Welcome Back to PBX
Where a personal best is about a person being their best
Last year at the Jesuit Twilight Relays here in Portland, Oregon we decided to try something new. What if we celebrated all the bests that were being run? Not just the fastest. What if we celebrated all the bests that were being thrown? Not just the farthest. What if we celebrated all the bests that were being jumped? Not just the longest or highest. All those bests that were being achieved out there on the track and field… what if we celebrated all of them and not just the top 3 or 6 or 10. What if we got a bigger spotlight? What if we got more spotlights?
Sure, winning the 1500m is a big deal and it deserves to be celebrated. And we will celebrate that effort and that athlete. We always do. We always will. But you know who else kicked butt? The girl who finished in 23rd place. Did you know that she not only set a lifetime personal best in that third heat but it was an 11 second personal best (PB)! Let’s broadcast that. Let’s announce that! Let’s clap our hands and cheer for her. It feels good to know that your effort was seen or at the very least acknowledged. So, that’s what we started to do last year at the Twilight Relays. And this year we did it again. We kept a running tally of PB’s being set in every event and announced it to the crowd and competitors throughout the meet.
43 PB’s in the Boys 1500 alone. Another 39 in the Girls 1500! There were 16 PB’s in the Boys Javelin on a blustery day. And the kid that finished 41st was one of the throwers that blasted a lifetime best! 12 girls in the 100 Hurdles ran themselves to PB’s and the athlete finishing 30th was one of them. How cool is that? 12 girls in the 100 Hurdles on Friday night ran their event better than they ever had before. Like ever ever! Lifetime bests! Why would we not stand and cheer for that?
Well, one reason we wouldn’t stand and cheer for something like that is because we didn’t know about it. We get told about the winner and maybe who finishes second and third. Badasses all. But there is a whole lot of badassery taking place behind them and in other heats. There are badasses finishing in 20th and 50th. A high school Track & Field meet is like a Lollapalooza of badass. Same with cross country meets and road races and trail races and ultras. It’s not the medal that makes someone a badass. It’s what they did that was badass. So if you allow yourself to understand that then it’s easy to understand why it’s bananas that we don’t cheer more than we do at these events. There is something extraordinary happening almost all the time! We just don’t know about it. So many kids do something better than they ever have before and we miss it. That means we miss out on celebrating that effort. And that’s the point of a place like PBX. Because PBX is where personal bests… all of them.. are celebrated.
(PBX is a play on PDX which is the acronym we use for Portland. I was coming home from an Indoor T&F meet last year that was pretty much non-stop PB’s in the Mile heat after heat after heat. I landed back at the Portland International Airport and there’s a sign in the airport that says Welcome to PDX. And I just thought…hmm PDX… PBX… there’s something there. And land now known as PBX was born.)
So, this past Friday night was a celebration. A celebration of over 450 personal bests. Yeah, you read that right. Over 450 personal bests were set. And it was a celebration of the people that cheer on those personal bests too. I’m talking about the family and friends and fans that sit in the stands or stand along the fence on the turns and backstretch and cheer. We had kids throwing t-shirts into the crowd and volunteers handing out waters and gatorades to everyone clapping and yelling along the fence. Supporters need support too! Especially if we’re asking them to cheer their best for the kids trying their best.
We made sure the athletes knew that everyone mattered. Sure, there can only be one winner or 7th place finisher in each event. But there can be as many personal bests as there are athletes that cross a finish line or take a jump or power a throw. That’s why we announced every 15 minutes the updated number of PB’s we had tallied. We thanked the crowd for cheering. We congratulated the athletes for competing. And we reminded the athletes that a PBX bracelet was waiting for every one of them that did their best time or height or distance.
And next year we’re going to do even more. We’re going to let the coaches know that “best” is about more than place or time or height or distance. It’s about giving your best effort. It’s about trying your best. It’s about being a best teammate and a best competitor. It’s about being a best friend. It’s about being a best leader. We’re going to ask the coaches throughout the meet to let us know about some of the “bests” that their athletes are giving and earning and achieving and being at the meet. And we’re going to celebrate those too. We’re going to tell those stories. We’re going to put the spotlight on those kids. We’re going to make sure that everyone knows there is a place for them in PBX.
Why? Why do all this?
Because we believe that those kids… all those kids… out there trying their best deserve nothing less than ours. Welcome to PBX.
I LOVE BIG BUTS
From my latest post on my instagram account - Coach Bennett
I love BUTS. They make me smile. They keep me going. Big BUTS kept me in this sport.
And I love having all them beautiful BUTS around. I don’t think you can really get as far as you can in this sport unless you have a healthy view of BUTS. Let me give you an example. The other night I was at a T&F meet. I asked three athletes if any of them had achieved a personal best that night. Two had. Big high fives. One had not.
I asked what race they ran. 100m. I asked how the race went. They said they didn’t win or anything but they ran pretty good. They even beat four people they had never beaten before. It was cold. It was windy. And not the kind of wind that helps a sprinter fly. The kind of wind that makes a sprinter stand up. I said, “you may not have set a PB today BUT it sure sounds like you ran your best. Throw the clock out. It’s about more than the clock on a day like today. It’s about competing with the people in your race and with yourself and the weather and anything and everything else you had going on when you took that starting line. You didn’t set a personal best BUT that may be the best race you’ve ever run.”
I loved dropping that big BUT in there.
Here’s another story about a big beautiful BUT. I had a teammate once that had a couple of big goals. They spent years running after them. They did the big things and the little things and they did the extra things. They ran tough and ran smart. They raced with guts. They did the work and they never stopped believing that someday they’d reach those goals. They ran fast but not fast enough. They placed high but not high enough. Those big ass goals were never reached.
BUT they got to train with great teammates. The times were never hit BUT they got to race with people they respected. They never achieved the race results they set out for BUT they got to be coached by some terrific human beings. And if they had not tried they wouldn’t be able to write this post for you. BUT I did try.
Yes, those last few BUTS are mine. You may not realize it when you see me. You may even think I don’t have a BUT at all. But I do. I’ve always got one big beautiful BUT right there in my back pocket for when it’s needed.
NEW COACH BENNETT’S PODCASTS!
Get ready for an audio extravaganza! You can listen to the new Coach Bennett’s Podcasts now. Easy Runs dropped last week. That means a new episode is coming soon. And thank you to all the listeners! One of the things that I’m most proud about Coach Bennett’s Podcast is the truly global audience. Here are just a few of the Apple Podcast charts from this week.
CHECK OUT THE NEW EPISODE ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE:
CHECK OUT THE NEW EPISODE ON SPOTIFY HERE:
I WAS A GUEST ON THE ALI ON THE RUN PODCAST
It’s always a great time with the always great host Ali Feller.
You can check out the episode here:
Cheers and as always thank you for reading. Whenever I sit down to write this newsletter my hope is that I can offer something that helps you on your next run or walk or exam you have to take or presentation you need to give or tough conversation you need to have. This sport and this community has helped me more than I could ever help in return. But I’m going to try. Anyway. I hope the time you spend reading the newsletter is time well spent.
Cheers to you and to everyone that’s a paid supporter of this newsletter or thinking about becoming a paid supporter. I truly appreciate it.
Take care of yourself and take care of each other.
Until that next starting line…
Coach Bennett
Wonderful idea!
Thank you to everyone that reads the newsletter! I appreciate it!