you do it as long as you can

- two weeks in a row!? - Queen T said to me when i showed up at tuesday nite track. yeah sometimes ppl r ok. LAF was there, and AJ, mcgrunty and teej. i imagine the steeplechaser is doing super-secret stealth training to prep for Trials... a bummer as he is lovely to watch.

coach fischer lays out the two workout options then extends his thanks to those who showed for kim's funeral 2 weeks ago. in his 20 years of coaching, kim's been fisch's only female NCAA champion, and they became good friends after she graduated from UD and settled in wilmington. she died sept 11th, having been in a coma since july '06, when she fell down her stairwell and incurred a C2 spinal injury. she was 43 then.

the viewing and funeral were packed with runners, because outside her sport kim was rather solitary, with a tough, bristly shell that gave way under hours on the trails but not at the water cooler. before the service fisch was drawn and nervous: he was one of 3 to speak about kim's life. it's okay - i told him - we're most of us runners. talk to us as though we're your team. his wife smiled sadly and led him away. i heard a voice at my shoulder pipe - hey finn! - and turned to face theresa, whom i hadn't seen since the XC race last fall. she ran with kim at dickinson high.
- hi theresa. how're you doing?
- did you hear i set an age-group record?!! - coming from theresa, this should not have been a surprise, but i was so distraught after talking to fisch that i shook my head and just walked away.

so thank you all for coming out - fisch is saying as we shuffle nervously before our 1200s - because it's really hard to lose someone that young but seeing familiar faces out there made it easier. i know she's in a better place but she still leaves a big hole behind. ummm, also one of our volleyball coaches was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and it looks like the aggressive kind, so please keep her in your thoughts. enjoy your run. enjoy the night, and enjoy being healthy enough to do this. you won't have this forever, so do it as long as you can.