Relax and Cho!

In January a good friend of mine from high school contacted me. He was on a quest to get as many members of our old high school cross country team together to run the Wasatch Back Relay on June 19-20. He succeeded in getting 8 of us to commit with 2 additional runners who also ran for our same high school in later years, and another 2 runners are probably going to wonder why on earth they decided to run with 10 crazy ex-MHS cross country runners who seem to have their own vocabulary and spend an inordinate amount of time mocking their eccentric XC coach named Timo. Our facebook group reads like this: "A group consisting of mostly out-of-shape ex-MHS cross country runners that want to prove that they can still 'relax and go'." ("relax and go" being the phrase our coach would yell out at us during races and workouts.) Logically our team name would have to have "Cho" in it somewhere because although the word currently has several meaning and uses when it comes to MHS cross country, it was used so frequently in our every day vernacular that it truly has become synonymous with cross country running itself. When it first came into existence I was a 14 year old freshman and a "cho" was what you didn't want to be. "Don't be a cho!" meaning don't be lazy and undisciplined. Pretty soon all of our team cheers went something like this "Choooooooooooooo! Let's Go Murray!" It was taped on our shirts and the guys used to put "cho" on their backs with sunscreen during workouts. It really took on a life of its own so our Wasatch Back team name became the Cho Mamas. Here is is less than 24 hours before the big event and last minute preparations are under way. Since the Wasatch Back is known for crazy teams who dress up and decorate their cars we decided to draw from the eccentricities of our former coach Timo who would wear the most outrageous running attire in the name of thrift and an attempt at school spirit (our colors were orange and black). Here is a picture of the varsity guys in high school dressing up like Timo for the school Halloween stomp.

I've been going over my check list.

Bright orange shorts and orange hat? check!

Bright orange bandanna to wear while orange hat is taking a break? check

Nose plugs for sitting in a car full of sweaty runners? check

Everything else will be just icing on the cake. A while ago I put together a short inspirational video just for fun. Click here if you would like to see it.