Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Peyton Manning has NOTHING on Ms. Angela!

i watched the super bowl like another estimated 89.99 million world citizens. and, while some people say they read playboy for the articles (not me!), i really do watch the super bowl for the commercials. nothing against the athletes, no doubt, they work very hard to achieve that level of success. however, not even peyton himself could have worked any harder than my fellow slug, dear friend, and one of my personal heroes, miss angela ivory of nashville, tennessee. i had the good fortune to meet her back in october at the rbc50k here in the first state. she toed the line with da' slugs, and proved highly slugworthy, and a genuinely kind and humble human being. a month later the december 2006 running journal (www.running.net) arrived in my mailbox; and who to my wondering eyes should appear (on the cover) than one of our newest sluggos. yes, ms angela herself appeared in full stride. and, on page 12 the magazine profiles her wonderfully. it seems ms angela (Vanderbilt '90) is quite the accomplished endurance athlete. in fact, on january 8th, 2006, on her birthday in newport beach, california; she completed her goal of finishing a marathon in each of the 50 states and d.c. most folks would consider that accomplishment enough. but not ms. angela. rather she decided to pursue an ultramarathon in each of the states. she is a tough human being. oh, i forgot to mention; ms. angela also had to fight her way through chemotherapy, after diagnoses of the big C, and removal of 22 lymph nodes. the author of the article dallas smith says, "Chemo is tough, right? Tougher than the Tour de France, Lance said." so my friend, ms angela runs on. a true life hero. all this week, and for months to come, people all over the world will be admiring peyton and the colts. not me, i choose angela. she is an inspiration; and i am thankful to consider her a fellow slug and friend. happy days, da' hitman

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Slugs in the news...

congrats to U.S. Navy pilot, Lt. Commander Rick Ryan, for accomplishing his one-year goal of raising over $35,000 for the families of those military members wounded and killed in the middle east. Rick did this by completing 30 marathon/ultra events in 2006. tsi was blessed to have him here for his twenty-sixth event at the russell b. cheney 50k in the fall. at the Slug event Rick ran in memory of LCPL Cory Palmer, LCPL Richard Chad Clifton, and LCPL Richard Z. James, three of the seven Delaware Marines who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rick is still accepting donations for service members at marathonsforhope.org. Rick was also profiled on page 22 of the March 2007 Runner's World.