A new international athletics event in the Cayman Islands

I’ll be competing in a new international athletics event debuting this May (May 9th, 2012) in my family’s home country, the Cayman Islands. I’m very excited about this event because it gives all of the current and potential Olympic Track & Field athletes of the Cayman Islands the opportunity to perform in-person for those who they’ve been representing throughout the world. Additionally, this is a great opportunity for the country to get to know their Track & Field stars.

Please click on the following link to a recent article published by the media of the Cayman Islands regarding this historical event: http://www.caymannewsservice.com/sports/2012/03/20/inaugural-athletic-meet-boost-local-sports-tourism.

You can find up-to-date information regarding this momentous event for the country of the Cayman Islands by following it on twitter.com at https://twitter.com/#!/CayInvitational and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CaymanInvitational.

The Power Of One

If you’ve never read the autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina An Ordinary Man then you are missing out on the story of a true hero. His story is one of a man, who, in the midst of genocide was able to save hundreds of lives. Paul Rusesabagina was a hotel manager who saved 1,268 lives during the 1994 genocide that took place in Rwanda. His story is so inspiring because he went on to save these people by doing the ordinary tasks of his job as a hotel manager with extraordinary courage. His story is a perfect example of the type of heart and mind that can change lives and the world.

The most fascinating part of his narrative for me is near the end of his autobiography when he talks about the power of words. On page 187 he says, “[w]ords can be instruments of evil, but they can also be powerful tools of life. If you say the right [words] they can save the whole world.” It’s an amazing thing to think that words are so powerful that they can save 1,268 people in the midst of mass murder. I’m encouraged by his example because it’s proof that speaking up and saying something really can make a difference.

Words encourage action. Sometimes that action is positive and sometimes it’s negative. The right words are never known until something is first said. So, if we, as highly influential people, stand around and continue to play sports while people are being killed everyday we are honestly doing nothing but aiding the killer. I know it’s a harsh thing to say, but another quote comes to mind after reflecting upon Rusesabagina’s words. It’s a quote by Professor Elie Wiesel and it’s found in the book Not on Our Watch by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. It qualifies my ‘harsh’ statement above:

“Remember: silence helps the killer, never his victims.”

To say the wrong thing might be harmful in just about any situation, but to say nothing at all might be more detrimental–and more telling…

There are things that we just know are indecent and intolerable in this world. Unfortunately, more often than not, we find ourselves doing nothing because whatever it is doesn’t seemingly have a direct impact on our own life. Well, the reason why I’m taking time to write this post and why I joined Team Darfur in 2008 has a lot to do with my heartache. Lately, I find myself wondernig how I’d feel if I were in that situation and was helpless to stop what was happening to me and my fellow neighbors. I assume I would hope people on the outside looking in, people who could help stop and even prevent what was happening, would take action and try to save my life and others just like me. I might not be in that situation now and if I’m lucky, I never will. But if I were that’s how I would feel and I imagine that that’s how the victims in Darfur feel. Truthfully, if we stand by and allow this genocide to go on someday the lives we currently live may very well be affected in more ways that we can currently imagine.

Like John Mayer repeats throughout his new single Say it’s time to “say what [we] need to say” as one voice: “Never Again” “Not on our Watch” and “Enough”. I hope that all athletes form a united front to shed light on something greater than ourselves . . . . the value of a human life. The sports we play are meant to bring joy, peace and hope to people all over the world. It’s not the sport that brings this joy, it’s the players. People believe in us; and they cheer and cry with us and for us. When we play they play along side of us in their hearts and minds. In many ways we represent them. Isn’t only fair that we use the notoriety we receive, no matter how little or great it may be, to help those who lift us up with every game we play?

Personally, I can no longer live my life as a runner knowing that there are children running because they are running from danger. I can no longer happily shoot a basketball at a basket for fun knowing that a mother is being shot at because she has a different faith than the man who is shooting her. I can no longer toss a football knowing that there are grenades being tossed at small villages in remote parts of the world where innocent people are unarmed and unintentionally involved in war. How can I happily live my life when there are others who are not being given a fair chance to live theirs?

The greatest play that we can make as athletes and as members of the greatest team to ever exist, mankind, is the one that brings an end to the genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan and prevents another from ever happening.

A Letter of Intent, A Letter Seeking Support

To Whom It May Concern,

Ever since I was a little boy I’ve had big dreams. I see the world as a place where there are no limitations. I grew up thinking this way, and with the blessing of a supportive mother and father, I was nurtured to never stop thinking this way. And that is why I’m writing this letter to you today. I still have big dreams. And I need the help of others to make those dreams my reality.

I believe life, and all that a person is born with, is a gift that’s meant to be shared. My ability to run fast is just one of my many gifts. In addition to my talents as a runner, I want to inspire millions of people to live their best life; and prove to them that that is possible. I believe I’ve been given a special ability to connect with others and to unite people. Whether it be through writing, giving a speech, or giving my time, I endeavor to show others how to make whatever it is they have enough to do all that they dream.

I live by example by taking the risks to do for others what they might not do for another because of fear of rejection or belief that there just isn’t enough for everyone. I run because it’s the external expression of my willingness to fight the internal battles that we all face. And every time I win, we all win. And even when I lose we all still win because I then get an opportunity to show others how to overcome struggle, failure and disappointment. Life is made up of both good and bad moments and I want to demonstrate that one doesn’t and shouldn’t outweigh the other; that they both can be used to help us grow.

With the right support I’ll be given a platform to share a message of possibility and peace. With the right support I’ll be given the means to train without inhibition. With the right support I’ll be given the freedom to do all that’s required of me to become the very best athlete that I’m capable of being. And throughout my pursuit of athletic achievement I’ll constantly be developing who I am as a human being because living as an Olympic athlete helps me discover who I am; and helps me become the best version of myself.

I will always have big dreams because those dreams are now a part of me. They’re attached to my heart. If I remove them, if I let them die then so too will I die. And I’m not ready to be six feet under. I’m six feet tall above ground and I plan on staying that way until what it is I was sent here to do is done.

There are many ways you can support my pursuit to become the greatest distance runner who has ever lived. The most important way, however, is through positive thoughts and deeds. I ask that you believe not in me, but in what it is I stand for and what it is my life now represents—fearless love. If you cheer for me, think positive thoughts of me, speak positively about who I am, and do acts of good for the sake of fearless love then you’re giving me everything that I need to be successful.

When I became a runner I was asked by many people the question, “Why do you run?” The answer I gave then is still the answer I give today: I run because it makes me happy. Everything I do as a runner stems from that reason. And as you read this letter today please know that however you choose to be a part of this Olympic journey that I thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing my words to resonate with yours.

With this letter I do seek financial support but not at the risk of losing someone’s respect or love. I know that however you choose to support me that will be the right kind of support from you to me. I believe a gift is something that you give because you want to give it, not something that you give because you have to give it.

So, more than anything else, let this letter be an introduction to you of who I am as a person. Let the words of this letter be a metaphorical hug from me to you. I see my life as a gift that I chose to share with as many people as I can. I want as many people as possible experiencing the power and joy of the Olympic Games; and that’s what makes this letter an invitation to you to join me on that journey. And I hope you do.

I hope you’ll venture to dream with me. I hope you’ll endeavor to make that dream our reality by: following my career from this point forward, by cheering for me and asking others to do the same.

Let’s go win an Olympic Gold medal. Let’s go inspire the world to be a better version of itself, together.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter.

Jon Rankin, A Runner With A Cause

My name is Jon Rankin. I’m a professional and Olympic distance runner. I was born in Newark, New Jersey, but was raised in San Diego, California my entire life. I’m a dual citizen of the USA and the Grand Cayman Islands.

In the summer of 2008 I nearly achieved one of my biggest dreams when I was named an alternate to the USA Track & Field Olympic team in the 1500 meters after finishing in 6th place at the USA Olympic Trials. Being named to the US Olympic team as an alternate meant that I didn’t compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing. So, even though I was on the team I wasn’t at the games. And not being at the games meant I couldn’t see my dream of becoming an Olympic champion come true.

After the 2008 Olympic Games I spent the next few years away from the sport to find perspective on my life’s journey. At the point in my life, I was unsure about dedicating another four years of my life to my Olympic dream. So, I took a few years to think about walking away from the game for good.

Well, it’s less than one year to London and I have recommitted to my dream with this motto in mind–that half way would never be good enough when it comes living life. Now more than ever I realize how very much alive my 15 year old dream of becoming Olympic champion is today and how it won’t die easily. It is the driving force that powers every breath I take.

As the 2012 London summer Olympics approaches, I find myself, once again, preparing to try and complete what I started in the summer of 1996. I’m still chasing my Olympic dream. I’m still living my life in the pursuit of making the world I dream of become the world I see.

Follow me as I run to become the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the 1500 meters. Follow me as I run to Go Be More than I’ve ever been. Follow me as I run to become what the world is chasing…

The Girl With Flowers In Her Hair by Jon Rankin

The poem in this post is one I wrote for my good friend, Alysia Montano back in 2008 after a few months of getting to know her. She had (and still has) a personality brighter than the sun. I didn’t know then what it was that made her stand out the way she did. I often found myself actually dumbfounded by the phenomenon that is her. Eventually I settled on the conclusion that ‘maybe it all had something to do with the flowers in her hair.’

Well, it’s been more than 3 years since I first met this flower in constant bloom. And now she has become what the world refers to her as–the girl with Flowers In Her Hair.

—

There is a story of a little girl
who used to play with boys,
and feared dirt not.

All were cussin’
but she didn’t mind
because she was different…

I think it was the flowers in her hair.

As days turned into years,
she grew with leaps and bounds,
and lived life that way too.

She may have developed into a warrior,
but she still remained a woman,
soft like a feather yet made of steel…

I think it was the flowers in her hair.

One day she would venture from home
to become a golden bear of the north;
She would become victory personified

by the swift effortlessness of her feet;

And the bees who would try
to dissuade her from the true prize
would prove to be no match for her fearlessness…

I think it was the flowers in her hair.

The year of the Far East games,
when this goddess of victory was ready to rein,
was dampened by the Achilles heel of her existence.

The frailty of her human form may have altered her story,
but it couldn’t destroy a spirit
wielded in the halls of Gods of a people

who created the arenas for those among us
born to be greater than the Gods themselves;
she being one of them was slowed but not defeated…

I think it was the flowers in her hair.

Her eyes have never wavered
from their fixed view of her dreams,
the ones that sit high above the stars.

The British are now building a garden
for this natural wonder to divinely shine;
a garden where her feats will race to inspire…

and change the world.

Even though she may appear to be just a girl,
Hers will be a life of such impact
that history will be transformed into herstory.

She will be one who will always be remembered
because she is impossible to forget.
The world will always be in constant bloom…

And I think it’ll be because of the flowers in her hair.

By Jon Rankin

Chasing Jon Rankin Newsletter #1

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Poetry: The Journey By Mary Oliver

The Journey

One day you finally knew
What you had to do, and began,
Though the voices around you
Kept shouting
Their bad advice–
Though the whole house
Began to tremble
And you felt the old tug
At your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
Each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
Though the wind pried
With its stiff fingers
At the very foundations–
Though their melancholy
Was terrible.
It was already late
Enough, and a wild night,
And the road full of fallen
Branches and stones.
But little by little,
As you left their voices behind,
The stars began to burn
Through the sheets of clouds,
And there was a new voice,
Which you slowly
Recognized as your own,
That kept you company
As you strode deeper and deeper
Into the world,
Determined to do
The only thing you could do–
Determined to save
The only life that you could save.

By Mary Oliver

How I Won The 2011 5th Ave Mile

(Please note I wrote this article a few days after I ran the 2011 5th Ave Mile this past September.)

As we warmed up behind the starting line of the 2011 5th Ave Mile, I silently observed my competitors but struggled to register who they were. I couldn’t put names to faces, personal bests to personalities. I hadn’t felt like this since the first day of Kindergarten. Fortunately, even though I felt like the new guy, I didn’t feel completely out of place. Somewhere, deep down inside of me, I strongly believed I was where I was supposed to be.

On this particular day in my life I believed something very few believed—that I would win this prestigious race. I had the audacity to believe this not because I was arrogant and reckless, but rather, because my unlikely journey to this moment convinced me that anything was possible. I had waited more than three years for this moment. In my heart, I knew I would win on this day. I would become victory personified…

And as I crossed the finish line not in first or second or third place, but in 6th place I was joyful. I had achieved what I set out to do. I had won the 5th Ave Mile, the most prestigious mile in the world. I know what you must be thinking at this point in my story, ‘You didn’t win the race. In fact you weren’t even close.” My only response to that astute observation is that there were two races occurring at once, one you could see and one you couldn’t. The race you could see I didn’t win. The race you couldn’t see, the race within the race, the race within myself, that race I did win.

I know it’s a weird thing to say I won a race when I obviously didn’t. The results speak for themselves, don’t they? For me, however, on that day, there was so much more happening than just a foot race down 5th Ave. If you could see what I felt inside at a pivotal moment in that race you would know exactly what I mean when I say that I did win a race that day… just not the one everyone could see.

During my three year journey to this year’s race I had been considered MIA from the competitive racing scene. This disappearance began not too long after the 2008 US Olympic Trials. Within months of the conclusion of this momentous event in my life I began a spiral down into the treacherous-depths of my own soul. I would spend nearly three years looking for myself, assuming different roles in life in search of the role that made the most sense for me to assume. It would take three years of living as someone I was not before I could realize I was always meant to be a world-class runner.

From 2009 until mid-2011 I raced sporadically, lived in three different cities, took on three totally different occupations, and represented three different sponsors. I did all this while dealing with the discovery that I’m living with the terminal kidney disease known as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis or FSGS.

Over the past three years I worked as a waiter at Denny’s in downtown San Diego, as a desk clerk at The Lafayette Health Club in San Francisco and finally as a pre-school teacher at Bright Star Kids Academy in Seattle, Washington. I discovered sides of myself and the world while living and working in these very different cities at these very different jobs.

The life I was living in each city was a life I could see myself living for a long time. Each city and each job offered a sense of peace and contentment. And at the time, that was enough to make me consider never coming back to competitive racing. And yet, even though I could see myself as a waiter or a desk clerk or a teacher, I still felt those lives were too small for the dreams that I still had. These were dreams that wouldn’t lie dormant with just good enough. Thus, I moved not in search of happiness but rather, in answer to destiny’s calling…

Fast forward to 500 meters to go in the 2011 5th Ave Mile and I emerge from the pack to assume the lead…and I begin to push the pace–hard. Keep in mind my new Coach, Troy Samuels, had asked me to wait a lot longer before making this move. He believed if I waited long enough, when I did move I could possibly pull off a miraculous victory. I heeded his words only until destiny’s voice became too loud to ignore, pushing me to move as soon as an opportunity presented itself.

What many people observed at this point in the race was the Jon Rankin of old not settling for a slow paced race; a Jon Rankin unafraid to make the pace honest at the detriment of possible victory. That’s definitely what it looked like, but that’s not what was really happening. In that very moment the crowd fell silent, the field of competitors disappeared, the cameras no longer existed and only two men remained: the man I once was and the man I had finally realized I had always been (and was now ready to be).

In a single race there are always two races happening simultaneously: the one without and the one within. I was running two 5th Ave Miles that day and for a moment I was winning both. As I pulled away from the field of real runners I was winning the race everyone could see. And as I pulled away from the field of runners I was also pulling away from the old me. My move to the front was not just an assertion to establish myself as a potential winner to the world watching, it was to firmly declare for myself that I now know who I am and I’m going to start being that person now, without fear or trepidation.

I did win the 2011 5th Ave Mile. And if anyone had asked me how I, little known, long forgotten Jon Rankin, now stood the fastest on that course amongst the greats I would have only the briefest of explanations. I would tell them that my hiatus didn’t yield insight into new, improved training, or that it was some discovery about running that led to such dramatic improvement. I would admit that I was lost after not making the 2008 US Olympic team; and that I didn’t know why I would try for another Olympic team or how I would go about doing so if I did find a reason to try again.

I would tell them that I had stopped living life when I began chasing the “Olympic Dream” because somewhere along the way I lost sight of who I am. And it was only when I stopped chasing the dream that I could start to catch up on the rest of my life, a life I had put on hold since the age of 15. I would tell them I needed to experience life and chase myself before I could decide whether it was still right for me to chase the dreams I’ve had for more than half my life.

And after finally giving myself time to fall in-love, and to experience real heartbreak, to struggle in the “real” world working many different 9-5′s and looking a place to call home, I finally found myself. Finding myself and realizing who I am meant to be now has set me free to run after my dreams without inhibition. I’m confident I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing right now. And with that confidence I return to racing ready to make my dreams my reality, make what I feel within become the world I live in.

How did I win the 2011 5th Ave Mile? I did it by finding myself first, chasing my dreams second and finally becoming what the world is now chasing.

WTF is Jon Rankin?

When I became a professional runner in the summer of 2005 I had exploded on to the international running scene. In just one season I had run 17 personal bests. For all of you non-soon-to-be Track & Field fans out there, what that means is every time I competed I ran faster than I did the race before. To have that many personal bests in a career is amazing. To have that many personal bests in one season is rare.

Upon signing my first professional contract that summer I started getting calls to do interviews with major running publications practically asking me, “Who is Jon Rankin?” Seven years later I sit here writing this first post in consideration of how great of a question this really is. Who is Jon Rankin? Well, I’m Jon Rankin, but if I had to describe myself to someone who has just met me for the first time in their life, I wonder what would I tell them first to help them discover who I am?

I guess I would tell them that I’m a runner because I’ve been running since I was 15 years old; and I plan on being a runner for the rest of my life. I guess I should also tell them that I run for a living, which means I get paid to stay in shape. Gosh, now that I think about it, this stranger would probably also want to know how I got into running and why I’ve continued to run.

Well, I got into running because of what I witnessed during the 1996 Summer Olympics. I remember watching Michael Johnson of the USA sprint his way to gold medals in the 200 meters and 400 meters while wearing spikes that were the color of gold. After watching him do what he did I discovered what I wanted to do–become an Olympic champion.

Why do I still run today? I continue to run because the dreams I had that fateful summer in 1996 have continued to be the driving force of my life. I’ve achieved so much in the sport of Track & Field and after fifteen years I still feel like I have so much left to achieve. I still run because it still makes me happy. I still run because I still believe that I will become an Olympic champion. I still run because I believe running has helped me not just survive life, but live it boldly. I run because it continues to save me with every step I take. And I believe if I keep running that it will help me save the world (Please forgive the ambiguity of this last statement. I’ll explain this last statement in greater detail in future posts).

Who is Jon Rankin? I’m just an ordinary guy with an extraordinary ability to run really fast for a really long time. You may not know who I am today, but this is only the first time we’ve met. There’s still a lot I haven’t told you. There’s so much to this story and I don’t want to try to tell it to you all in our first meeting. If you give me time I will tell you everything. I will tell you about what I’ve discovered as an ordinary boy who is quickly becoming an international running star. When it’s all said and done, by the time we get to the finish line of the journey I’m on right now, I promise you wont need to ask the question who is Jon Rankin? anymore. Instead, you’ll be asking a new question: how do we catch Jon Rankin?

Who is Jon Rankin? I’m Jon Rankin and I’m running to become what the world is chasing.