The USATF-Minnesota Team Circuit opens tomorrow with the Human Race 8K in St. Paul. As a means of previewing the 2008 open men's competition on the Circuit, we offer you the Slab City Running Company's philosophical take, HERE.I used to think the best description of the Team Circuit was that it was running's answer to league bowling, but perhaps Tom Church at SCLC has a better angle on Minnesota's popular little team running series ...
"The Minnesota Team Circuit is a collection of undeclared rivalries; individual, collective and existential. For six months each year our private hopes and fears spill into the streets. We train and fret, plot and scheme and measure our happiness and self-esteem against arbitrary targets, usually unaware they have been selected for such a role."
Go teams!
4 comments:
As the former team leader of the Runners' Edge Team and current runner on the TC Running Co. team, I found the write up on the MN team series not worthwhile reading.
I look daily towards this site for what's new and fresh in the sport I love, Minnesota style !! To read someone's portrayal on the former Runners' Edge and current TCRC team members (people the writer does not know one ioata about), is saddening, to say the least. The bulk of these runners who make up the former "Edge" have been teamates for over 11 years now. You would be hard pressed to find a group on this circuit that have stayed together longer !! They stay together because of their love of running and love of what our friendships have become, not what "resources" they can use up.
We as a group feel very lucky to be a part of a store (who happens to be a sponsor of this page), where taking care of runners is the most important thing, not seeing what "resources" can be used up. I for one am very thankful for Adam to let us all be apart of this. Thanks much and I look foward to reading more great MN running info on your page day after day.
Personally, I would have gone with,
"This tight-knit band of gypsys formed at Runners' Edge in St. Paul, moved to GEAR in Edina and has now landed at TC Running Co. in Eden Prairie. If their westward march continues, look for the Prairie Striders to have a very good year in 2009."
Would that have been funny?
Pete, I think that would have been a good improvement. Let me know your availability and hourly-rates for editing services!
Kurt, I agree with you. My preview was not particularly worthwhile. I hope you and other readers can trust that it was not intended to be. The comments suggesting that the former Edge runners are somehow parasitic were meant only in jest, as were the rest of my comments. I want to offer my sincere apology for not effectively communicating that spirit.
More importantly, I want to emphasize the respect that my teammates and I share for the runners and sponsors who make Minnesota's running community so special. Two years ago we decided to join the Team Circuit competition for precisely the reasons you identify: love of running and love of what our friendships have become. We never would have done so if those were not the same qualities plainly exhibited by the teams already participating.
My attempt at humor was rooted in an assumption that most Circuit participants share that rose-colored perception of our rival teams. They are full of fantastic people. To suggest otherwise was supposed to be inaccurate enough that it would be funny. To you, and to anyone else who was upset by my poor execution of those jokes, I am sorry.
Please email me (thomas DOT church AT gmail DOT com) with any other questions, comments or concerns. I am looking forward to meeting you on the roads for the amicable competition that is synonymous with distance running in Minnesota.
~Tom Church
DtB Editor/Publisher Charlie Mahler here ...
Echoing Tom's thoughts, I linked to the peice because I thought it had a clever, funny take on the Team Circuit. I didn't think the remarks Tom made about any of the teams -- including my own (erstwhile) team, Lundgren Ford -- were to be taken at face value. Humor is a tricky thing, though, and not everyone finds the same things funny.
I do regret that the link/post bothered you. As always, DtB will strive to report on the Minnesota running/track community in a manner that is respectful to all of its members.
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