Future "Talking The Talk" Columns in RTN

Although it really isn't too challenging, there are some things that I have to pull back from this blog - that isn't related to my actual running - because of my new status as a columnist for Runner Triathlete News.

I have no idea what RTN's circulation is, but I'm certain have to think it is more than the 125-175 hits that I get per day here. :)

However, it won't be long until the May issue hits your mailbox - if you're a subscriber - or is in your local running specialty store or bookstore. "Talking The Talk" this month will feature a column on "Assumed Names".

I'm really excited about some of the topics that I have planned for June, July and August and even into the early fall. The unfortunate thing is that I can't really detail for you what they're going to be. Somebody may take it and beat me to the punch with it somewhere!

I know all too well how that works.

Some 12 years ago, I went to Orlando, Florida's Tinker Field for Spring Training.

The Minnesota Twins had long since vacated their former spring training home, but another baseball team had taken their place. The Colorado Silver Bullets.

You ask, "Who?" Yes, the Colorado Silver Bullets - the women's professional baseball team that was managed by the cagey veteran knuckleballer, Phil Niekro.

I was there to put together a story on Splendora's Shae Sloan, who had played softball for the University of Nebraska but who had made history in the greater Houston area by starting on her high school boys baseball team for three (3) years.

I was there for their very first workout ever as well as their first exhibition game against the Austrian National Team. No, not Australia. Austria. You know, the country most likely, next to Switzerland, I guess, to be associated with yodeling! (Long story short, it was an ugly game.)

Before the contest, I was talking with a photographer from Orlando and I mentioned what I was doing and that I was going to pitch the story to the Houston Chronicle. (I already had a guarantee that it would run in the Conroe Courier where I had a good friend, Kevin Taylor, who was one of the sportswriters.)

Lo and behold, guess what appeared in the Saturday morning Houston Post? A picture from Wednesday night's game and a story on Sloan by future Astros beat writer Carlton Thompson.

I learned right there and then when to keep my mouth shut and to be careful who I tipped off to what I was doing or working on! (Something I'm sure Edwin and Lisa can both relate to in their journalistic careers.)