Glory Days

Maybe it's the many, many hours I have spent during the past week watching the track events at the Olympics, (or maybe it's the sleep deprivation that comes from staying up late to watch 3 hours of Bob Costas & 'human interest stories' before the 9 second race is finally replayed on tape delay at 11:28 pm) but I have been waxing nostalgic about my days running cross country and track in high school.  So I dug through my high school scrapbook...and found this lovely gem:

Now I know you have several questions regarding this picture, so I will try to answer them in order of importance.

1.  Yes, I was really that skinny at one point.  But trust me, as much as Victoria's Secret would like you to believe otherwise, 6 ft, 117 lbs really isn't that attractive.  If you don't believe me, compare my arm to the baton in that picture and get back to me.
2.  Yes, that is one killer farmer's tan I have going on.  That's what happens when you train in t-shirts and (Umbro) shorts, and then put on a ridiculous uniform.
3.  Yes, those shorts are really that short.  See above statement about ridiculous uniform.
4.  Yes, I know that if I had relaxed my face I could have finished a tenth of a second faster.  And more importantly, I would have avoided looking like Piglet's angry sister in the local newspaper.

Apparently my trip down memory lane only served to once again remind me that high school wasn't all that great.  Not that it was bad, but I wasn't running Olympic level times and being sponsored by Nike either.  So maybe there is a world of difference between high school track and the elite, professional runners that are competing in London.  But somehow the ridiculous uniforms seem to stay the same...