On Sunday, the revolution began. TrackSide, the
parent magazine of the TrackNation movement, launched on the Internet (www.trackside1.tracknation.com)
and with it, the hopes and aspirations of many of us involved were awakened.
My involvement with the project was almost
accidental. I happened to “like” TrackNation upon seeing it listed on Facebook.
In short, my vote of approval was consistent with an effort I have been making
to “like” all track related pages. Mostly, these affirmations reflect my
involvement as a correspondent with the Daily Press here in Virginia, but my
motivation is geared closer to approving all track related pages and projects,
with the simple hope of doing a small part to continue promoting the sport.
Long story short, Travis Masters, the force behind
the movement and editor-in-chief of the magazine, was working on his own
vision. Travis has been looking for a unified movement, one which will truly
promote track, particularly when it comes to the interests of the athletes. He took
his vision to the recent U.S. Track and Field convention and was pleased to
find a great deal of support for his fledgling magazine. When we first spoke, a
couple of months ago, he rattled through the names of people with whom he had
talked. It sounded like a Hall of Fame lineup – Bob Beamon, John Carlos, Tommie
Smith, Justin Gatlin, Greg Foster, etc…
Oh yeah, why were we talking in the first place? As
it turned out, Travis was looking for writers for his new magazine. I’m bold
enough to believe that I cover cross-country and track as well as anyone in our
neck of Virginia, so even though my overall portfolio is at less than 150
articles, I figured that it was worth the effort to cull through the 50-60 that
dealt with cross-country and track and find a few good samples to send.
Hopefully, the rest will be history.
I am relatively pleased with my first three TrackSide
entries. My initial interview was with David Prince. David’s story is inspiring,
but you have to read through a lot of tragedy and hard times to get to the happy
denouement. Regardless, David’s life as a world record setting Paralympic
runner is a testament to the power of hard work and faith. It’s hard to find an
athlete, even a world class one, who proclaims to “like” hard work, and the
pain, and the burn. Many put the work in, but rarely enjoy the process.
Ironically, David is about to become much more well
known, and not for anything I have done. Tonight (Monday at 10), he will be
appearing on Fox News, more specifically, the Greta van Susteren program,
speaking as someone who knows and has competed against Oscar Pistorius, whose fiancée
was shot dead last week in South Africa – with Pistorius being charged with the
crime.
My second interview was with Sean Pena, a renowned
physiotherapist who works on everybody who is anybody in track, including
Gatlin, Allyson Felix, Lolo Jones, and Shawn Crawford. He will be writing for
the magazine and his insights into the field are going to blow away the mindset
us coaches and runners have grown up with. Some of the most cutting edge
technological equipment for physical therapy sits in his living room, and the
A-list of track stars stop by his house for treatment when in Florida.
Finally, I had the opportunity to speak with
legendary hurdler Greg Foster. He’s someone I grew up with, as his reign at the
top of the high hurdling heap ran from the late 1970’s to the early 90’s. His
showdowns with Renaldo Nehemiah were legendary, and ironically, Nehemiah is
another runner I am currently trying to track down for an interview. I really
enjoyed my 30 minute talk with Foster, and for a short time, almost forgot this was the same man I saw in all
of these meets on TV. His best time of 13.03 for
the 110-meter hurdles would win a lot of races now, and it still places at 12th
or 13th on the all-time list.
I’m truly looking forward to this opportunity to
work with Travis and the rest of the people on TrackSide. The first issue looks
great, with its interactive features. But there’s more than sizzle with
TrackSide; in fact, the information within, on topics like nutrition, training,
and such are beneficial to runners of all ages and abilities.
Please feel free to give TrackSide a look. I think
you’ll find it to be worthy of the hard work that has been put into this first
issue.
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