Track and Field Blogs - Patrick Rizzo

This month a few of us went to Orlando for the Disney Half-marathon. While there, I got wind that Jim Ryun, my all-time hero of running, was going to be speaking right after us at the expo. Obviously, I decided to stay around and listen in hopes of affirming that he is all of the awesomeness that I've always perceived him to be. He was! Afterward, I stayed and got his autograph on one of his books and wished him well on his next run to regain his seat in the US Congress. I was like a kid in a candy store just by meeting my biggest hero in my developmental running life.
Then at the athlete's banquet, I got to meet a couple people who I knew very little about, Patti and Dan Dillon. Kevin introduced us and we figured we'd probably leave it at "hello." HECK NO! Patti is now probably my favorite woman runner of all time. She's so energetic, inspiring, friendly...and quite animated. Dan was not much different. Both are very open about their training, racing, mentality, preparations, everything. I could have just stood and talked to them for hours (well, it was over an hour anyway) if not for having to race the next day.
Needless to say, I had just as good a time as any "casual" runner that was seeing these legends speak. Congratulations to Disney events coordinators for bringing some great speakers and great people out to the race this year. Hopefully we can do it again next year.