Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Fifteen Minutes

On my way to work this morning I got a call from a friend Mike. Mike was surprised to find my picture in the newspaper. Even more surprising is that it was on the first page of the sports section. Finding my picture in the sports pages, let alone the front page, is about the most unlikely occurrence I could expect. How did this happen?

A while back I was approached by Doug Padilla, sports writer for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. He had been researching the Internet with the intent of finding some local high school athletes that had gone on to great things at little out of the way schools. His search accidentally led him to me (Thanks, Google!). Doug and his editor were intrigued. I met Doug over lunch about a month ago and told him my story. He arranged for a photographer to meet me on my next training run the following Saturday.

The article appeared in today's paper. The Tribune is part of a larger conglomerate so the story is also in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Pasadena Star News and the Whittier Daily News. Here's a link to the story, minus the picture in the print version. I like that Doug took the angle or running with a group to insure success. It's bummer that he left Lisa out of the story. A big part of my story is her support and how we share the trips as mini vacations.

Enjoy the story. My wife bought 6 copies at lunch for various relatives. A coworker printed out the online text and hung it up in the coffee area. My father-in-law was impressed that someone in the family made the paper without dying or being in jail!

Thanks Doug for making me a star for at least a few minutes.

16 comments:

Danny said...

very cool!!

Wes said...

Yay! Now I know somebody famous :-) Life is good!!!!

Jenny, Maniac #401 said...

Wow! That is really neat. Congrats!
Jenny

Anonymous said...

how awesome!

Anonymous said...

I know a local celebrity!

Can I have your autograph? :)

Unknown said...

lewis and clark.

maybe at 220 you were two people, but not now! ;)

congrats, darrell!

David said...

Nice! Traffic should pick up for you here so you better use good grammar and spelling, be compelling and inspirational; and not too long-winded.

Ha!

Backofpack said...

Very nice Darrell! But I want to see the picture too - I feel deprived. It was a great article and I can't even imagine you heavy.

Sarah said...

Congrats! That's very cool.

Donald said...

Very cool. It's a great story.

Rae said...

How cool!!! That is awesome!!!!

Unknown said...

That's cool! Definitely something to frame to go with your 50 state marathon medals!

Anne said...

Oh wow...suh-weet. And it's a nice article -- very thorough. I guess next time we see each other I'll have to get an autograph.

Scott McMurtrey said...

that's great! a good article, too. you're the biggest celebrity i know. don't forget about us little folk.

Unknown said...

Nice article! I can say that I knew you before you were famous so that you will know that I am a true friend and not just trying to ride your success ;) Aren't you supposed to fill us in on the states you are tackling this year, or did you already do that and I am having memory loss?

Anonymous said...

That's really cool. It's not often runners get noticed by the media. We are often all too forgotten. Congrats.
I am new to the blogging thing so stop by my blog when you get a chance-I think we even use the same template.

http://bensrunningblog.blogspot.com