Run University Thoughts on running and life and the intersection of the 2 Main menu Skip to content Home About Danny Upcoming Events Couch to 5k/10k SEARCH GO July 22, 2013 Al, the old days, and a few other random musings….. Leave a comment The first order of business (or 1st random thought) is to pass the word that there will be an Information Meeting for this Fall’s Couch to 10K Saturday August 17th, 9:00 at Trak Shak Homewood. We’ll target the Vulcan Run and for a 5K participate in the Race for the Cure along the way. Questions? Come to the Information Meeting or e-mail me….. Next up are some of my thoughts regarding Al DiMicco who’s hanging up his Sunday Long Run spurs after 30 years. I’m proud to say I’m known Al for almost 20 of those 30 years. He has been a mentor, a running partner, and most importantly, a friend. We’ve had some lively conversations over the years ranging from football, more lively – baseball, running, runners, walkers and pretty much everything else. Yeah, a lot of it is ‘road talk’ (what’s said on the road stays on the road). I mark the genesis of my running career from the year of my first marathon, 1994 – NYC. I had no idea what I was doing (yes, I DO now…thank you very much). It’s (another) long story but my friend who was going to run NY with me had to drop out so there I was. One day I was in the mall and spied a Runner’s World magazine with the bold headlines Run your best marathon ever. Boy have they gotten mileage out of THAT one; they probably use that headline (with tweaks) at least every 6 months. Well I bought it, followed it, had a blast and the hook was set. A year later I tagged along with the same friend (he was back, got over his heartbreak) to the Sunday training group since I planned to run the Vulcan Marathon. This was 1995 and I was doing Vulcan as a long training run for Rocket City. In the old days we met at the Citgo station below Vulcan – there was no Lakeshore Trail and the only way you could say you ran the 3 Sisters was after coming UP Montclair. The 3 Sisters were the last 2 miles of every long run, including the 20 milers. There was no internet, no weather, no e-mail. You over dressed or under dressed and cotton was a technical fabric. Trak Shak had just opened and Just For Feet was on the way out. I can still remember the location of the water stops. Sunday in and Sunday out, Al was there – so was Charles…Kenneth didn’t appear until 1997, the year Micki and I met and we all ran the same marathon, Mayor’s Midnight Sun. I still regard Al and Kenneth as 2 of my best and longest running friends (yes, the double entendre is correct). He was there when Micki and I started running together, before we dated. The first time I qualified for Boston there was a 6 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager on my front porch waiting on me when I got home, from Al. We’ve run together in Vancouver, Boston, Dublin, Alaska, Bermuda and every place in between. We’ve seen ‘em come and go over the years and if we haven’t seen and heard it all, it’s close. I don’t want to act like he’s dead (nope, not one age joke coming from me), but I do think the Birmingham Track Club, and the area running community at large don’t realize what a treasure they have in Al. We’ve all heard of Hal Higdon – Hal came to Al for information! Al’s experience and knowledge are second to none. Let me repeat that for those who don’t pick up on subtleties…Al’s experience and knowledge in the arena of running are second to NONE. I guess we all knew this day had to come however what’s really important is, he’s still running. I know he says “agonizingly slow” and maybe so versus the Al of 30 years ago…but he IS still running. I hope each of you will take a Sunday, run one of the loops with Al (skip Al’s Hill, the old Vulcan course went around Clarendon) and ask him about the Mets, Boston history, running Pike’s Peak Marathon, Vancouver, the trails at Oak Mountain (know’s ‘em better than anyone) or even about some of the old training runs. If you do the Oak Mountain 50K and he’s not running he’ll be at the aid station at Peavine – I can still hear him telling me, “get more water, it’s farther than you think, you got this.” I was dying. Al, my friend – it’s been a lot of miles and I treasure every one of them. How come Garmanites hold their wrist to the sky as they run around parking lots for the extra .002 miles needed? Does getting the Garman closer to their great god Satellite speed things up? How come (so-called) ‘fast’ runners condescend to slower runners, while slower runners admire faster runners? (in general, there are exceptions). At what point do you become a runner? People tell me all the time, “I run thus and so, but I’m not a runner,” or “I just run X but I’m not a runner.” George Sheehan once said, “The difference in a jogger and a runner is a race number.” That’s probably good enough – you don’t have to win it, or even race it – but you do have to run it. Run University Thoughts on running and life and the intersection of the 2 Main menu Skip to content Home About Danny Upcoming Events Couch to 5k/10k SEARCH GO July 22, 2013 Al, the old days, and a few other random musings….. Leave a comment The first order of business (or 1st random thought) is to pass the word that there will be an Information Meeting for this Fall’s Couch to 10K Saturday August 17th, 9:00 at Trak Shak Homewood. We’ll target the Vulcan Run and for a 5K participate in the Race for the Cure along the way. Questions? Come to the Information Meeting or e-mail me….. Next up are some of my thoughts regarding Al DiMicco who’s hanging up his Sunday Long Run spurs after 30 years. I’m proud to say I’m known Al for almost 20 of those 30 years. He has been a mentor, a running partner, and most importantly, a friend. We’ve had some lively conversations over the years ranging from football, more lively – baseball, running, runners, walkers and pretty much everything else. Yeah, a lot of it is ‘road talk’ (what’s said on the road stays on the road). I mark the genesis of my running career from the year of my first marathon, 1994 – NYC. I had no idea what I was doing (yes, I DO now…thank you very much). It’s (another) long story but my friend who was going to run NY with me had to drop out so there I was. One day I was in the mall and spied a Runner’s World magazine with the bold headlines Run your best marathon ever. Boy have they gotten mileage out of THAT one; they probably use that headline (with tweaks) at least every 6 months. Well I bought it, followed it, had a blast and the hook was set. A year later I tagged along with the same friend (he was back, got over his heartbreak) to the Sunday training group since I planned to run the Vulcan Marathon. This was 1995 and I was doing Vulcan as a long training run for Rocket City. In the old days we met at the Citgo station below Vulcan – there was no Lakeshore Trail and the only way you could say you ran the 3 Sisters was after coming UP Montclair. The 3 Sisters were the last 2 miles of every long run, including the 20 milers. There was no internet, no weather, no e-mail. You over dressed or under dressed and cotton was a technical fabric. Trak Shak had just opened and Just For Feet was on the way out. I can still remember the location of the water stops. Sunday in and Sunday out, Al was there – so was Charles…Kenneth didn’t appear until 1997, the year Micki and I met and we all ran the same marathon, Mayor’s Midnight Sun. I still regard Al and Kenneth as 2 of my best and longest running friends (yes, the double entendre is correct). He was there when Micki and I started running together, before we dated. The first time I qualified for Boston there was a 6 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager on my front porch waiting on me when I got home, from Al. We’ve run together in Vancouver, Boston, Dublin, Alaska, Bermuda and every place in between. We’ve seen ‘em come and go over the years and if we haven’t seen and heard it all, it’s close. I don’t want to act like he’s dead (nope, not one age joke coming from me), but I do think the Birmingham Track Club, and the area running community at large don’t realize what a treasure they have in Al. We’ve all heard of Hal Higdon – Hal came to Al for information! Al’s experience and knowledge are second to none. Let me repeat that for those who don’t pick up on subtleties…Al’s experience and knowledge in the arena of running are second to NONE. I guess we all knew this day had to come however what’s really important is, he’s still running. I know he says “agonizingly slow” and maybe so versus the Al of 30 years ago…but he IS still running. I hope each of you will take a Sunday, run one of the loops with Al (skip Al’s Hill, the old Vulcan course went around Clarendon) and ask him about the Mets, Boston history, running Pike’s Peak Marathon, Vancouver, the trails at Oak Mountain (know’s ‘em better than anyone) or even about some of the old training runs. If you do the Oak Mountain 50K and he’s not running he’ll be at the aid station at Peavine – I can still hear him telling me, “get more water, it’s farther than you think, you got this.” I was dying. Al, my friend – it’s been a lot of miles and I treasure every one of them. How come Garmanites hold their wrist to the sky as they run around parking lots for the extra .002 miles needed? Does getting the Garman closer to their great god Satellite speed things up? How come (so-called) ‘fast’ runners condescend to slower runners, while slower runners admire faster runners? (in general, there are exceptions). At what point do you become a runner? People tell me all the time, “I run thus and so, but I’m not a runner,” or “I just run X but I’m not a runner.” George Sheehan once said, “The difference in a jogger and a runner is a race number.” That’s probably good enough – you don’t have to win it, or even race it – but you do have to run it. Run University Thoughts on running and life and the intersection of the 2 Main menu Skip to content Home About Danny Upcoming Events Couch to 5k/10k SEARCH GO July 22, 2013 Al, the old days, and a few other random musings….. Leave a comment The first order of business (or 1st random thought) is to pass the word that there will be an Information Meeting for this Fall’s Couch to 10K Saturday August 17th, 9:00 at Trak Shak Homewood. We’ll target the Vulcan Run and for a 5K participate in the Race for the Cure along the way. Questions? Come to the Information Meeting or e-mail me….. Next up are some of my thoughts regarding Al DiMicco who’s hanging up his Sunday Long Run spurs after 30 years. I’m proud to say I’m known Al for almost 20 of those 30 years. He has been a mentor, a running partner, and most importantly, a friend. We’ve had some lively conversations over the years ranging from football, more lively – baseball, running, runners, walkers and pretty much everything else. Yeah, a lot of it is ‘road talk’ (what’s said on the road stays on the road). I mark the genesis of my running career from the year of my first marathon, 1994 – NYC. I had no idea what I was doing (yes, I DO now…thank you very much). It’s (another) long story but my friend who was going to run NY with me had to drop out so there I was. One day I was in the mall and spied a Runner’s World magazine with the bold headlines Run your best marathon ever. Boy have they gotten mileage out of THAT one; they probably use that headline (with tweaks) at least every 6 months. Well I bought it, followed it, had a blast and the hook was set. A year later I tagged along with the same friend (he was back, got over his heartbreak) to the Sunday training group since I planned to run the Vulcan Marathon. This was 1995 and I was doing Vulcan as a long training run for Rocket City. In the old days we met at the Citgo station below Vulcan – there was no Lakeshore Trail and the only way you could say you ran the 3 Sisters was after coming UP Montclair. The 3 Sisters were the last 2 miles of every long run, including the 20 milers. There was no internet, no weather, no e-mail. You over dressed or under dressed and cotton was a technical fabric. Trak Shak had just opened and Just For Feet was on the way out. I can still remember the location of the water stops. Sunday in and Sunday out, Al was there – so was Charles…Kenneth didn’t appear until 1997, the year Micki and I met and we all ran the same marathon, Mayor’s Midnight Sun. I still regard Al and Kenneth as 2 of my best and longest running friends (yes, the double entendre is correct). He was there when Micki and I started running together, before we dated. The first time I qualified for Boston there was a 6 pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager on my front porch waiting on me when I got home, from Al. We’ve run together in Vancouver, Boston, Dublin, Alaska, Bermuda and every place in between. We’ve seen ‘em come and go over the years and if we haven’t seen and heard it all, it’s close. I don’t want to act like he’s dead (nope, not one age joke coming from me), but I do think the Birmingham Track Club, and the area running community at large don’t realize what a treasure they have in Al. We’ve all heard of Hal Higdon – Hal came to Al for information! Al’s experience and knowledge are second to none. Let me repeat that for those who don’t pick up on subtleties…Al’s experience and knowledge in the arena of running are second to NONE. I guess we all knew this day had to come however what’s really important is, he’s still running. I know he says “agonizingly slow” and maybe so versus the Al of 30 years ago…but he IS still running. I hope each of you will take a Sunday, run one of the loops with Al (skip Al’s Hill, the old Vulcan course went around Clarendon) and ask him about the Mets, Boston history, running Pike’s Peak Marathon, Vancouver, the trails at Oak Mountain (know’s ‘em better than anyone) or even about some of the old training runs. If you do the Oak Mountain 50K and he’s not running he’ll be at the aid station at Peavine – I can still hear him telling me, “get more water, it’s farther than you think, you got this.” I was dying. Al, my friend – it’s been a lot of miles and I treasure every one of them. How come Garmanites hold their wrist to the sky as they run around parking lots for the extra .002 miles needed? Does getting the Garman closer to their great god Satellite speed things up? How come (so-called) ‘fast’ runners condescend to slower runners, while slower runners admire faster runners? (in general, there are exceptions). At what point do you become a runner? People tell me all the time, “I run thus and so, but I’m not a runner,” or “I just run X but I’m not a runner.” George Sheehan once said, “The difference in a jogger and a runner is a race number.” That’s probably good enough – you don’t have to win it, or even race it – but you do have to run it. rununiversity.wordpress/2013/07/22/al-the-old-days-and-a-few-other-random-musings/
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 21:49:09 +0000
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