Which of the following does not belong in the set?
A: Jack Robb
B: Nick Pilfer
C: Rip Heist
D: Boost Steele
E: Take Take
If you answered E, you are oh, so wrong (not as wrong if you see the cat from response A in the Airport and you vigorously greet him. Hi Jack! HiJack Robb over here! But still, wrong.) The odd man out is the aforementioned Jack Robb, response A. Two reasons, he doesn’t belong in that set: 1- He’s a real man (I know I work with his wife, the lovely Gloria Robb) and 2- He’s a guru, the rest of those guys are just plain thieves!
I know you’re asking; “How can a man whose first AND last name mean take give us anything?” Take from the rich and give to the poor I guess, and I certainly am the latter.
Anyway, this is what Jack gives us. “You are only as strong as your weakest man. To improve you have to get better at the bottom.” When Gloria relayed this nugget to me yesterday, I was like, “Wow, has Jack been charting the progress of our Cross Country team?” Here’s why I asked that. In 2006 our top 2 runners ran virtually identical times as this year’s top two at regional. The times were within seconds of each other. Why then did we advance to state this year when last year we finished towards the bottom of the heap? Cross Country scores the top 5 runners, our 5th runner in 2006 ran 27 minutes, our 5th runner this year ran 23:30. Furthermore, last year our 4th runner ran 26:30, this year, close to 23 minutes flat. That’s getting better at the bottom!
The moral of the story; if you spend all of your time helping your best athletes, you are only going to improve so much. Does this only apply to coaches? No! Oh, Heck No! How about this, if you want to improve, improve your weakest discipline.
I am a madman on the downhills. Just try to catch me on the downhills; no don’t you might get hurt. Why don’t I win every race (or any race for that matter?) Well, the courses aren’t just downhill, there are also these pesky flats and uphill sections. Sadly, I’m not so good at those portions. At the Bighorn 100 in 2006, I wrecked the downhills. Boy howdy, I was good, my finish; however, was near the back of the pack. My time was my slowest ever, 32 hours and change. As Chase said to me, “You suck at the uphills!” Yes I do, thank you very little. So, what did I do, I practiced running uphill. I ran bridges, I ran knolls, if it had a hump, I was on it. For three months I worked on my uphill running until my next race, the 2006 Arkansas 100. Did my strategy pay off? How about 20:49 and 9th place finish at Arkansas? Yeah, an 11 ½ hour improvement! Is that good? Well, if you work that long it’s OT for your last 3 ½ hours, not bad.
Anyway, Jack Robb is the ultimate misnomer. He isn’t taking, he’s giving. So jack his advice improve your weakest link and rob the clock of those precious seconds.
A: Jack Robb
B: Nick Pilfer
C: Rip Heist
D: Boost Steele
E: Take Take
If you answered E, you are oh, so wrong (not as wrong if you see the cat from response A in the Airport and you vigorously greet him. Hi Jack! HiJack Robb over here! But still, wrong.) The odd man out is the aforementioned Jack Robb, response A. Two reasons, he doesn’t belong in that set: 1- He’s a real man (I know I work with his wife, the lovely Gloria Robb) and 2- He’s a guru, the rest of those guys are just plain thieves!
I know you’re asking; “How can a man whose first AND last name mean take give us anything?” Take from the rich and give to the poor I guess, and I certainly am the latter.
Anyway, this is what Jack gives us. “You are only as strong as your weakest man. To improve you have to get better at the bottom.” When Gloria relayed this nugget to me yesterday, I was like, “Wow, has Jack been charting the progress of our Cross Country team?” Here’s why I asked that. In 2006 our top 2 runners ran virtually identical times as this year’s top two at regional. The times were within seconds of each other. Why then did we advance to state this year when last year we finished towards the bottom of the heap? Cross Country scores the top 5 runners, our 5th runner in 2006 ran 27 minutes, our 5th runner this year ran 23:30. Furthermore, last year our 4th runner ran 26:30, this year, close to 23 minutes flat. That’s getting better at the bottom!
The moral of the story; if you spend all of your time helping your best athletes, you are only going to improve so much. Does this only apply to coaches? No! Oh, Heck No! How about this, if you want to improve, improve your weakest discipline.
I am a madman on the downhills. Just try to catch me on the downhills; no don’t you might get hurt. Why don’t I win every race (or any race for that matter?) Well, the courses aren’t just downhill, there are also these pesky flats and uphill sections. Sadly, I’m not so good at those portions. At the Bighorn 100 in 2006, I wrecked the downhills. Boy howdy, I was good, my finish; however, was near the back of the pack. My time was my slowest ever, 32 hours and change. As Chase said to me, “You suck at the uphills!” Yes I do, thank you very little. So, what did I do, I practiced running uphill. I ran bridges, I ran knolls, if it had a hump, I was on it. For three months I worked on my uphill running until my next race, the 2006 Arkansas 100. Did my strategy pay off? How about 20:49 and 9th place finish at Arkansas? Yeah, an 11 ½ hour improvement! Is that good? Well, if you work that long it’s OT for your last 3 ½ hours, not bad.
Anyway, Jack Robb is the ultimate misnomer. He isn’t taking, he’s giving. So jack his advice improve your weakest link and rob the clock of those precious seconds.
2 comments:
Okay, in my defense ... it's been brought up many times, my infamous line about who sucks on the uphills .... Let me just clear this up, a) it was late in the race, I was worried about beating the cutoffs, Andy was graciously staying with me on the downhills, and I told him to run ahead, because while he could fly ont he downhills, he was struggling on the uphills, and if we both slowed down for the other on the strongest parts of our game, neither of us would beat the cutoff. So it was meant as a heartfelt, "do what you gotta do to finish" comment.
and 2) it was LATE in the race. None of us are at our most diplomatic that late. It wasn't meant to be disparaging. I was trying to help, it just came out wrong. Sorry.
Chase, you know I thought it was funny, and it was true! I fully understood your reasoning, even then. However, I have used it as motivation to get better. You are the man :-)
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