Legacy

I have been thinking a lot lately about legacy.  In my "unadvertised" last post  I talked about my grandmother's legacy.  At her memorial service a few days later, many of my family members echoed my thoughts.  My Uncle Curt seemed to be reading my mind as he stated that a legacy is not a list of accomplishments but rather how you enhanced the lives of those around you. Family members and friends shared stories of varying emotions that shared a common thread - Grandma Sam was impactful. And, that was a large part of her legacy.  She made you feel important.  Not everyone has that ability.  I'm sure that all of her children and grandchildren would legitimately feel "Oh, I was her favorite for sure."  And, in our own way, none of us would be wrong.  That's another part of her legacy - love. 
People have their own definition of what kind of legacy is important.  Switching from family to sports, I want to first talk about two of the most famous athletes in American sports history - Roberto Clemente and Walter Payton.  What is the legacy of these two men?  Certainly, as Hall of Famers, they both had storied careers.  Payton was the NFL's career rushing yards leader upon his retirement and Clemente is a member of the prestigious 3,000 hit club and is tied for the record for most Golden Glove awards for an outfielder (given annually to the best defensive player in each position). 
However, it could be argued that their actual legacy is their humanitarian work.  They used their fame and money to try and take care of those less fortunate.  The NFL and MLB have named their "man of the year" awards after Payton and Clemente.  Each year, teams nominate the best humanitarians on their team to win the award.  It is not a "who is the best player," rather, who was the best person that year.  Looking through the award recipients from the last 45 or so years (both awards were around before they were renamed), there are a number of Hall of Famers.  However, there are just as many guys that I have never even heard of.
I would argue that the legacy of Payton and Clemente is showing athletes what should be done with their newfound fame and money.  Instead of splashing their money around at strip clubs and self-indulgent behavior, it could be better used to improve communities.  Maybe even the communities that they themselves came from.  Or, like Payton and last year's winner J.J. Watt, the community that they represent with their sports team (Chicago and Houston). 
Bringing this all back to running.  That's what this blog is "supposed" to be about, right?  When I think of legacy, I think of the coaches that freely have invested in my training and growth both as a runner and as a person.  Perhaps the easiest person to point at, because his influence is so quantifiable, is Jose Iniguez.  In San Antonio, Jose was one of my coaches for three years.  This doesn't include the time I spent training with his team IAAP last summer while I was in San Antonio for a month. 

IAAP track practice

Jose was an elite runner in the 80s and 90s.  When I say elite, I don't mean the "local elite" fast guy that typically wins your local races with a 18-19 minute 5k.  I mean, he broke 4 minutes in a mile, ran sub 15 5ks and won large city marathons.  He made enough money through his running to help put his sister through college.  His sister and wife love to share pictures and videos from his "glory days."

 However, that is not what I consider as Jose's legacy.  Look at these pictures.  IAAP offers free training to anyone willing to show up and run.  San Antonians of all ability levels come get in quality training based on Jose's decades of experience.  When he can, (I mean, look at the numbers there) Jose customizes the training plans and groups up people by ability in order to push them.  I always know that I'm going to have some speedsters to try and chase when I show up at an IAAP track.

You find IAAP folks all over the state!

However, that's not all.  Jose and his wife Minny's incessant positivity attracts loyal followers.  They put on races all over the state of Texas and can always be heard encouraging the runners.  I think that Jose's legacy has more to do with how he shares his love of the sport.  He earns his living through running, but freely gives his time and energy to anyone that is interested.  Yes, his company pays the bills, but Jose's largest impact on the San Antonio (and Texas) running community is what he does for free.  Opening his house, The Runners Ranch, and hosting free training sessions several times per week have brought dozens of people to the sport.

Another coach I'd like to talk about has also been mentioned multiple times in this blog.  She would be Terri Troll.  Coming to running later in life, Terri does not have quite the resume that Jose has, but she is still extremely impressive.  She has qualified for and ran in the Boston Marathon multiple times.  Even at races with participation numbering in the thousands, you can typically find Terri on the podium at the end of the race.  Terri brings her decades of experience as a high school coach to training sessions.  You know that when Terri is in coach mode, you'd better be paying attention.  If you're making fun of the LARPers on the other side of the park, you're going to hear about it.  (That wasn't me, it was probably all Joseph, Peter, Jason, and Anthony)  Terri brought the mothering aspect to coaching.  Every one of us had an individualized training plan based on pace, goals, and race.  Free of charge, of course.  She just loved be surrounded by people that loved to train as much as her.  After all, what would a Torcido loop by yourself and/or without a beer or three afterward at Central Market.  Terri also got us to use races as an excuse to travel and explore more of Texas.  Terri's love of hills (real or imagined) has since infected Mila.

Touristing in Kemah the day after a race

pre-Houston marathon 2017

We became "TNT Runners" in 2016-17.  That was actually the shirt I wore at last night's 5k

The final legacy runner I want to talk about is Kent Fish.  Kent is well-known in the San Angelo running community.  I don't honestly know much about Kent's running accomplishments beyond running Boston more than a couple times because he doesn't talk about it much.  I know that in his mid 60s he's still always towards the front of pack, often beating runners 1/3 of his age.  Kent's running legacy, to me, is fun.  If he's not having fun, he's not doing it.

Our 2017 Christmas light run 

In the days of cadence, MAF, heart rate running, and training phases, Kent is just out there for fun.  I think his watch is just to tell him how far he went after the run.  When we're not marking a specific course, there's rarely a set goal, pace, or training plan.  It's just "let's get out there and have fun."  I take that back.  On his famous IHOP runs, the goal is to eventually make it to IHOP.  The fun part is figuring out all the twists and turns that we will take along the way.

Now, I've written about these three before.  I don't know that I framed it as "legacy" though.  I have learned a lot of lessons from them (and others) that I try to incorporate into more than just my running.  It does get me thinking about my "running legacy."  I use training plans and workouts from Jose and Terri to help train both military people training for PT tests and casual runners for races.  Like I said, Terri's love of hills is apparent in the KOA hill loop runs that Mila and I do.  I try and take Kent's joy and carefree attitude along on my easy runs and when introducing new runners to the sport.  What's my legacy going to be?  It's not for me to say, really.  I'd like it to be a combination of those three along with this blog.  I'm nearly to 20,000 total reads ("only" 40% from Facebook friends!) and more than a third of those are from outside the country.  I'm hoping that part of my legacy is sharing my love of the sport and my unathletic journey through it. 
For you runners, have you ever thought of your "runner legacy?"  What did you come up with? 


I'm thinking of monetizing this blog.  No, not charging, but allowing Google to throw some ads on here.  I'd have to start paying for it and I'm not sure if I get enough traffic to make that money back.  However, I think it'd be pushed more by Google.  What do you think?  Would a couple ads on the borders change your opinion of the blog?