As I began writing about the events of the first 10 years, I realized how many Hillrunner.com events there have been so I’m not going to be able to go into each event without writing a novel. There are two types of events we had, though. The first would be the most frequent and, in my opinion, the most fun, Team Hillrunner.com events. These have been great because they have allowed me to meet many of you and get to know you beyond someone who typed the words I see on a computer screen. The second would be race coverage. I haven’t covered many races for Hillrunner.com and will probably cover even fewer in the next 10 years but covering those events has been an incredible experience that I wouldn’t give up for anything.
Team Hillrunner.comTeam Hillrunner.com made its first showing in December, 2001 at the Madison Jingle Bell Run. I believe Woody came up with the idea to get the crew together for this race and we had people from Chicago to the Twin Cities. Unfortunately, I was so sick I should probably not have even gone to Madison on the day of the race so I didn’t even run in the first Team Hillrunner.com event but the team didn’t need my help for a top 3 finish. While Team Hillrunner.com has gradually faded away at the Madison Jingle Bell Run, we didn’t do so before scoring two team victories and I can't recall a finish outside of the top 3.
Al’s Run, of course, is Team Hillrunner.com’s signature race. We first began running Al’s Run under the Hillrunner.com banner in 2003. In the team’s six years at Al’s Run, we’ve scored five victories and one second place finish. Most Milwaukee and Madison area Hillrunner.com visitors have at least once joined the team at Al’s Run and many have been with the team for most, if not all, of our Al’s Run events.
There have been some gatherings of Hillrunner.com visitors at other races, most notably in my mind being the 2002 Walleye Run in Fond du Lac, northwest of Milwaukee. We only went there once but we arrived in force and took over that race for that one year we were there. There was no team event but, if I recall correctly, we finished first and second and had at least two other runners in the top 10.
While our competitive achievements have been impressive, in my opinion, the greatest part of these Team Hillrunner.com events has been meeting so many of you. I have only met some of you once at one of these events, others I see once a year at Al’s Run, and yet others I see all the time as we get together for training runs. The one thing I'm constantly reminded of when I get to meet all of you is that, no matter how someone may come across in an individual or even numerous conversations around here, you are all great people in person (it's amazing how slight disagreements can be blown way out of proportion through online discussions) and that common love of running that we share is a strong bond.
One final thing, I can't possibly talk about Team Hillrunner.com without a huge thanks to the Hillrunner.com community for coming together to make this all happen. Without you stepping up and representing the site, none of these events would have been the same. Not only did you run well in representing Hillrunner.com, though, you did a great job of illustrating how great the Hillrunner.com community is. I'm incredibly proud and fortunate to have such great runners and people representing Hillrunner.com on the roads every day.
Hillrunner.com Race CoverageHillrunner.com's history covering races is much less extensive but all of the events have been incredibly exciting.
In the beginning, race coverage here has revolved around Wisconsin collegiate cross-country and track and field meets, usually consisting of some pictures showing up on the site shortly after the meets. In 2002, however, Woody gave me a call the day before the
Chicago Marathon and asked if I'd like to go to watch the finish of the marathon with him. I said sure, take it easy on me as I'm only a week removed from my debut marathon but I'd love to go. We went to the race together, he served as an excellent host and tour guide, and I got some pictures from the race where Khalid Khannouchi nearly eclipsed his own world record and Paula Radcliffe did in fact set a world record. Of course, the most exciting part of the race to me was the battle for second in the men's race. Seeing three world class runners flying down the final stretch shoulder to shoulder after battling for 26+ miles was incredible and two of them remained shoulder to shoulder all the way to the finish line, with Daniel Njenga and Toshinari Takaoka both finishing with the same time and Paul Tergat only two seconds back.
In 2003, I followed up the Chicago Marathon coverage by taking a trip to St. Louis for the
US women's marathon championship. On this occasion, Slim was the cordial and very helpful host as I gathered an incredible amount of pictures and a race report from the very spectator friendly course. Slim and I also got to meet Lightfoot, who was running in the race. The race was another great one. It didn't look like it would be for quite some time with Colleen De Reuck essentially taking control from the gun. At about 19 miles, though, I remember thinking she was vulnerable and Sara Wells might be able to make the race interesting. Others thought I was crazy but they might have changed their minds at the finish line, as Wells did overcome De Reuck to take the victory.
In 2004, I returned to St. Louis for the
Olympic Trials. This time, Slim unfortunately couldn't help out but Zeke was there and I went with Marshall. I also got Senthil to help from out of the area with posting updates online and we had easily the most comprehensive coverage of any race that Hillrunner.com has seen. Live updates being posted on the website, race recaps from both Zeke and myself, viewing the race from different vantage points, and other race week coverage. In fact, one of the highlights of the race coverage for me was when Zeke got the perfect vantage point to watch Jen Rhines pass Blake Russell for the third and final spot on the Olympic team. Senthil was watching live updates on two other websites while filling out the live updates from Zeke and Marshall for Hillrunner.com. He told me later that one of the other sites originally reported that Russell made the team and that Hillrunner.com had the scoop on both of the other sites, being the first to report this critical pass. What a rush to think Hillrunner.com was the first to break the surprise news that Jen Rhines was the one to earn the final spot on the Olympic team!
Unfortunately, at least so far, Hillrunner.com race coverage went out on that high note. We haven't covered any events since that day. That doesn't change one thing, though. Each of these events has been a great experience. Even more, though, each of these events was made possible by some of you, the visitors of Hillrunner.com. What a great testament to the community here that your fellow members were ready to step up and help out when I needed some help in making these great events for Hillrunner.com and its visitors happen.
