Snow Sunday

As I write this several inches of snow have fallen upon the Southern Appalachian Mountains of Banner Elk, NC. March has sure hit the east coast with a bang. Welcome to the Sunday edition of "the stache."

On days like today where the weather is frightful, I have a lot of time to reflect on the different things that are going on in my life and in the world in general. I am thankful for the things I have been blessed with, my family, the ability to get an education, and the ability to compete in collegiate athletics.

Throughout my life, family has always been emphasized. Not just around the holidays, but at all times. Going to each others soccer games, dance recitals, gymnastic competitions, you name it we were all there. My Dad was a coach on my brothers and my team growing up playing Little League baseball. My uncles were soccer coaches for me when I was young. My grandmother has been to several of my cross country and track races in high school and college. My grandpa has also been to several of our athletic events growing up. I really appreciate all that they have done for me and still continue to do for me today.

I am grateful for the education I have received not only in school but outside the classroom as well. I thank my Dad for teaching me about politics and to not always believe what see and hear in the media. Both of my parents strongly pushed education and were always there if I needed to talk about school. They have worked hard so that I can get a good education and not have to worry about working my way through college. I really appreciate that because it has allowed me to focus on my scholastic and athletic endeavors as well enjoying some of the best years of my life.

My parents have always encouraged participation in athletics and to do everything that I possibly could growing up. I played baseball and soccer from age 4-14. In between that I played a couple years of basketball, was not very good but had fun doing it. I also played tennis for a couple of years and enjoyed that as well.

In middle school I picked up track and found that I was pretty good at long distance running. When I was in elementary school I did a few races and always finished near the top in those races. So I decided to give this running thing a try. I did well with that and decided to pursue running all year round in high school. I made a conscious decision to drop all the other sports because I realized early on that I would not be able to compete at the level I wanted to if I was doing soccer or baseball. Plus with running cross country and track, you are almost always guaranteed that you will get to compete in every race, whereas in the other "team" sports you may put in all those hours at practice and rarely see the field. I made a couple of All-Star teams in middle school playing baseball and hardly played and that is when I made the realization that baseball was not for me. So I ran all four years in High School, wasn't the best but eventually got to where I was pretty good in track. I loved the camaraderie that being part of a long distance running team provides. It is a special bond that brings us all together to run all those miles in all kinds of weather. Many of the friends I made in High School were on the cross country and track team. My senior year of High School I had no intention of competing in college but a funny thing happened. I got injured my senior of cross country in the fall and missed almost the whole season. This rejuvenated me to the point where I started looking into schools to run for and really stumbled across Lees-McRae College. A small, private liberal arts school in the mountains of North Carolina. I was not very good at first but developed to the point to where I could compete with the other runners around me. During my 4 years here I have developed many friendships and many memories with the teammates that I have had. I also developed a good, positive, open relationship with my coach that I am truly thankful for and makes me glad I decided to run for him and this team. It is a unique bond that we runners share and I cherish the memories that we have shared together on all those bus/van rides over the last few months and years.

I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of "the stache." Stay warm out there. Happy March and in the words of ESPN's Stuart Scott- "hugs and handpounds."

mb