OK, well not us exactly, but The West End. It’s worth a read, go pick it up at Ukrops or click here to here Style’s take on The West End of Richmond. And make sure you take a look at the photos.

My daughter and I just walked in the door from our first official tour bus tacky lights tour. The second to last stop was my favorite — the Phifers, in Farmington. This time of year, about once a week we make our way out that way and check out the lights at the Phifers.

Anyway, just sat down to check my email and this story came across my Google Alerts. How upsetting that people would think it is OK to steal Christmas lights. Especially, at a house like this in a working class neighborhood where you can tell the lights are plain and simply a labor of love.

It has been a myth in my family for as long as I can remember that the Phifer’s were electricians. How else would they have figured out how to rig so many lights safely? Tonight I got a chance to meet Ms. Phifer. They were handing out candy canes to all the children — bless them. She told me no, she is a manager at the Friendly’s Restaurant on West Broad Street and her husband had an equally unrelated job to Christmas lights. What a nice family and too bad kids these days are so self centered they don’t think of how many people they will affect by doing something so stupid.

I knew when I first drove by the intersection at 5:55 p.m. on Thursday that it was a bad accident. Directly across from Panera Bread on West Broad Street were many, many flares and about 5 police cruisers. I couldn’t really see what had happened, except a dark colored SUV had its front end banged up. As I drove back down Broad Street after my workout at 8:15 p.m. the scene hadn’t changed much. All the flairs had burned out. And the car looked like it was going to be impounded. Officers were spraying orange spray paint on the street and on the tires of the car and measuring exact distances for their police report. I figured it was a grim situation if they were going to all that trouble….and unfortunately, I was right. Crossing the street (especially Broad Street) is more dangerous than it looks.

A Richmond man hit by a sport utility vehicle Thursday while trying to cross West Broad Street near Willow Lawn Drive in Henrico County died yesterday at VCU Medical Center.

Dwayne Keith Felder, 37, of the 1200 block of St. Paul Street was jaywalking when the SUV hit him about 5:15 p.m., state police said.

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As a triathlete myself, I guess I have a more personal interest and excitement in announcing that Richmond will host the 2008 National Duathlon Festival. This downtown Richmond hosted the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships in October, but this newly announce April event will bring even more athletes from all parts of the country to our beautiful city.
These are athletes who will come and spend lots of money here and then go home and tell their friends what a great place Richmond is. It is just the sort of thing we need. One of the best parts of all is that in addition to the regular National Championships, there will also be Junior National Championships (think kids and their families) and Duathlon Off-Road Championships showcasing our beautiful and unique urban off road bike and run trails. The festival will also occur here for 2009 and 2010. Richmond really has an oportunity to make a huge impression on these athletes and showcase what a great city we are.

Online registration for the 2008 National Duathlon Festival is now open at www.duathlonnationals.com

Pros, age groups, youth/junior, age group participants will all be running and biking along much of the same course that made the 2007 McDonald’s ITU Duathlon Long Course World Championships such a rousing success. The National Duathlon Festival also marks the first time that the USAT Duathlon National Championships and the Off-Road Duathlon Championships will be combined on the same weekend.

The same start, finish and transition area as the World Championships will be used and a closed bike course very similar to the World Championship course will be challenging and technical but easy enough for the citizens races. The downtown Richmond location allows for a proven off-road duathlon location, having hosted the past eight XTERRA East Coast Championships at this site. The location is also easy walking distance from downtown hotels, restaurants and parking.

The schedule (and event distances) for the National Duathlon Festival are as follows:
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Off-Road Duathlon Championships (10k run, 30k bike, 5k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Junior Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Off-Road Youth Race (1k run, 4k bike, 1k run)
Off-Road Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 10k bike, 2.5k run)
Sunday, April 27, 2008
USAT Duathlon National Championships (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run)
USAT Duathlon Junior National Championships (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
USAT Duathlon Youth National Championships (1k run, 5k bike, 1k run)
Duathlon Sport Race (5k run, 20k bike, 2.5k run)
Sports Backers is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization founded in October 1991 to build a more vibrant community through sports. The mission of the organization is to maximize the community benefits of sports tourism in the region by:
Creating, attracting and improving significant sporting events,
Serving as a resource in the development and utilization of sports facilities and
Aiding area youth through sports outreach programs.
These activities and programs strengthen the economy, provide health benefits to participants and make the region a more desirable place to live.

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I can’t say how happy I am that the Henrico Board of Supervisors approved the opening of a farmer’s market in Lakeside, just north of the Near West End. Now, all I have to do is hope that Charlie and Victory Farms will be a vendor there! A little birdy told me it is likely they will be at the new Lakeside Market.

Henrico An outdoor farmers market is expected to open in Lakeside in May. The Henrico County Board of Supervisors voted this week to approve Peter Francisco’s plan to operate the market from the parking lot of the Lakeside Towne Center, on Lakeside Avenue near Hilliard Road. Francisco, who owns the shopping center with his wife, Sharon, said he expects to have 11 produce vendors. The market season would end Nov. 30.

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I grew up in Northern Virginia, so one of the first things I noticed when I came to Richmond is how everything was basically black and white — African-American or Caucasian. Or, at least it was then, back in 1991 when I moved here. But now that I’m living in Henrico, especially in the Crestview area, there is much more diversity. I have 5 Indian families on my block. And, I love that Richmond (especially the neighborhood I live in) is more diverse then it was.
The Henrico Citizen just wrote an article about the Indian population in Henrico with a statistic that really surprises me:

The Indian population in Henrico increased by about 71 percent between 2000 and 2006 (from 2,560 to 4,369 people), according to the American Community Survey, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

71 percent is a huge leap! But it’s wonderful. Henrico is really starting to have its own communities of Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Latino and many other nationalities that would have been few and far between just 10 years ago. Diversity is the way of the future. It is one of the reasons we moved into the neighborhood we live in. I am so happy that my kids will get to experience different cultures even if they don’t travel out of the United States until they are older.

For Christmas, a heartwarming story of love and sacrifice from a University of Richmond basketball player. It is definitely worth the read.

Moments that find this little family sharing the same space — moments such as today, Christmas, the last day of the Spiders’ six-day holiday break — are fulfilling beyond description. Goring, the younger sister of Washington Mystics post player Gillian Goring, was asked to describe the emotions that accompany a reunion with her son following a lengthy separation.

“I can’t,” she said. “I’m not sure words can explain something like that. I don’t know — maybe some people can put it into words. But I know I can’t.”

But soon thereafter, she did. Goring’s eyes and face seemed illuminated by a glow from within as she recalled a recent visit from Jabari.

“I picked him up and held him and I couldn’t stop smiling,” she said. “I held him for a long time . . . a long time. I didn’t want to let go. Finally my mother said, ‘You know, it’s OK if you want to put him down. He’s probably ready to play.’ And I said, ‘Not a chance. I’m going to hold him as long as he’ll let me.’”

I came across an article about a former University of Richmond swimmer and about how the U or R swim program wasn’t a great fit for her, but despite that she was able to come back to win a national title.
I wasn’t sure If I wanted to post the article, because it is not very flattering of former University of Richmond swim coach, Matt Kredich, who is also my former swim coach, and a friend. But, for the sake of telling two sides of the story, I am posting it.

Michelle Coombs, the swimmer, featured in the story, obviously has bad memories of her time swimming for U of R. She even recalled her coach as Mark Kredich, instead of Matt Kredich (or perhaps the reporter made this error). Coombs, was burned out, and needed a break from swimming. It was obvious she was unhappy in the swim program at U of R.

“I was just miserable overall and it really did show,” she said. “It was not much in my swimming but I would come to practice miserable and not happy. One day, coach pulled me into the office and said I was being a cancer to the team. It was hard to hear. I could see it, but I wasn’t enjoying swimming at that point.”

Coombs said she withdrew into herself and started to feel isolated from the rest of the team. “I didn’t feel a lot of support from my teammates,” she said.

I’d like to say that while I’ve never been a collegiate swimmer under Matt Kredich, I did train under him and found him to be an amazingly inspirational coach. In fact, I can easily state his is the best and most patient swim coach I’ve ever had.

Having trained for a Half Ironman 70.3 last year (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) and as I am currently training for the 4.4 mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim – both events that require many workouts longer than 4 hours and often training 12-14 hours a week. I can say that unless you are taking care of your body, sleeping right, eating right and coming to practice in the right frame of mind, there is no way you can make your body perform, even if you are not fighting an illness. I have no doubt that it was a tough situation for both parties involved, but If Matt called her a cancer to the team, her heart wasn’t in it and didn’t feel like she was part of the team, it was likely true.

I love comeback storeis, and I’m happy that Coombs was able to find a coaching program that worked for her and helped her to a national title, but I wish she hadn’t tarnished the name of such a great coach in the process of telling her story.

Our friends over at the North Richmond News had some info about Survival Training Day sponsored by the City of Richmond next Saturday. Here are the details:

On Saturday, January 5, residents of the City of Richmond are encouraged to participate in “Survivor Day,” a training program covering basic skills useful during emergencies. The four-hour training session, offered as part of winter preparedness by the City’s Office of Emergency Management, will cover fire safety, first-aid, anti-terrorism and weather response measures. A free Survival Kit, with supplies such as flashlight, gloves, batteries, toilet paper and a blanket, will be given out to residents who complete the training.

It all happens from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm on Saturday, January 5, at the Landmark Theater, 6 North Laurel Street. Pre-registration is required; call 646-7000 or register online at www.RichmondGov.com

TRIgirl Training, a women’s triathlon training team, is hosting an informational meeting for new members on January 13th at 6 p.m. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I’m a team leader for TRIgirls. I love it! We work hard together training, we have fun together (both training and afterwards) and we raise money for a good cause — Safe Harbor Shelter, a home for victims of domestic abuse.
If you’ve thought you might like to do a triathlon, but aren’t sure you have the fitness to do it, you won’t be alone and TRIgirls can help get you there. If you are an experienced triathlete and want to take it to the next level, TRIgirls can get you there too. We have all levels, all ages, all ranges of ability. It is a very supportive group. And, tons of fun!
Here are the details:

Jan 13th at 6 p.m.
Maramarc Fitness,
4914 Fitzhugh Avenue, suite 103,
near Willow Lawn Shopping Center
At the meeting, women will have a chance to ask questions, meet other TRIgirls, learn what kind of training is involved, and learn why training for a triathlon is such a fun and rewarding endeavor. Richmond is so lucky to have a team like this.