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Lead Stories: Friday, July 18, 2008

Josh Cox: Carpe Diem
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #2)

Posted February 6th, 2008 at 3:15 PM by Josh Cox

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Josh Cox

Check back every other Wednesday for his latest entry and for more information about Cox, also please visit: www.joshcox.com

In ‘97 Cox ran and won a 50-mile ultra, in ’99 he ran his first marathon making him the youngest Trials qualifier. The following year he clocked 2:13, which opened the door for him to train with the world’s best in Kenya. Cox has tried his hand at Reality TV, been all over magazine covers and is a fixture in the sport.

CARPE DIEM

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist minister and civil rights leader

“It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself.”
- Francis Bacon, English philosopher and statesman

“Never, never, never quit.”
- Winston Churchill, Author, soldier and Prime Minister

October 1980, Paul David Hewson and his band - formally known as “Feedback” and “The Hype” - had just released their first full-length album, Boy. Their single “I Will Follow” climbed the UK charts and their star was born. Around that time, the band joined a religious group in Dublin, the Shalom Fellowship. Time passed and some of Shalom’s leaders began criticizing the bands “involvement in the world.” The leaders told the band that in order to please God they would have to give up rock ‘n’ roll.
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Quote of the Day: 12/06/07

Posted December 6th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Motivation, Famous Quotes

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.”

- Jim Valvano

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JOSH COX: Interview Excerpts

Posted November 1st, 2007 at 9:30 AM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews

Below are textual excerpts from my interview with U.S. Olympic Marathon hopeful JOSH COX.

NOTE: To listen to the interview in it’s entirety via Episode 99 of The Final Sprint Podcast, please click here.

In the interview Cox talks about a multitude of topics, such as: Sunday’s U.S. Olympic Men’s Marathon Trials, his comeback, his father’s battle with cancer, their father-son relationship, faith, his “calling”, GodTube, Team Running USA, the transition to Mammoth, and much more!

On Competing in Sunday’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials:

“I’m gonna run November 3rd like it’s the last 26.2 miles of my life”

“[Once I’m at that start line] - I’m gonna let it rip. A lot of guys are motivated by a lot of different things but I am running this [race] for my Dad.”

On His Comeback – Physically, Mentally and Emotionally:

“I’m excited that I am excited about running again which is something I hadn’t been for the last two years.”

“I was basically the fat kid when I first showed up to Mammoth] … I am just getting’ my butt handed to me daily by Meb”

“My Dad told me, ‘Just be faithful with what God has entrusted in you’ … [and now when I run] that’s what this is all about.”
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Podcast 64: TEAM HOYT
TFS’s July 2007 Success Story

Posted July 16th, 2007 at 1:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Success Stories, Columns, Success Stories, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

TFS is honored to present our monthly Success Story award to individuals who have overcome tremendous obstacles, changed their own lives and/or the lives of others through running, sports or fitness.

I am proud to announce that TFS’s July 2007 Success Story is TEAM HOYT and my guest on Episode #64 of The Final Sprint Podcast is Dick Hoyt, who along with his son Rick, demonstrate the impenetrable power of love, dedication and courage, as well as, how athletics can serve as a medium for surmounting life’s most inconceivable challenges.

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together continuously compete in marathons, triathlons, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick, who was born with cerebral palsy, is unable to walk or talk. For more than twenty five years Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines and Team Hoyt has become both the face of the Boston Marathon, as well as, an inspiration and source of hope for people around the world.

Download the podcast to hear about Dick and Rick’s amazing journey, how it began, the initial resistance and later warm reception from the Boston Athletic Association, their astounding list of accomplishments, the challenges they face, Rick’s health, goals for the future, and much more!

Listen In
[PLAY] (To Download: Right click and select “save as”)

[RSS] Add The Final Sprint Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered to you

Host: Adam Jacobs
Guest: Dick Hoyt
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 16.4 MB
Length: 24:00

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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A Great Dad Believes You Can Do Anything

Posted June 18th, 2007 at 1:15 PM by Alexandra Haller

Section: Motivation

My Dad thought I could be the first person on Mars. He also believed I could be the first female president. He figured I was smart and talented; therefore, there was nothing of which I was not capable. Nothing. When I ran my first 5K and finished in about 33 minutes, he wondered aloud, as if were the most realistic thought in the world, why I wasn’t in the group of runners finishing sooner. Did that bother me? No. This is how my dad has always been, pushing me (and my siblings) because he thinks it’s the most natural fact that I would succeed.

The thing is that I’m never the one at the front of the finish line. When I was in eighth grade, I was forced to sign up for a field day event. I was painfully skinny, comically uncoordinated and god-awful scared of anything slightly athletic. Whatever event I was assigned to, I had made up my mind that I’d likely lose. The only available slot for the races was on the end of a 4-person relay and I was quite certain I’d let the other three down. Was my Dad going to let that attitude persist? No way.
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A Run With Dad:
His final farewell

Posted April 7th, 2007 at 7:30 PM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TheFinalSprint.com. Make sure to also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

I was angry….and hurt. But, mostly, I was tired. Drained. The events of the day had exhausted me, both physically and emotionally..

Although it was a nice day for a run ….. cool and dry ….. and I hadn’t run for a couple of days, I really didn’t want to do it. But, I knew a run would be good for me. And I had to get off to myself. Away from the others for awhile. So, I began.

My legs felt heavy. My breathing quickly became labored, even though I kept the pace slower than usual. This was not going to be a good one.

Two miles into the run, he joined me. His presence, which I sensed suddenly, startled me. I had never known him to run a step in his life. Oh, he wasn’t unfit. He worked hard all his life. Often, under brutally hot and humid conditions that were typical of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And, there he was. Running with me.
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