T-Falls coach writes first Montana cross country book

Cross-country running has never been known as one of the most publicized high school sports, but one Thompson Falls High School cross-country coach hopes to change that image by publishing his own book about crosscountry running in Montana.

The self-published book is titled Harrier Hawks Fly High and the coach and author is Andrew Gideon. Gideon wrote articles and took submissions from the Thompson Falls High School Crosscountry team and from people around the community to create the book.

After looking at other high school crosscountry books Gideon felt that his team could create a book that was more creative and illuminating about high school crosscountry running. “I just know from teaching our kids that their brains, writing abilities and thought patterns could produce a higher quality running book,” Gideon said. “I am pretty sure that Harrier Hawks Fly High is the only cross country book about Montana running ever written.”

Gideon said that he started organizing and writing the book in Dec. of 2006. He also makes clear that while the books focus is crosscountry running, there is also a strong foundation of how life lessons can be learned through crosscountry. Specifically, he mentioned two lessons that the book teaches: the value of work and the necessity of good influences. “Hard work pays offŠ” Gideon said. “ŠAnd being around solid, quality people is a huge ingredient to success.”

In today's world of constantly changing values and family turmoils, Gideon believes that crosscountry is able to help families teach children these important values and that his book illustrates that.

“These are important ideas because our family structure, in a lot of areas, doesn't support them,” Gideon said. “Life is very competitive for jobs, relationships, money, attention, and we need to emphasize the challenge and how student-athletes can best handle this challenge at home and at school,” he said.

He pointed out that crosscountry running and the competitive atmosphere it embodies helps kids to overcome life's intimidating struggles. “Being at the starting line at State Championships can be intimidating. Graduating high school and going into the real world can be intimidating. Job interviews can be intimidating. Life has a lot of competition in it - learning that at the starting line and practice fields of crosscountry is part of the dream to achieve and be successful,” Gideon said.

The most challenging part about making the book for Gideon was time. Gideon said that he had to balance writing the book around his work, family life and personal interests. “I have school, coaching, my own running, a family, two amazing children, and I try to pay attention to investments,” he said.

During this balancing act Gideon would work about one and half to two hours a day during the week and three to four hours during the weekend on the book. And when it came to work ethic, he practiced what he preached and continued this work routine for about a year until the book was finished.

Yet, even with all of his dedicated work he said that the book wouldn't have been possible without the support of his crosscountry team and the support of his family. “Just being around people like Ryan Sol, Jacob Naegeli, Shane Donaldson, Beca Gunderson, Delcie Peters and the other runners is probably the greatest honor,” he said.

By writing the book Gideon pointed out that he doesn't claim any type of all-encompassing authority on the topic of crosscountry running. He only hopes that his readers can get a brief glimpse of what running is like in Montana and maybe take something out of it. “If someone likes to laugh, be motivated for life, be motivated to run, or enjoy the high school dream of a state championship, then that person will probably enjoy the book,” Gideon said.

Harrier Hawks fly High can be purchased locally at Linda's Montana Gifts and Gallery in Thompson Falls and online at Amazon.com.