But It Wasn't Marked Fra-gee-lay

There are times that life imitates art. And, last week, was one of those times for me.

Remember the movie A Christmas Story? In the movie, the father unexpectedly receives 'a major award' that was delivered to him. He's not sure why but, nonetheless, he was very excited on its arrival. Well, this past Tuesday, I, too, was delivered a 'major award.'

It was a cold and dreary day (suddenly, I'm writing like Snoopy). The snow and ice were coming down all day as I worked from home. I had snowplowed my driveway and parts of my yard for the dogs to go out. Very depressing type of day.

In the afternoon, as the ice began to turn to rain, I went out to get the mail. In my mailbox was an large, thick envelope from a company called Competitor Group in San Diego, California sent to a Brian Steindl. Brian Steindl? That's strange.

Then I started thinking back to a race I ran last year where my name was mixed up and I was signed up as Brian Steindl. It was explained to me, that the person who was doing the registrations, combined my last name with the person before me's first name. Thus, Brian Steindl was born. But, what race was that? And why is there an envelope addressed to him (me)?

I opened up the package and there it was. A team award for finishing in third place in the Corporate Masters Men division of the Philadelphia Distance Run. I was giddy. I don't win awards for running. Oh, sure. When I was kid, I would win awards for 50 yard dashes. But, not now. Not for distance runs. And, as I pull the award out and revealed more and more of it, the thought flashed through my mind: They don't have the name Brian Steindl on the award, do they?

Thankfully, no.

I remember looking up the team standings when they were first posted but didn't think much of it afterwards. So, I went back and looked it up again.

Yes, indeed. I was part of the third place team. Sort of. There are five people on your team. They count the first three finishers' times for the team. I was fourth. (Hey, I missed it by a minute!!!! What's the big deal?.) And, there were four teams that competed in the division. So, we were third out of four.

Now, corporate teams are interesting. Because, you never meet your teammates. (I still don't know them.) And, for the most part, you don't know who is on your team when you are running. In past years for my company, I felt like the 'chubby kid on the bench' that had to be picked and put somewhere on the field. So, I would wind up on teams that the captains didn't know what to do with. Not elite but 'thanks for coming out and enjoy your run' teams.

But, there it is. A piece of hardware from a race. And, not just a finisher's medal. A plaque. I've never received a plaque before. I won a gift card for winning a Clydesdale master division once. But, I spent that. A plaque. I'm very proud of receiving my major award in the mail even if it was 5 months after the event and my time didn't count in the standings and my name was wrong in the registration. But, for those that come into my office and see my plaque, they will never know any of that. They'll see my major award.