Thursday / Saturday Workouts (and a ramble)

Thursday night, I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill for an hour (at an easy 4.3 mph pace, 1.0 incline).

This afternoon, I spent an hour on the stationery bike (random, level 6) and another 31 minutes on the elliptical machine (level 16).

Needless to say, you saw in a couple of earlier posts that I've been pretty well ticked off. I've gotten over it, after venting quite a bit (but not at the offending party). They won't have any clue. I don't ever feel like I make unreasonable requests for things that I feel like I need. I do my best to be patient realizing that everyone is busy; however, don't just ignore me. Even if you have reason to deny my request, give me the courtesy of telling me why.

When you have a column and are given the opportunity to write about whatever you want, many times - honestly - I'm pressed for time and whatever is readily available I'll run with. When I'm on the other side of that equation (as a sports information person), I use that to my advantage. My quick stat or fact will get published because the individual is pressed for time.

It happens to me a lot. It takes me a little bit more time to crank out a stat-filled column because I'm checking a lot of different data sources to make sure what I write is accurate, plus I love pulling relevant and interesting information out of what appears to be the thin air. (That's my form of winning in the media world.)

What happens in what I do as a hobby is things get to a point that I garner a lot of respect from many different people. They see how hard I work for information and they see how I build relationships, for the most part. (The people that I've had issues with haven't - at that time -truly appreciated what I've done or am capable of getting done.) But all of this ratchets the expectations up, and because of my desire to try to do as much as I can to promote people, events and the like, I ride an emotional rollercoaster trying to balance it all.

Many of them don't know my heart or my passion. They don't take the time to know who I am and what makes me tick. My goals are different than theirs and I approach the same equation differently from them. If they'll take the time to sit down and listen (and maybe see how I can help them without compromising my independence), I'll more than likely to be open and listen to what they have to say.

Back to discussing coverage as a columnist. Sometimes you have the freedom to do whatever and other times, you're obligated - or feel obligated - to preview or recap a particular event. Why? Because it is the right thing to do. Some of those events will bombard you with information and ask you to do more than what you have room to, and others you wouldn't even hear from if you didn't reach out. They operate in a vacuum and they simply don't care.

As an event you can't simply assume that you won't get covered just because you haven't been in the past.

Take the Courier, for example. I don't want credit, but many people have no clue that I took a gamble to ask about a running column. I attempted to leverage a longstanding friendship with the paper's former publisher, Robb Reeves, as well as a new friendship with the current publisher, Jim Fredricks (gained through Bill Dwyer's coaching with Team In Training.)

I typically bust my can to put that column together every week. I was miffed this week when the new sportswriter - while editing it - took out a lady's name from Conroe who won her age group at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. (It'll get in this week though.) Do I know if that woman will ever see it? No, but I hope someone in her family does and says to her, "Hey, I saw your name in the paper."

What do I want out of this process? Respect, that's all. And that somebody will provide me with more information to enhance my writing in the future. (I had that today when one of the top competitors from the CB&I Triathlon called me. No, I wasn't able to make it there. They had reason to be proud, but I didn't sense that they were doing anything that was self-serving.)

I mentioned earlier about what I have to run with. Let's take the Courier, for example.

If you do well, you'll get into print. Simple as that. Regardless of what club you're with. Now if I know a little bit more than your name, I'll get it in. It makes my writing a bit more varied, especially if I'm not working with quotes.

I'll say "The Woodlands Running Club's Ann Leoni" instead of "Ann Leoni, 47, of The Woodlands".

In today's race story for CB&I, I wrote "Spring High School vice principal Bill Tommaney" for his winning the Clydesale division. [I could be accused of being prejudiced since I'm an alum, class of '84.]

I know who is a TWRC member because I'm in constant contact with Bill. (And I'm hoping that we can recruit a dozen or more participants this August and September for the Montgomery County Midnight Bike Ramble and The Woodlands Labor Day Adventure Race.)

I get a fairly regular e-mail from Stuart Simmons of Willis who is the point person for a small triathlon club, the Conroe Triathletes.

I couldn't tell you, for example, with any certainty more than 10 members of Lone Star Multisport Club. I try to get their club meetings in my column when I know about them, but as far as who's doing what: I don't know. (I got more information than what I looked up on my own about Ironman Arizona finishers - from Montgomery County - from Susie Schreiber with Luke's Locker.)

I'll do whatever I can to promote somebody, a club or an event - as well as dropping a name every chance I get - when people work with me. But at the same time, don't think that you're going to use me as your schill either. (I had one person that thought they were going to do that, and I told them that I would mention their group in the following way ... "XYZ leader Bill Jones".) Then if people want to know more, they look things up or ask around.

But here's the $64,000 question: "If I stop, who's going to pick up the ball and keeping carrying it for yardage?" That, quite honestly, is my biggest fear and it probably contributes to me being overloaded.

Alright, I've said enough. Thanks for listening (and reading). I appreciate your friendship and support.