Once you get on the bus, stay on the bus

From my blog on tnhstrackxc.weebly.com:

I just don't tire of bragging on this guy. Kevin Castille (pictured with Coach Bradley and myself) is certainly the fastest person I have ever had the honor of meeting. Today saw the start to Nelson County Schools' annual running camp. And, we couldn't have kicked it off with a more charming, motivational and accomplished speaker. I happened to get hooked up with Kevin as I was trying to nail down another speaker while visiting John's Run Walk Shop in Lexington, KY.

A Louisiana Native, Kevin turned 40 this past March. Since then, he has broken American masters records in the 10k, 5k and 3k, And, lucky for us, about a year ago he moved to Kentucky. His 10k mark of 28:57 and a 5k of 14:00 are exceptional by any standard. Now with his sights set firmly on the marathon, his mileage is increasing, and he was nice enough to invite me along for his Saturday workout last weekend. Maybe he was nice enough to agree to my inviting myself along. Regardless, I was looking forward to joining him, if only for a fraction of the workout.

What struck me the most about Kevin was his running efficiency. He chatted comfortably as we rolled along Lexington's Legacy Trail - the rest of us tried to chat and sound as if we weren't under distress doing it, breathing harder all of the time. As one of the younger runners in our group was beginning to yo-yo off the back of our pack, Kevin softly shared some wisdom. He said the Kenyans have a saying. They say "Stay on the bus. Once you get off the bus, you won't get back on the bus." which means stay with the group, because once you're off the back you will stay there. A few minutes later, the high schooler fell off. Shortly thereafter, another runner. Six miles in, I was gone, watching the bus roll away.

I'll probably continue to invite myself along for some of Kevin's workouts especially as I get my training back on track. But, if that by chance was the last time I ever run with Kevin Castille, I'm honored to have gotten to meet him, to see him speak to our kids, and most of all, to have spent that short time with him on the bus.