DVD Box-Set to Perez, Flanagan, Fisher, Hardies, Wasowicz and the other 8 runners that have a legitimate shot to win the 1,600 or 3,200 in May. Maybe they’ll get hooked so they stop training so hard! I still get the shakes thinking about the giant spider that trapped Gilligan and the rest of the castaways in the cave. Scary!
Back to Detweiller. 1,000’s of runners and hundreds of 1,000’s of spectators have been part of the State Meet over the past 40+ years. It truly is a magical place to run or watch runners. I have talked to many ex-participants who continue to go back to the state meet every year because of how special it is. Detweiller is a runners Field of Dreams. People will come, Ray. They'll come to Peoria for reasons they can't even fathom. I’m guessing I’ll be one of those spectators that returns each year even though I don’t have a child competing. So next time you are there, take a look for the Bob LaCroix living memorial boulder on the side of the course. Or better yet, look for Bob standing near the finish line at a future state meet, get his attention, and just tell him thanks. Thanks for creating such a magical place.