Can anybody fly this thing?

After being inspired by Ireland's favorite son, Keith Kelly, and his urging that I stop talking and start writing here I go. I draw a bit of inspiration from Keith in that I used music to find my page title and address. Taking that one step further today's title follows the same theme. Rather than risk being a second rate version of Keith and lacking his knowledge and ability to run with an iPod I will limit my musical comparisons. For today however, Coldplay gets credit for getting this page off the ground. Inspiration comes from the song High Speed on their 2000 album Parachutes.

Confidence in you is confidence in me
Is confidence in high speed

Nice idea that we gain strength by believing in another. If you trust the other person, you can trust yourself. We could certainly all benefit from applying that more often in our lives. Cheers to you Keith for the confidence in me!

Day 1 of JCHighSpeed comes one day after learning that a very difficult decision, that would have required leaving Alaska and my position at Skinny Raven Sports, was decided for me. It was a very positive situation as I have developed a greater appreciation for all the positive relationships I have here and the great life that exists in Alaska. I faced a similar decision nearly 20 years ago when I was up for a coaching job at the university and would have required me to leave my high school coaching position. Not getting the job helped reinforce that I really loved working with high school runners. Not getting this recent job has reinforced the same again and today's start of my blog is a byproduct of that.

It may also be a byproduct of too much food and one too many margarita's last night at the Bear Tooth. The Bear Tooth is undoubtedly my favorite place to eat here in Anchorage. It is the place guests invariably end up when traveling here. The occasion was a send off meal with Brent Knight before he heads off for a Nordic training/racing stint with fellow Raven shoe stud, Mark Iverson, in West Yellowstone. The boys have been putting in hundreds of hours of training over the past several months and its finally time to see what they can do. As for dinner I was deluded by my low weight on the scale in the a.m. that led me to believe I could compensate by eating like Kobayashi.



After chips & gauc., potato burrito w/ beans/rice, creme brulee, two margaritas, a diet coke and water I felt positively ill. Brent and I were forced to stay at the table an extra 30 minutes before we felt well enough to go home. Nothing says good eating like having so much you feel ill, does it?

In the spirit of the father of Taoism, Lao Tzu, I mark the start of this long journey with the first step and with no goal of getting to a certain point. Please check in and see where it heads to.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” Lao Tzu