As I've shared much here lately, I've cleared many dates from my announcing calendar to free up some time. Some of those were The Woodlands Township races as well as the Pearland Half Marathon and 10K, which was today.
All of those races were great to work with the respective race producers and when I walked off the grounds, I had a check waiting for a job well done.
I've ended up announcing, however, the last two races of the Texas 10 Series -- Bridgeland last month and Huntsville today.
The one in Huntsville was the very last one ever.
I announced the very first one in 2013 and did the following two - 2014 and 2015, before I took a break from the Series.
These two races here in 2022 that I've stepped in to help are because Nathan Beedle, who's part of the team that puts the races on, hasn't been able to announce.
I went out to Bridgeland to spectate and race director Willie Fowlkes said he was going to have to announce.
He needs to be on the course.
So I said, "Willie, do you want for me to announce?"
We came to an agreement and I did and he was grateful and thankful.
In between, we had The Woodlands Marathon on its two weekends and had a great year.
The owners were overly pleased with my performance and I'm looking forward to 2023.
Fast forward to today's race. I had no plans to announce before yesterday morning.
I had reached out to Willie very early Friday morning and asked him if there was a place on the course that he needed somebody strong to help with traffic control.
He shared some challenges that the event was having and that he was going to Huntsville that day to go through the course for construction and would let me know.
Sometime Saturday morning (yesterday), he reached out and asked if I could announce.
I said that I would. Honestly, I love doing it, but not as many times a year as I used to and I like to be the one making the choice on a one-off basis as opposed to making a multi-race commitment for an entire series all at once.
I had good days at both races.
At Bridgeland, it was cold and the timer couldn't get the laptop going on the reader so I was only able to announce the names of the people that I knew. (Best to get to know your announcer in a situation like that if you like your name announced.)
For the remainder of the time, I just kept making general announcements and offered encouragement to all of the other runners.
Today, we missed a few of the 5K finishers' names because the data file on the laptop only picked up the numbers of the bibs and not the names with it.
RunFar's Raul Najera got the issue resolved in a very quick fashion.
I'm pretty much universally well-respected for my ability and talent.
And for the most part, I believe that I'm generally well-liked.
I have some very dear friends, who either make it a point to come say Hi! - Ray Sarno is one of them that comes to mind, while others - like James Griffis did today - make a positive comment on Facebook. They're both nice and well appreciated.
At Bridgeland, James Griffis was Mike Kuykendall.
Also at Bridgeland, I got a friendly hug from somebody in my friend Bill Dwyer's group who has lived out of the country for a few years and I haven't seen them since their family moved back here to The Woodlands. While I didn't interact with them much, it was good to see them - and they were friendly to and with me and had a short, positive and pleasant conversation.
For all of those good things, I usually have a challenge that nobody ever really sees.
This challenge has existed since just after Thanksgiving 2020 and it isn't one of my own doing.
A person was a little loose with some words.
I asked for some of their time in response to it - and I knew what the answer was going to be - and instead of a conversation, "Hey, I think I might have misspoke or misconstrued something," I was ghosted - in person.
It was one thing not to respond to a Facebook message - even though there had been communication just the Saturday before, but to show up in person at an event a week later and say nothing?
Wow. Pretty harsh.
There's a whole lot of stuff between then (end of November 2020) and today that I won't go into, but I've never been as disrespected, devalued and dehumanized as a person as this one participant has done to me.
I've taken measures in between that time, as well as years in the past before, to protect myself in similar fashion.
All I can fathom is that they didn't like that I chose to protect myself from their behavior.
I have my assumptions what the definition of the person's behavior is, but I can't say.
I offered to meet face-to-face to resolve it, and they claimed that there was nothing to resolve, totally discounting my concerns. (Again, it was still some of their time. I mean I don't know how else to resolve a problem if you had or wanted to desire a friendship.)
So they boxed me in a position that if I pushed the envelope, they could wildly make a claim of stalking (which I would never put myself in that position) so I kept my distance, even though they 1.) acknowledged my presence on the course of a race in April in Conroe (I didn't respond) with a single "Jon" and then 2.) made a post of a picture of me talking with a friend - who has helped me immensely through this - and put it on their running group's Instagram story.
Because this individual is in my best friend's group, and even though I'm not officially in the group, I have some support roles for his group.
I totally left that group for 90 days from mid-May to mid-August.
Didn't even talk to my best friend during that time.
In late November, we were at Texas 10 Conroe together and I continued to maintain my no contact position.
I hate(d) it, but if you're going to take advantage of me and not be a genuine friend I can't let you in.
A week later at a little club race, I was there and they arrived after me.
I was prepared to positively engage, and extend grace, but they chose to walk off.
Because they had their high school age daughter there with them, I left after the race once it started for there not to be a potential scene in front of her child.
I have too much respect for that young lady to be involved in a situation that I didn't choose to start.
Not a thing transpired, other than writing some things for my best friend's running group, which included them, until after the Bridgeland race.
The last finishers were coming in. They had come up from behind and presumably waited until I turned around and asked if I wanted something to drink. I didn't and I shook my head.
They said that they just wanted to thank me for the shout out and I said, "It is what I do." I'm professional. I don't hold any personal difference in the doing of my "job", even if I volunteered.
(I had, for full disclosure, not with this individual, limited what I said at a race for poor behavior aimed at my best friend in the community more than two years ago.)
I realized that it might have been curt so I tried to reach out during the week via Facebook Messenger - and I didn't notice until right before The Woodlands Marathon that they were ignoring them.
My message said "Sent" and not "seen".
I took some measures to protect myself once again.
And then today happened.
They never made eye contact.
Even with me standing in the chute and before I announced their name, I tried to extend grace and say, "Go Runner!" and I got no eye contact.
Nothing.
I have prayed as much as I can for this individual and their family that God will meet their needs.
I will have to double down my efforts.
I would meet anywhere, any place, any time to discuss and resolve whatever it is they have.
I'm a very simple man who attempts to respect and care for everybody that I come in contact with.
I know that you can't please everybody, but I'm not going to give up the things that I love to be involved in. And the natural "fight or flight" response is to give up.
Nor am I going to give up the friendships that I have with other people because of their behavior, but it is the hardest thing that I've ever gone through in my life.
If all happens accordingly, I won't announce another race until high school cross country season and then the Houston Half and Run Thru The Woods.
I will be out at Barry Blanton's Ironman aid station as I support his efforts much like I have done Steve and Paula Boone's Texas Marathon over the years because they tell me what I do is something that the athletes enjoy.
Those of you who are friendly to me, I genuinely thank you.
I covet those friendships and I enjoy when I get the chance to interact and engage.
And for anybody else, I have no more words for, but again, I'll just pray to ask for God to meet your needs. He's not going to love you any more or any less so it would be a waste of my breath to ask Him of that for you, but He knows what you need in your life and I just pray that He will do that for you.
