Hail To The Victors

"We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results."
– Herman Melville

Last Thursday’s television show with Dan Barger was fruitful and interesting. Dan is a multi talented athlete. He excels in ultra running, riding horses, mountain biking  to name a few of his talents. He likes ultra  running, especially 100 mile races. He has run all over the world and this year is no exception as he’s running in the 105 mile race in the Alps.

He talked about his most exciting Western States 100 race a few years ago with his duel with another outstanding runner. In fact, he posted his fastest time for this particular race. He also shared with Tony and I  his toughest race. He was competing in an echo challenge in Fuji. His team took 9 ½ days for completion. I invite you to click onto the link to learn, first hand, more about Dan Barger. http://youtu.be/jm1X7pWZg-8

I am researching for  my next book on mental toughness.  I have shared with you some information from some of the interviewees. I recently started interviewing coach Gary Moeller and Frank Gusich. Frank’s story is interesting and very challenging as he’s had medical issues for the last 10 years. He is one tough dude. Incidentally, his wife, Linda, attended  Dominican high school , which is located near my high school(Denby) on the east side of  Detroit. What a coincidence.

Gary’s son Andy was a co-captain along with Jim Harbaugh at the University of  Michigan during the 1986 season. At the present time, Jim’s the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Remember, they played the Baltimore Ravens in this year’s Super Bowl. The head coach of the world champion Baltimore Ravens is Jim’s brother, John Harbaugh. John’s line coach for the last five or six years is none other than  Andy Moeller. Connections, friendships and performance , at the highest level , characterize these individuals. They’re all mentally tough.

On Sunday, Tony, Chris and I ran the trails. We started from my home, went to third gate and on the way to Dead Truck. Chris and I headed toward American Canyon, while Tony ran towards the 20 mile marker. Chris and I stayed in front of Tony until very close to the highway 49 crossing. We stopped and refilled our water bottles. From there, we headed toward Chris’s home. We stopped, got ice and drank Pepsi’s. We left Chris and headed towards my home. All in all, Tony went roughly 18 ½ miles, I traveled about 17 miles and Chris about 13 miles. This  was one tough run. I was glad to reach my home.

 Tony and I  now plan to taper for our Run on the Sly trail run in two weeks. Remember, keep moving, laughing, smiling and deep breathing.