Welcome New Contributing Editor David Pickett To PreRaceJitters

Please join me in welcoming our new contributing editor David Pickett, as the newest member of the PreRaceJitters.com team.

David is joining our team to help improve elite track and field coverage, covering the sport’s top stories and sharing his unique views on the sport. He has some kick butt plans for PreRaceJitters.

He has been involved with track and field since 2004, as founder and editor of WNCPrepTrack.com covering the North Carolina high school and college running scene.

His presence is already being felt. PreRaceJitter’s Week In Review is a result of David’s leadership to help fill a void publishing a weekly column with the fastest collegiate times in the nation.

I’ve been managing PreRaceJitters since 2006 and look forward to working with someone with so much much passion, enthusiasm, and knowledge of the sport.

David’s first interview with North Carolina State assistant coach Terry Reese is going Live today.

We’re thrilled to add his keen prose into the mix, and hope that you enjoy it as much as we do. Welcome, David.

What Would I Do Without PreRaceJitters?

At the end of last season, there were plans of expanding operations, providing more coverage. Then the decision was made to shut down PreRaceJitters.com.

A second child on the way, new career opportunities that pull on the energy, and focus to continue running the online magazine, combined with frustration with the sport’s overall direction were good enough reasons to let it go.

My plate was too full. For the last four years, I’ve written countless columns, published dozens upon dozens of podcasts, and traveled the country interviewing some of elite track and field’s best known and most entertaining figures.

Selfish me. Selfish me.

Call it a Generation Me problem.

But then I began to think back to how it all got started. Four years ago when I first started writing, I lived in Las Vegas with the seemingly impossible idea of bringing a different media perspective on track and field to fans focusing on sprinting and commentary.

The majority of my professional career had been spent in the banking industry.

I started writing and creating the sort of track product that I want to consume. I began learning new things like blogging and social media which allows a person with a minimum investment to run a media platform from their home that ten years ago essentially took thousands if not hundred of thousands to create.

PreRaceJitters will continue operating with a goal to be more social and to give more to the sport- for example, by giving budding writers the unique chance to actually connect, to write, to produce something and send it out to the world. That’s what PreRaceJitters has done for me.

I’d stay up all night plotting the next interview, or meet coverage, or the editing the next PreRaceJitter.com Podcast episode with partner John W. Davis. I’d stay up until 3 or 4 am in the hotel lobby uploading videos at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California.

I can’t let the online track and field website go to the dust. From Los Angeles to Little Rock to Austin Texas, PreRaceJitters has been like a friend, always there, always giving me a chance to write, to share my voice, to connect to others. And for that I’m eternally grateful.

Where would I be without PreRaceJitters?

Without PreRaceJitters, I’d probably not have a full-time career in new media within the broadcast industry. I’d be in the banking industry helping finance other people’s dreams, but not living my own dream.

The Big Ten Network would have never called me to provide commentary on Jesse Owens for the Big Ten Icon series. I’d never have met the countless college coaches and athletes whose relationships are so incredible. I’d never have interviewed Tyson Gay and gone on to write that he would eventually beat Usain Bolt.

I would not have come back to writing.

I would have never moved my wife and son back to Texas and returned to school earning a web design and development degree.

I would never have started a summer camp teaching inner city and rural high school kids about building websites and careers available in technology.

I would not have reconnected a relationship with my best friend.

The process of looking back to the early days of PreRaceJitters has put its impact on my life into perspective. Every friendship, every job, every step in my life since 2006 can be traced back to a point with PreRaceJitters.

And just now, I am like a young man training for a marathon, realizing it’s about the journey, not the final destination, and looking forward at the new, exciting road ahead of endless possibilities.

Thank you so much readers for a great first four years, and I hope you will stick around for 30 more years of covering the sport.

What do you think?

If you have questions or comments…let me know in the comments.

Jay F. Hicks is Editor-In-Chief and blog regularly about track and field. You can find him on Twitter.

Excuse the PreRaceJitters Dust

No matter whether you are moving up an event or trying something new– it is a constant.  Growing pains are an unavoidable consquence that goes with the territory.

PreRaceJitters is not going anywhere but up.

So please excuse our mess right now, as we work hard to bring you an upgraded website with more features and content.

We appreciate your patience, I know the content has been slow to appear on the site.  The upgrade is taking longer than anticipated but then again that is probably not a surprise to our friends and colleagues.

Thank you to all that have inquired about what is next for PRJ.  We hope to provide a vehicle that is more interactive and dynamic.

In the mean time, please keep coming back and let your friends that we will be providing new content while the new PreRaceJitter is being developed.

Thanks again for your support and just know we can not wait to increase your PreRaceJitters experience.

PreRaceJitters’ Track & Field Radio Show, Episode # 39

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

The world record holder at 100, 200 and 4×100 meter relays and the world record holder at 5,000 and 10,000 might get it on like Donkey Kong.  Could Bolt beat Bekele in a distance that is fair to both athletes?  That and more is discussed in this latest episode.

-Bolt about get to paid in a major way

-Richards, Bekele, and Insinbeyva share winnings

PreRaceJitters’ Track & Field Radio Show, where the real playas come to hang out!

Change Is Here.

This is the year of change.  And so, change we must.

Response to the Prerace Jitters blog since its introduction in October 2007 has been both overwhelming and humbling.

With that we are working hard to bring you a new and improved site in effect making PreraceJitters.com the internet’s premiere track and field lifestyle magazine.

The latest Prerace Jitters foray will deliver timely interviews, features, and recurring columns, in addition to the insights that you have grown accustomed to reading.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during our brief construction phase.  Thank you for your support and we look forward to a successful 2009 season and beyond.

Sincerely,

Jay F. Hicks

Editor