by Joan Nesbit
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Life Intervenes

Okay, okay, I know it's been a while, but I've been busy. Some might event say I've been "busy". In these past three months since the Olympic Games I have already coached two college teams through most of a cross-country season, refashioned my former "Team Wednesday" training group into a mostly-male group of open near-elite runners, gotten woefully out-of-shape, and am-presently 16 weeks pregnant. When it comes to my progress as a runner, I have to say, sometimes life intervenes.

I am writing to tellyou The Black Spike column is going to have to be in a holding pattern for a while. Most of my nights are spent with Sarah Jane, as my husband is working down in Florida (teaching Shakespeare) from Monday through Thursday. And the free hour or so I do find in the evenings is devoted to recruiting. I have no friends, only potential runners. "hi, you donít know me, but would you like to come to Carolina and spend the next four years getting to know me?" or something like that. I feel like a telemarketer for MCI. "Donít go to Stanford. We can offer you 5,000 frequent flyer miles if you switch to UNC."

So, I hope you can forgive this overworked, pregnant, mother/coach/former runner. When I do get back to racing - and I will - if for not other reason than to show the world that runners a re people too (or is that "mothers are people too" or, perhaps, "mothers are runners too"?) &endash; anyway, when I do run again, I will also need to write about it. Running and writing [and reading Ö the Three Rís], for me, have always been linked. Did you ever read J.D. Salingerís "Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters"? Well, in the epigraph he offers, "If there is an amateur reader still left in the world-or anybody who just reads and runs- I ask him, or her, with untellable affection and gratitude, to split the dedication of this book four ways with my wife and children."

In my post-Olympic life, I have learned that Perpetual Single-mindedness is not my color. I need to wear a less monochromatic wardrobe for a while. So, during this hiatus, while my black spikes are in storage, I will be donning my Birkenstocks, some hiking boots, dress shoes, and maybe even a pair of yellow sneakers!

Farewell until fall of 1997 (the baby is due at the end of April). By the way, when the Black Spike does return, it will be a STEEPLE spike!!!

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