Frustrated with Closed-Mindedness

There are many, many events that absolutely crave and beg for coverage.

Some will even offer you a free entry for you to run their event. (I've never accepted one of those, even though I've been offered them periodically. From a journalism standpoint, it is -- in essence -- an attempt to buy coverage.)

When you write for a particular publication or entity, there are certain events that you have to coverage because it would kind of obvious if you didn't.

But what if the event won't work with you?

Or they're so fearful of bad press that they have to run everything through a central, monolithic public relations mouthpiece. Hell, what is there bad to say about a running or multisport event before it happens?

I've had my difference of opinion and approach in the past regarding the price of the marathon and a marketing claim or two with Steven Karpas of the Chevron Houston Marathon; however, he took the time this week to forward the information on the new ABB Team Challenge before it went online.

Granted, I'm sure that they knew it would appeal to my penchant for statistical analysis and that I would either 1.) support the approach or 2.) point out where it was flawed.

I really appreciated that he gave me a break on it, responded by getting a post out on the RunHouston Chronicle blog and I told him in a subsequent phone conversation on Thursday as much.

Many events have no problem with providing you the information that you need to help promote and support their event.

But to me it is more about giving credit to the athletes, which is where it is really due.

Two days before the Davy Crockett Bear Chase Marathon, I had a complete list of runners, their bib numbers and where they were from. This allowed me to do some research - of little-known facts - so that I could execute my responsibilities on race day very well.

When I went down to the Lone Star Triathlon Festival in Galveston to cheer Cassie on, they had a list of all of the athletes and their bib numbers on their web site.

So what did I do while waiting for Cassie to come back in off the bike?

I took that list of bib numbers and names, which I had printed out, and started to spot people's numbers and cheer them on by name!

Those athletes really appreciated it. Many were surprised, especially those from out of town, that I knew their name. (I'll only share some of those secrets here ... lol)

I did the same thing this year at Sunmart when I chose not to run it. (The looks on some runners' faces were priceless.)

It is something that I got some enjoyment out of, and will again in the future.

However, tomorrow, on Saturday, May 3rd, I'll be doing it some place else than where I had planned.