Final Notice

If you plan on staying in one of the three rooms that I have reserved at the Wingate Inn & your name does not start with the letters "B.r.", you have just over 24 hours to let me know.

I can be reached at jadicarlo@gmail.com or via mobile (443) 366.2916.

If I do not hear from you before the stroke of midnight on October 1, I will release the room or rooms that I currently hold and you will be left to your own devices.

Also on October 1st - Stay tuned for the third installment of our guest blog feature series "Training Tips."

100 meters by John Khan coming soon!

Event Information

Gentlemen, DRD enthusiasts, & sports media,

Time is flying & today, the 17th of September is exactly 30 days away from the opening ceremonies of the:

2008
Distance Runner's Decathlon Extravaganza
& Arts & Crafts Bazaar

The next 4 weeks will be gone before we know it & it will be time for each of us to put our money where our smack-talking mouths (or smack-typing fingers) are. So without further ado,

here's what you need to know (for now):

• Check-in & registration for the event will be at 4 pm on Thursday the 16th of October at in the lobby of the Wingate Inn, Lynchburg, VA.

• There are 3 rooms reserved at the Wingate for the nights of the 16th, 17th & 18th. The cost per room for all 3 nights will be $332 + tax. If you want one of these rooms you need to let me know before October 1 at which point we will switch the reservation over into your name.
  

• Following check-in and virgin cocktails the evening will include a protein loading dinner at a restaurant or cafeteria TBA.

• The actual Decathlon will begin at a time TBA on the afternoon of Friday the 17th of October shortly followed by the 11th event breadstick event at Olive Garden, Lynchburg, VA. This year's breadstick event has a sponsor and from this point forward will be called the:

'Barack Obama for President

2008 DRD 11th Event Breadstick Competition'

That's the scoop for now. Contact me at 443-366-2916 or jadicarlo@gmail.com with any questions or comments

John Khan's Legs: A Profile in Courage

Unlike recent years, the late 1970's was a time of tumult across the greater middle east & south central Asia. Religious wars, famine, oil rationing, pestilence, & unending cricket matches left much of what we refer to today as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in dire straits. Being born into such chaos may have seemed punishment enough for any innocent newborn but to then be born with a rare and debilitating deformity: it just may have been the ultimate insult. Unbeknownst to many DRD athletes and fans, it was just this predicament into which 1999 Chalice winner John Khan arrived in this World.

Now a full fledged, flag-waiving U.S.-American, John was born in Lahore, Pakistan in early September of 1978 (although due to poor record keeping the actual date is not available. So it is perfectly acceptable to wish him "Happy Birthday" anytime between the 1st and 15th of that month - like I do). The doctors at Lahore General Hospital & his parents were unaware at the time , but several weeks after giving birth, his mother received official birth record documentation from the Moroccan government claiming that, even though his parents had never lived in or even been to the country, John's legs were in fact citizens of the Kingdom of Morocco.

John Khan (right) celebrates his 37th birthday this week

Naturally the doctors were perplexed by this rare deformity, now known as "Moroccan Legs" but upon further investigation it was discovered that there have been two other documented cases of dual citizen appendages:

1. Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimović's nose claims full rights as an Israeli citizen.
2. Benito Mussolini's cousin Franco Bellini's first wife Sophia was said to have had Irish eyes.
* Also note: in the animal kingdom this rare English swan's Bjork is Icelandic

Despite the poor fortune of his youth, after immigrating to the United States John Khan & his Moroccan legs would later make a big splash on the Upstate New York high-school distance running scene, and later would make an equally huge impact on Liberty University's "turn of the century" distance running squad. But for the better part of his life John was very guarded about his leg's immigration status & nationality. In 1997 that all changed. For reasons that are still to this day unclear, John's legs were "outted" by a former Dallas Cowboy during a routine dorm viewing of Saturday Night Live...

Michael Irving Beckner (pictured above) outted John's legs in 1997

Initially stunned & unsure of public reaction to, what in the late 1990's amounted to a potentially career ending disclosure (you have to remember - this was before Monica Lewinsky), John & his legs decided that all they could do was take things in stride and have a firm stance (both puns that were most certainly intended) And that's what they did...

Instead of hiding John & his 'Moroccan legs' held a series of evangelistic-style meetings throughout the Southeast portion of the USA to raise awareness of & help fight 'Dual Citizen Appendage syndrome'.

Following that tour, John & legs returned to Liberty University where they studied Corporate Finance, Accounting, & French, graduated Cum Laud & as if that weren't enough, as their crowning achievement, together, in 1999 (with the help of some funny math) they were able to earn one of the most sought after & cherished prizes in all of distance runner decathlondom - a DRD Chalice of Victory.

John Khan's legs: a true profile in courage!