E + R = O

The Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020 has canceled the world as we know it. At the time that I write this, there’s been 104,277 confirmed corona cases in the United States. Yesterday, that number made the U.S. #1 in the world. 1704 Americans have died. We are led by a mad king. The likely democratic nominee (I’ll be nice) is in cognitive decline. Our for-profit hospitals have been caught unprepared. Our for-profit government has been caught unprepared. Too many people in our country are proudly uninformed and arrogantly undisciplined. Tribal science deniers continue to disregard the facts and spread the disease.

The rest of us are grounded.

I feel sorry for teenagers. The punishment of “being grounded” was the death penalty of consequences until the age of the smart phone.

Jill and I had a three night NYC trip scheduled for this week. Instead, NYC is a ghost town, the national epicenter. We bought expensive tickets to see Jackson Browne and James Taylor at the United Center for June 10th. Jackson Browne has tested positive. What are the odds of 23,500 people packing the United Center in June?

I was scheduled to speak with a great lineup at Florida Atlantic University in May. Doesn’t look good. Ditto with TFC-11, June 6-7.

My son, Troy is scheduled to get married in Destin, Florida, in June. Doesn’t look good.

Zoom has rocketed to the center of human life. Yesterday, I did a three-hour Zoom Webinar, “The Pursuit of Speed”, for 100 coaches. It sold out in less than six hours. The proceeds will be donated to my track team. Next Saturday’s Fast Cat 5k & 10K has been cancelled. We’ve lost our only fundraiser, but like everyone else, we must still pay bills.

My daughter, Adrienne, donated $100 to her dog-walker, who now joins the millions of Americans who are now “non-essential” and unneeded. I’m hoping the dog-walker gets her $1200 check from the government in three weeks.

Our choice is pretty simple. We turn selfish or we turn outward. We become essential to others or we become hoarders. We give or we take. We become a hero or a villain. Have you ever read “The Stand”?

Wash your hands and stay home. Go on long runs or short walks. Be good. Do the right thing. Reach out. Share memories with your people.

Shared Memories

Like all great things, memories are better when they are shared.

Those of us who have lived lives rich in memorable moments are lucky. Coaches are the luckiest people I know. I’ve always told my athletes that 90% of their high school memories will be sports memories. My father, age-84, has had a couple minor strokes in the past nine months and has struggled through the toughest years of his life. However, he can still remember how many points he scored against East St. Louis as a sophomore 68 years ago.

Memories are made strong when we share them. People have the unique ability to nearly forget unpleasant memories. It’s an evolved survival mechanism.

The Blizzard of 2018

Every decision we made was wrong.

Track coaches are weathermen. We understand high and low pressure, warm fronts and cold fronts, wind speed and wind direction, rain, sleet, and snow.

The night prior to the 2018 Illinois Prep Top Times, I checked the weather. There was going to be a narrow band of heavy snow early in the morning of March 24th.

We had a full team competing at the Proviso Invite on the same Saturday beginning at 9:00 am. Since the snow was expected south of us, Proviso would not be a problem.

We considered moving our Top Times departure to early morning, but to me, there’s nothing worse than arriving at a meet too early. If we left at 9:00 am, we’d arrive in Bloomington four hours before our first event.

Secondly, if the snow was expected in the morning, wouldn’t it be better to give the snow plows a chance to do their work? It was just a narrow band of snow expected. And for God’s sake, it was MARCH 24th! We had originally planned to leave at 11:30 which would get us to the meet at 1:00, 75 minutes before the 2:15 start of the high jump. The first running event wouldn’t start until 4:15. Just to be safe, we moved bus time to 11:00 am. It was the wrong decision.

11 athletes and 3 coaches left Plainfield in a minibus at 11 am.

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip

It was a beautiful day.

We made good time and saw no snow for the first half of the trip.

When we neared Pontiac, the weather changed, changed a lot.

We were stuck on I-55 between mile markers 197-198, a traffic jam 30 miles long due to a wrecked semi truck. We were stuck for over three hours. The total amount of snow that fell in the narrow band was 8.5 inches.

We did get some comic relief when this “chopped” vehicle, on its way to New Orleans, pulled up alongside our minibus. Like us, these guys were unprepared for 8.5 inches of snow.

For a brief period of time, we actually got moving, thinking everything was going to be ok. We had passed an exit where we could have taken the backroads (Historic U.S. 66) into Bloomington. Coach Derks (our fearless driver) had asked, “Should we exit or stay on 55?” My answer, “Let’s play it safe and stay on 55.” Wrong decision.

Traffic was soon stopped again.

Eventually, we got moving again. My GPS suggested a faster route, exiting on Route 24 towards Gridley. Ironically, my life began in Gridley 61 years ago. We took a chance and got off of I-55. Wrong decision. The roads weren’t so good. Someone joked that Gridley (population 1,416) might be the place where my life started AND ended.

We arrived at Top Times at 5:10 pm. Yes, we had spent over six hours on a bus.

We rallied in support of our 4×8 who had to run in place on the bus to warm up. The 4×8 was scheduled to start at 5:10.

I will never forget the kindness of Michael and Tonya Burke. They checked in our 4×8 and made sure we could expedite the process of getting our 4×8 onto the track. What makes this so special to me is the fact that their son, Kyle, missed his race. Instead of being mad and upset, the Burkes turned negative into positive, helping other kids. Kyle Burke returned to Top Times the next year running a personal record 8.28 and placing 4th in 60m HH.

We had two seniors who missed their events… Dan Devenuto in the hurdles and Dylan Webb in the high jump. Both handled their disappointment better than I could ever imagine. Like the Burkes, Dan and Dylan turned their energy outward to support their teammates. Dylan Webb ended his season in May as an all-stater, high jumping 6’6″.

Our 4×8 ran their hearts out. Seniors Omar Paramo and Ethan Prior ran splits of 2:00.4 and 2:02.5 respectively. We placed 10th.

Our phenom, Marcellus Moore, missed the prelims of the 60m dash, unable to defend his title. Marcellus had won the event as 14-year old freshman running an IL #1 and PN school record 6.86. Instead, Marcellus had to watch Declan Rustay (IL 100m champ the previous year) take the title running 6.93.

Instead of being self-absorbed and depressed, Marcellus responded like a champion. I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of him.

In the 4×2, Marcellus ran his fastest-ever split (21.8). Along with Brian Registe, Canyon Bownes, and Anthony Capezio, we won with a time of 1:31.57, not quite as fast as we had run two years prior when we were IL #1 running 1:31.19 (without Marcellus).

Then came the showdown. The year prior, as a freshman, Marcellus Moore had been bulletproof until the state finals when Declan Rustay, of Hoffman Estates, beat him in both the 100m and 200m. The showdown would come in the 200m.

Not only did the 200m feature the state champion from 2017 (in lane five), but also the bronze medalist from 2017, Dubem Anikamadu (in lane six). Marcellus would have a perfect view in lane four.

Marcellus ran 21.61 and blew away the field. 21.61 remains Marcellus’s lifetime PR on a 200m flat track. This year, at age-17, Marcellus ran 21.01 in the Big Ten prelims on a 300m track at Spire.

Besides creating a rich shared memory for everyone involved, the story of our fateful trip gives me encouragement with what we face today.

Shit happens

As my good friend Steve Jones (112-7 as football coach, Kimberly HS) has taught me, E + R = O.

“E” stands for the event. Events happen. The late-March blizzard of 2018 was the event. Our six hour trip and subsequent late arrival to Top Times was something that happened to us. Shit happens.

“R” stands for the response. We get to choose our response. We get to decide whether to turn inward or outward. We get to decide whether we spiral downward or stand tall.

“O” stands for outcome. The event does not create the outcome. The event plus our response creates the outcome.

E + R = O

The Coronavirus Pandemic is an event that we didn’t choose. The pandemic happened to us. We get to choose our response. Is it going to be “me” or “we”? Will we collapse in despair or will we man-up?

When we look back at these times, will we be proud or ashamed?

Good things can come from hard times.

Stay safe.

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By Tony Holler