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Post date: Feb 15, 2016 11:54:19 AM
When Adam Kimble takes his first steps today, he will be embarking on a 3,030-mile journey across the country.
The journey will last 45 days and take him from Huntington Beach, Calif., to New York City. It lasts pretty much our entire competitive indoor track and field season.
Kimble graduated from Minooka in 2005. He has a huge following here and the support of the entire Minooka community. We are all rooting for him.
Those that knew him in high school knew him to be an outstanding student, a talented multi-sport athlete, and a tremendous human being. One thing he wasn’t was a runner.
Kimble, @TheBeardedSole, went on to play baseball at Bradley University, and it wasn’t until after high school that he ran his inaugural race. Back home in Minooka’s high school district Kimble first toed the line at the Channahon Firefly 5k. It was his entry into a sport that would become a major part of his life.
His journey has thus far included marathons in Boston and New Zealand. He has run ultramarathons in the Rocky Mountains and South Africa. Last summer he won a 250-kilometer race through the Gobi Desert. He’s traveled around the world, and now he’s crossing the country one step at a time.
The Minooka girls track and field team has just begun its own journey. Today that journey takes them to a field house where they have a rare opportunity to practice on a indoor track. It’s not in another hemisphere, it’s not the Gobi Desert, but it is a nice change of pace from hallways. Each stop along the way has meaning.
The team has plenty of returnees who are anxious for their first meet. They’ve been on this journey for awhile. There are also a lot of welcomed new faces — not just to the team, but to the sport of track and field itself.
Most of these girls new to the sport are seasoned athletes. They play volleyball and softball. They’re part of basketball and soccer teams. They are competitors. But they’ve never tried track and field until now. Like Kimble, they began running later in their athletic careers.
From our experience, most people who try it, like it. And many have had great success in running, even though it wasn’t initially something they had considered. Big 10 champion Joe McAsey and three-time all-state medalist Ashleigh Wilson come to mind.
Those who have traveled this road before can tell you that the 2016 season will have its tough spots. They might include a day of practice that appears overwhelming, an injury that won’t go away, or a meet where nothing seems to go right. It’s part of the journey.
But it will also include successes. Athletes will run faster, jump higher, and throw farther than they ever had before. Meets will be won, and records will be broken. It’s a great sport, one that everyday provides the opportunity to be better than you were yesterday.
In 45 days Adam Kimble’s stop is in New York City. He will have set the Guinness World Record for the Fastest Crossing of America on Foot by a Male.
What better place to have started that journey than Minooka?
– Coach Thomas
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