Erin Cowell

Features Erin Cowell There are already back-to-school signs in the store windows. But for the first time in 19 years, I don’t have to pay attention to those signs – my God, 19 years. It’s hard not to pay attention.
Every year since I was five-years-old I would get the usual school supplies: pens, pencils, notebooks, calculator. I secretly loved school, even up to my last year in college. It was the idea of newness, a fresh start, anticipation, and all those cliques. It wasn’t just the social aspect – yes, new clothes made you feel like a rock star; but it was also the studiousness of it all. I felt motivated and older, more mature.
Now, I can’t get that feeling any more. I suppose I could stay enrolled in school like it’s my job, but I couldn’t afford that. I could also crash classrooms, kind of like a wedding, but weirder.
But in the end, I feel better when I can look at my diploma and think, I will never have algebra homework EVER again.
Although I am “finished” with school, I can offer advice to those who still have to pay attention to the back-to-school signs. Keep in mind that I am not an expert, only a post-student citizen with personal experience.

Features Erin Cowell Ryan Shay was an elite runner. Among his accomplishments, he was a five-time national road racing champion, winning the 2003 U.S. marathon, 2003 and 2004 half-marathon, and the 2004 20k and 2005 15k races. Before then, he ran at the University of Notre Dame, earning the school’s first national individual track title by winning the 10,000 meter race.
But even before the national titles, Ryan Shay had developed himself as a running marvel in his school days at Central Lake High School. Before winning 11 state high school titles, he entered the sport in junior high by following in the footsteps of his four older siblings. Shay not only lived in a household of runners, but was surrounded by a running community of Central Lake friends.
Shay collapsed and died during the 2008 Olympic Marathon Trials in
New York last November due to an enlarged heart. News of Shay’s death spread internationally throughout the running community and hit home in Northern Michigan.

Features Erin Cowell Typically you can find them cruising along the winding roads of Old Mission Peninsula. Identifiable by their jerseys, they are a blue streak whizzing past houses and the open waters of Grand Traverse Bay. Their light road bikes easily maneuver the sharp turns as they ride like a pack of wolves, each bike just inches from the other.
The Hagerty Cycling Team is a group of local bicyclists from the Traverse City area. Established in the spring of 2007, the team competes at races around the state.

Features Erin Cowell It’s 4 a.m., and the phone rings.
“Hello Jeff,” I say, half asleep.
“Weather looks good. We’ll see you at 4:30,” he says, in his usual chipper voice.

Features Erin Cowell Sure, it donates mountain bikes and defibrillators to the police department and helps pay coaching fees to area high schools that are low on funds. And, it has resurfaced five area running tracks. But, what the Traverse City Track Club is best known for is the race that brings over 3,500 runners to the Grand Traverse area.