Sunday, September 2, 2012

Kevin is Smiling From Ear to Ear

I will end though by saying that at the core of this run, was the desire to build something to Kevin. We wanted to find a way that we could honor his memory, and help all of us remember who he was and what he stood for. We hope and believe that we did this. 10 young men, all of whom who have day jobs and separate lives, and to whom running is merely a hobby that they are passionate about, took time from their lives to use their talents to do something that is remarkable. 

We’ll never forget what we did together. And none of us will ever forget Kevin Dare.
-Ryan Foster, 09/01/12

I have to tell you, I am impressed and delighted beyond belief.  Ten runners put it all on the line.  Each and every one of them has a job and yet was able to train enough to pull this off.  Some of the efforts to do that are extraordinary to say the least.  Two of the runners were still going hard, while hurting very badly, enough that the other members made them back off to be able to join in the final triumphant miles.  They hammered the last miles entering State College, alternating one mile at a time, running sub-5 minute miles until the last mile, where all ten joined together to enter the track for the remaining several miles.  They then put in a sub-4 minute mile, one lap at a time (Ryan Foster and Owen Dawson included with two of the others.  I'll try to find out who the other 2 were.)

In these times of political discord, PSU scandal, financial upheaval and whatever else there is to detract from what's important in life, these guys set an example all of us should be proud of and try to emulate in small degrees in the rest of our lives.

As a humble Penn State Track Alum who has tried to herd the cats to participate and give back to the program that has given us so much, I can only say thank you to each of these guys.  I hope to be able to talk with and ask questions of each of them in the near future.

  1. Luke Watson - Notre Dame, PSU.
  2. Ryan Foster - PSU (Group's Clothes Engineer)
  3. Owen Dawson - PSU
  4. Kyle Dawson - PSU
  5. Ryan Blood - Lock Haven (now an honorary PSU Track Alum Golfer)
  6. Dennis Pollow - PSU
  7. Brian Fuller - PSU
  8. Teddy Quinn - PSU  (Group's Director of Fun)
  9. Vince McNally - PSU
  10. Nick Hilton - Lock Haven (now an honorary PSU Track Alum Golfer)


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