Meeting a legend

Last night, Kim and I attended a running clinic hosted by Runner's World and Mizuno, where we had the opportunity to meet Bart Yasso - a veritable legend in the endurance running community. Bart is the Chief Running Officer (best C-suite title ever, IMO), a job that allows him to travel around the world, run the craziest, most hardcore races (hello, Badwater), and meet runners from all walks of life. Last spring, Runner's World chronicled Bart's journey to complete the Comrades Marathon. Given my own Comrades aspirations, Bart's tenacity in training and ultimately completing the race was inspiring to put it mildly. In person, Bart was just as knowledgeable and funny as he comes across in his writing, laughing at Kim and me as I cracked highly inappropriate jokes while we ran. Perhaps one day I'll overcome my tendency to word vomit in public, doubtful though.

Excuse the miserable quality of my stalkery iPhone photos...

The event itself was great, kicking off 10 days of pre-marathon events and festivities.  Officially, marathon week commences this weekend with the Poland Spring 5M race, but I like to get a jump on things.  Pre-run, Mizuno representatives were on hand to pass out free goodies, and to let runners test out the new Wave Rider 15 and cold weather running gear. Pacers then led the 100 or some odd runners into Central Park for either a 3 or 5 mile loop.  Running at night in the Park is not something I experience frequently due to safety concerns, so it was refreshing running my typical route in the dark, the path delightfully less congested than usual. The evening run was followed by snacks courtesy of RW and then several talks by Mizuno team and Bart. Snagged a free copy of Bart's new book My Life on the Run on my out, which I already started digging into last night.  

Looking forward to seeing Bart and the rest of the Runner's World staff at the marathon expo next week!