Some thoughts, plus a quick Club XC wrap-up

So I’m on a flight to San Francisco, and I’m getting a bit tired of reading, so it seems like the perfect time to type out a blog post. 

I had a dream last night that I was, for all intents and purposes, fully sponsored by Saucony.  It was certainly a fantastic dream.  What runner in my position doesn’t dream of being fully sponsored by someone?  To have all your gear taken care of, travel money, cost of living stipend, and everything else involved with being a fully funded representative of a shoe company. 

I’m sure that there are some pressures involved with that as well.  I can’t imagine what it’s like when your contract is about to be up, the gut wrenching feeling of not knowing if your main source of livelihood is about to be taken away.  That is a pressure that I don’t believe I have felt yet, and one I’m not sure I want to feel. 

I remember waking up this morning, and being pretty disappointed at the fact, that no, I’m not a Saucony sponsored athlete, and that nope, there is no check in the mail from a shoe company on the way to pay my rent. 

I could quit being a distance runner and go get a full time job that makes 40k+ per year.  Be way less stressed about my expenses, and when my prize money is coming because well, I have a car payment due, and student loans to pay.  But what fun would that be?

I have the best day job in the world.  Regardless of what people say, I’m still a Professional Athlete, and what kid doesn’t dream of being that at some point?  Maybe I’m not doing it the most glamorous of ways, but shit! I’m still doing it. 

Maybe I live paycheck to paycheck, and maybe every race I run that has prize money involved is a critically important race, because that $300 pays for the next trip. Maybe living like this is stressful, but it’s LIVING at its finest.  Here I am, on a plane, sitting next to one of the best runners in the USA, on our way to a National Championship race where we’ll go mano-a-mano with some of the other top runners in the country.  How is this not wonderful?  How is this not life at it’s finest, in its full glory?  Who needs handfuls of the green stuff, when at 12:45 Saturday morning I’ll be spiked up, amped up, and running balls to the wall in the mud, hurdling hay bales.  Sounds like living to me.

And I couldn’t ask for a better life.

I won’t say no if Saucony comes calling though, they have some pretty sweet shoes.

In news, I was honored to be a part of the first EVER Team Run Flagstaff Pro XC Team at this years USATF Club Cross Country Championships.

We finished 3^rd Overall with a stud team (Ben Bruce, Nick Arciniaga, Matt Llano, Adam Vess, Forrest Misenti, Steve Soprano, Rivers Puzey, and myself).  It was a truly incredible experience.

The course was tough, (thanks Max King) as was the competition, but overall was a great time.  The best part by far though, was the feeling of being back on a team.  We had a great synergy, and I think we certainly developed that sense of belonging to something.  It was definitely a piece that I’ve missed since college, and I’m glad to be back a part of a team, with fantastic teammates.  I look forward for what the future holds for this fledgling organization.  I think there are going to be some really great things coming out of this.

Good things are a-coming.

Nick Hilton

The Moderately Talented Distance Runner