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by Brad Hooper (note from OTR publisher: Craig recently qualified for the 2000 Olympic Marathon Trials with a qualifying time of 2:20:21. Congratulations Craig form ontherunevents.com ! )
At track intervals the next week Jeff Foster, our esteemed Club Leader, informed us that the guy we have seen running in town was a very accomplished runner. He called Jeff to ask if there was a local training group, and Jeff did inform Craig that we all meet on Tuesdays. Craig did say he might show up in the near future. So, now there was a name to the sleek new runner in town. A couple of weeks passed, and we again ran into this unknown runner. This time our curiosity got the best of us, and we had to find out who this new runner was. We caught up with him and made small talk with him. We all ran together for about four miles, just enough time to make introductions and find out where everybody was from. After the meeting we continued back to the lake (our meeting place), but I could not remember where I heard the name Craig Dickson before. I thought of it all the way home. Finally, I remembered! I ran to my scrapbook and looked at my NAIA National Cross Country Championship Program. There he was the 1988 NAIA National Champion. Craig not only was a National Champion, but he had a faster time on the Kenosha, WI 8,000 meter course than did my favorite runner Pat Porter. So, I had to call my buddy (Phil Jasperson) and tell him about the discovery. When we showed up for intervals the next week, Craig was the center of discussion. We were excited to have another runner in town to train with. Not only to train with, but to chase after. Next time we saw Craig we offered a spot to him in our track interval training. So, he came out and trained with us. With Craig’s ultimate humbleness we never found out his true running resume. This resume came out in the next three months of training. Little did we know, we were training with one of the best Cross Country runners in the United States. But, knowing Craig he would never tell you. We had to pry it out of him. Most runners do like to talk about PR’s, races, strategy, and opponents. But, Craig is a very humble guy. A great attribute to have in an elite athlete. Well, it has been almost four years that Craig has been in town. I now know his true running resume. He has personal bests of 29:06 in the 10K, 13:48 in the 5K, 3:47 in the 1,500 meters, 1:05 in the ½ Marathon, and a Marathon Olympic Trials Qualifying time of 2:20:21. . His personal bests also include two trips to the World Cross Country Championships, NAIA National Cross Country Champion, USA Team Member in the World ½ Marathon Championships, and 8 NAIA All American Awards. I am really lucky as a runner to have Craig come into town. He has helped me break my 10k, 5K, 5 Mile, and 8K personal bests in the past 3 years. Craig has helped in by being a great training partner, as well as, a very good example. He also has become a very good friend to my family and I. He not only came to town, he brought his wonderful girlfriend Angela with him. They both have become excellent friends. Even better, he has been my Assistant Cross Country Coach at St. Martin’s College since we became a collegiate team 3 years ago. So, Craig has been an incredible coach, runner, and friend to me since his arrival. In conclusion, I just felt that the running public needed to know what type of person Craig Dickson is. He has added a lot to the Olympia area in the running, friendship, and coaching arena. He just needs to be recognized, since you will not hear all of this from the Humble Craig Dickson. From: A good friend ALWAYS, Brad Hooper
Have you got a human interest story about a runner you know or a race report to share ? ontherunevents.com is happy to share stories with our readers. Send us your stories, your experiences!
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Four years ago a runner shows up in Olympia. While on a training run with my training buddies,
we saw another pretty quick runner on opposite side of the road. With a quick nod we were intrigued
with the new guy in town. Olympia is a fairly small town, and all of the runners know each other, in fact,
we all train together. So, we all wanted to find out who this new runner was.