Last week certainly didn’t lack for excitement when it came to people running, having fun, and writing about it. No siree. With the possible exception of not having much to say about my weekend, I’m damn glad to have drawn this slot to talk to you about what’s happening. Oh, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out the Rundown main page for more details.

Today I’m going to talk about lessons. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.

Well, first I want to say “Congratulations,” to Cassie, aka Tiggs, for finishing her first full marathon this weekend in San Diego (what a great choice for a first time). TNT kept her going, and she has a lot of good things to say about the power of teamwork. Kudos also go out to Scooter for getting that much-deserved age group trophy for the first time, even doing so with a “slow” time I’d personally love to see.

Next a history lesson - but a short one. And a fun one. And hey, guess what, its about running. Have you ever heard of a six mile marathon? If not, check out this commentary on the women’s only Crazylegs Marathon. See? History isn’t so bad. You might even learn something, which lets me off the hook for the rest of this column.

Do you ever wonder how your non-running family might feel about your odd obsession with mileage? In a bit of a twist, Carrie didn’t run San Diego this weekend, but her sister Cathy did, and Carrie described feeling proud, excited, and overwhelmed. With inspiration like that, can her first marathon be far behind? If you’re reading this and feel inspired but need just a little something more, think about how it must feel for Sean who finished 26.2 while raising money to fund leukemia research - a more personal goal than most, since he did it all while being treated for leukemia himself! Go Sean!

Jon learned that its easier to run on an injured shin if you bash it hard enough to make it go numb, and the value of carrying a first-aid kit wherever you go. Thinking about injury, I should point out that with the help of his friendly sports doc, Alex learned that he didn’t have a stress fracture. Probably. This will no doubt cause him to take his training easier in the future. Well, for a week or so at any rate.

Alison is learning - and sharing - from one of my hometown coaches (among others) in the Running Getaway out in Boulder, and it sounds absolutely wonderful. Call it a summer camp for overachieving atheletes.

Lara learned the value of persistence, especially following a not-so-great race with a hard one, and doing well anyway. And when it comes to breaking out of a slump, you could do a lot worse than to pay attention to Andrew and throw caution - and a regular pattern - out the window and just plain get out there and run. Amen to that.

Fancy running on the trails? Marisa teaches us how hard it is to keep slow and controlled when you really want to go out hard, and could teach most of us a thing or two about scary trail races. I’ve always wanted to try a trail race, and just never seem to get around to one - maybe the lessons that she learned while doing it are some that I could stand to pick up as well.

Finally, even though he ran the Corporate Challenge this weekend, I’m choosing to highlight Chris’ recent post on some of the life lessons we could all stand to keep in mind. But read about his race too while you’re there, it sounds like fun - and like most of his posts, contains a solid slice of inspiration. As his dad finds out - as many of us adult onset atheletes have - its never too late to “turn your health around.” And oh, what a difference it can make.

Until next time… keep on running.

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