Follow me as I explore the world via my two feet and see what stories and insights I have to share along the way!
My Story
Born in 1981 (you do the math!), I began running in Junior High in southern Ohio. I wanted to go out for a team that you didn’t get cut from! I raced in the sprint distances. The first meet of my high school career the coach threw me into the 800 (we only ran that far as a jog in warm-ups). He said something about my body style (tall and lean) was built better for the longer stuff than sprinting! I ran 3 years, skipping my Junior year to work. I ended up focusing on the 800 and mile, my fastest 800 was 2:12 and I don’t remember my mile. My High School didn’t have a cross-country program.
When I went to Taylor University (99-03), in Indiana, I knew to be competitive in track I would have to run cross-country, so I joined the team. I logged a gazillion miles and now looking back wish I had kept better track of my mileage. My fastest 8K was in the 30 minute range, so nothing amazing for collegiate runners, but I did finish with a 2:00 800 PR and a :53 400. I don’t really remember racing much at other distances so I don’t recall those times.
After Taylor, I pursued my MSW at Monmouth University on the Jersey Shore and ran with the Jersey Shore Running Club some in the fall. I was unable to run most of 2004 due to major surgery, but began running heavily again when I moved back to Indiana in the fall and got involved with the Anderson Road Runners. I ran and raced for 3 years around central Indiana.
I continued running when we moved to Minneapolis. Running is a great way to quickly meet new friends and explore a new place. I joined the Minnesota Distance Running Association early on and made some great friends. I truly experienced winter running – the record low for me is now -34 windchill. If you think I’m crazy you have to wonder about the bike commuters who passed me that morning! I trained with MDRA’s fall marathon training program and ran Twin Cities Marathon, my first at that distance.
Injured in 2009 with Plantar Fasciitis I struggled through the season battling the injury off and on for the next several years. I somehow finished the Twin Cities Marathon that year, after struggling through training. I took some time off that winter and was starting to make a comeback when all of sudden my knee swelled up and I couldn’t move it. Lo and behold I somehow got Lyme’s Disease, after several months off, some drugs, and lots of rest I was back to running. I was able to finish my first Ragnar Relay, running from Winona, MN to Minneapolis with 12 strangers. That was my only race for 2010!

2017 Running Goals
5K – sub 18:00
10K – sub 40:00
Half-Marathon – sub 1:30
Marathon – 3:10 (Boston Qualifying)
My Blog Story
I have been blogging since March 2006, I began on Myspace and soon added a blogger account and began regular blogging about my life! In May of 2007, I started posting comments about the races I had run over the weekend and soon got the idea for Run Central Indiana, which became a resource for local runners, in addition to content for all, about upcoming races, race results, and race reviews. That site really took off and being unemployed at the time I had lots of time and energy to devote to making it an awesome site. My readership grew and a post about the 2007 Chicago Marathon drew over 500 readers. That was all fine and dandy until I got a job and left Indiana! (I was truly saddened that no one wanted to continue RCI as I thought it was a great resource). That’s when this site was born, it will be similar to RCI in that it will have great content and race reviews but will lack the local flare of upcoming races and race results. I’m sure this blog will evolve just like the other ones have and looking back at some of my first content it is amazing to see the transformation! Read my welcome message, welcoming my former Run Central Indiana readers.

crossn81 aka Nick Cross
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