Tegla is a five foot tall wooden statue I bought in Tanzania in 1992. I saw her at a roadside market and asked the wood carver about her. She is made of ebony, an intensely black wood that is very heavy. Locally in the sub-Sahara, the “blackwood” tree is known as mpingo. It is known for its high density, fine texture and the ability to be polished to a very smooth finish. I gave the carver a large sum of cash to pay for her and shipping back to the States. He promised that she would arrive  in one piece by the time I got home. My traveling companions just told me I got ripped off. They were wrong. I believed the wood carver and rightfully so. When I arrived home a few weeks later, there Tegla was – in a box on my doorstep…and in one piece. In the eighteen years since she arrived in the States she has been the center of all my living rooms. Some folks have their tv as the center – but for me, it’s been this life-size Tanzanian statue. My mother, known as Nana, always got a kick out of Tegla and we’d kid her that she was shorter than Tegla…and getting shorter every year.

Besides being a great source of entertainment for visiting family and friends, Tegla has been the wearer of my running and triathlon medals. And since 2002, when Laura moved in, Tegla’s served as the medal holder for both of us. Since we both were racing quite frequently, the weight of our finisher’s medals and awards were taking a toll on her and this pint-size Ebony queen appeared ready to tip over and come crashing down on our hardwood farm plank floor . We started placing the medals around her neck with the medallion part on her back to improve her balance.

In 2004 we took all of the medals off of Tegla for a count. Laura had been trying to convince me that I had  run more than 100 marathons -a number I’d been telling people for years. The number turned out to be 153 marathons – or at least 153 of the medals around Tegla’s neck were from my marathons. Last night – six years after the big medal count of ’04 – we decided to strip Tegla of all of our medals once again and give her a much need breather. The stats so far: 420 medals pretty much split 50/50 between Laura’s various ultras and marathons and my runs and triathlons. Besides the medals, Tegla was wearing some Africna beaded bracelets, a safari hat complete with netting, a Canadian Maple Leaf Court jester hat, beneath that a Comrades cap and some Jamaican dreadlocks under that. Laura gave her a nice cleaning and oiling. All Tegla is wearing now is a simple beaded necklace and a prayer cloth that made it to the top of Everest when a friend summited in May. While the medals up to her neck were pretty comical I think it’s time to just let her look regal for a while or at least until somebody puts a witch’s hat on her for Halloween and antlers for Christmas.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74804&id=1189116796&l=9f9725056a

This artwork by Megan Huels is all text (words).

When the following email and attachment (at left) was forward to me at work, I developed a big smile on my face and was reminded of my role as a mentor.

A quote from my book: “As runners, we each have a duty to accept the role as mentor to a slower runner or a new runner or someone who doesn’t think he or she can walk around the block, let alone finish a 5-K.”

Thanks Megan and see you at the races….

> Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 9:58 AM

> To: Yasso, Bart

> Subject: Re: feedback + Something for Mr. Bart Yasso

>I wanted to let you know I love your magazine. I started off a non-runner. Pretty opposed to it really. My husband was one of those ”freaks” that tortured himself in that way- not me! I admired him for  it but never ever thought I could be a runner. I got a subscription to Runner’s World for him as a present and found myself reading it. And loving it. And being inspired by it. I was also greatly inspired by Bart Yasso. I heard him speak at the Chicago Marathon World Vision dinner a couple years ago (my husband ran it) and found myself wanting to become a runner as I listened to him. I am still a long way off from marathons, but I am running none the less! At 30, I decided to go back to school for a few classes. One of my assignments was to design a poster depicting someone I find inspiring using only words. The first person that popped into my head was Bart. Attached is the poster I designed. I hope he knows what a great job he’s doing!

Megan Huels

Yes, that’s a REAL headline from the  Examiner.com.

There’s always comedy in running, isn’t there?

And the part about deluxe port-a-potties is absolutely true. Any runner wearing Brooks MCM 2009 apparel or Brooks shoes on race day gets to use their VIP port-a-potties along the course, which feature flushing toilets, partitioned stalls, climate control, a fragrance dispenser, hot and cold water complete with oak vanity and mirrors.

http://www.examiner.com/x-8091-DC-Running-Fitness-Examiner~y2009m9d8-Marine-Corps-Marathon-Expo-Bart-Yasso-free-samples-and-a-deluxe-Porta-Potty

If you see a runner with their race number on their back you know it’s their first race. Welcome them to the greatest sport on the planet. Then use my line: RUNNING AIN’T NO RODEO. Put that bib number on your chest.

Titles:

My Life on the Couch

My Life as a Sofa Spud

My Life as a Joggernaut

My Life with the Kitty Cat

and the bogus titles go on and on.

Susan, a former co-worker of mine came up with this fake book cover last year: My Hair On The Run. See attached pdf of the fake prequel. My life as a long-haired hippy is a book in itself!

http://www.bartyasso.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/myhairontherun1.pdf

I arrived home from Iraq last Thursday but just four days later I was back on a plane and headed west. During my my three and a half days at home I managed to go into work and catch up as well as get in a few bike rides, two rounds of golf – one a charity event for my hometown of Fountain Hill. (I love to golf but I suck at it. Laura doesn’t understand golf so when she asks how bad I am, I tell her that I am the equivalent of a 6-hour marathoner at golf.) Also got a lot of “mulching” done in our once acre yard, visited with freinds at our running club’s clubhouse and entertained company from St. Catherine’s Canada. On Saturday night after golf, mulching and biking and some quality time with Mojave the cat, I went into Philly to watch my wife run some night time laps at Back on My Feet’s Philadelphia 20 in 24, the second running of this set-time event staged at Boathouse Row behind the Philly Art Museum. What a perfect day and night to run in the City of Brotherly Love. My wife loves this 24-hour race and has convinced quite a few of her friends to enter as a relay. And many of last year’s relay runners entered the solo runner, “Lone Ranger” division this year. It’s a natural progression. There were 207 Lone Rangers. I stepped in and did some race announcing for a few hours at night before and during the Midnight Glow in the Dark loop but my mic was taken away from me by none other than that pink tutu-clad ultrarunner and crazy Brit, Keith Straw, fresh off of his finish at the Badwater 135 a few days erlier. It was great seeing folks from many of the local running clubs Laura and I belong to including the Pagoda Pacers of Reading. Ron and Helen Horn of the Pacers did the timing for the event.

Tuesday morning I was on a plane to Salt lake City for the big Outdoor Retailer’s Show. This was pretty fun as we – Runner’s World – were in charge of the Endurance Zone and Endurance Lounge. We had treadmills set up and some amazing duels were going down – Nicole de Boom vs Scott Jurek – in a skirt no less, and two-time Western States winner Hal Koerner up against Leadville champ Anton Krupicka. Anton, Scott and Hal have to be the three smoothest runners I have ever seen – hands down – and a testament to the caliber of runner in the ultra community. There is some ridiculously serious talent out there.

Now I’m in San Francisco staying on the embarcadero with a great view of the bay.  I’m on my way to the race expo where I’ll sell books. If you’re in town, stop by and say hello. It’s a typical San Francisco morning – foggy and overcast. Like Mark Twain said: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

A note from Kevin Martin, one of the soldiers I ran with at Al Asad…

Bart,

Hope the rest of your tour in Iraq is going well.  We really enjoyed having you all in Al Asad.  It was quite an honor to run that 5K with your group. Here is that picture that we spoke about showing us holding the poster for our event. 

The event is the Major McClung Memorial Half-Marathon and will be held in Iraq this August.  It is named after Major Megan McClung, the first Marine female officer killed in Iraq.  She organized the 2006 Marine Corps Marathon Forward which is a satellite version of the Marine Corps Marathon.  The Half-Marathon will fall 8 weeks from the 2009 Marine Corp Marathon — so in the perfect spot for a marathon training schedule.  Iraq will host another satellite version of the Marine Corps Marathon in 2009.  There are currently over 200 service members signed up to run the Half-Marathon.  Major Megan McClung was an avid runner who finished 6 Ironman Triathlons and numerous marathons including the Marine Corps Marathon which she helped bring to Iraq in October of 2006.  Two months later she was killed in an IED attack.

This is the information about her scholarship fund:

The Major Megan M. McClung Memorial Scholarship

C/O Women Marines Association

P.O. Box 8405

Falls Church, VA 22041-8405

See womenmarines.org for details.

Thanks again for hanging out with us,

Kevin Martin

Left to right: Mark Cain, John Gandy, Bart Yasso, Frank Shorter, Timothy McMahon, Dax Bonnett & Kevin Martin