Who is Richard Steck?

Last week this picture of me clicking my heels at the finishline of the Salt City Half Marathon showed up in a local paper (Salt Lake Tribune). My mother-in-law called my wife to share the news, but was confused as to why the caption identified me as Richard Steck.

Let me explain.

My buddy, Richard Steck, lives across the street from me and planned on running the race until a nasty case of IT band sidelined him. I was planning on running the race as well, but not with a number since all I was going to do was pace several people. When I realized that Rich wasn't going to run, I offered to buy his bib so he wasn't out the $50-$60. So I ran on his number and for a few hours on a Saturday morning, I was Richard Steck, although without the rugged good looks.