When I ran Cross Country back in high school a good friend of mine (Henry aka "Micky" Darius) turned me on to the band Ministry. Their 1990 live album "In case you didn't feel like showing up" is to this day one of my favorites. I warmed up for almost every single race my Jr. and Sr. year listening to the aggressive lyrics and beats and driving guitars that exist on that album. I get shivers whenever I hear any song from that album... Visions of pre-race jitters and post race exhaustion are vividly brought to mind when I hear that stuff... I used to get so pumped listening to that tape before races....

"I only kill to know I'm alive..." One of my favorite quotes from that CD became an anthem that we ran by... You'd be out on the course and one of your teammates would come up next to you and say those words to you and then it was on... It was like take off the gloves and get to it! Those words would ignite that inner fire... You'd dig as deep as you could... push things that extra bit harder... burn that last bit of energy you had left sitting deep down inside of you... take out all your weapons and charge that shit all guns blazing... yeah maybe it's a bit morbid... but when you are out there running in a race, chasing down opponents, it is kind of like hunting... Totally primal. Our team moto was "Join the hunt, or become the hunted" every time you passed someone during a race that was one more kill... One more victim that you had hunted down.. and you were still alive... and still on the hunt and still looking to "kill" to chase down the next victim. The quote inspired us... semi-twisted as that might be... It is amazing how much emotion went into every race.. how much energy... Lots of people have no idea what I'm talking about when I try to describe what running XC was like... I feel lucky to have experienced that emotion. I am glad that I know about those feelings and that I have experienced that energy. I think that is what drives me a little harder then the average person. I think that is were I learned to be passionate about the things in my life. I think that is were I grew up and became who I am today. I am truly lucky to have had such a great team and a great coach. And truly lucky to have met Henry, who turned me on to Ministry and was one of the OG 3d crew members. Good stuff. Join the Hunt....