HTFU and associated stories

The HTFU bracelet story
Some have asked about the HTFU bracelet...where did you get it? ...who thought it up? ...what does it mean? Here's the story behind the bracelet.

Mike Cox in Olympic Trials...HTFU!
Below is an email I sent to some friends back in October:

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As you guys know, I just returned from West Virginia. While I was up there I ran and rode with my old cross country coach, Will, (he's now 67) and another running friend of ours, Sam (he's in his mid 50's) , who lives near the college I attended. When I arrived, Sam had just returned from running 23 miles to another town on the rails to trails...and then got on his mountain bike and rode back. Later that week we did a 5 hour mountain bike ride with a 8 mile off road climb at the end...I was pretty impressed with my old coach hanging on for the whole thing. Both of these guys are pretty "Hard", and I gave a "Hardin the...up" bracelet to both of them to show to anyone who complains to them in the future.

Will's team is getting ready for the Eastern NCAA regional meet, and I received the following from him today...

"We continue to be troubled by nagging injuries that are generally a sign of being wound too tight. We talked about that this afternoon after practice. I have used the "toughen the fuck up" slogan several times... including pre race pep talk and post race ass chewing at the conference meet. One of my coaching colleagues qualified for the Olympic marathon trials at Chicago... so he is racing the trials this Saturday with just about a month between races. I saw him Saturday at the HS state meet and he was having a problem with his hamstring. I showed him the bracelet... he asked me if he could borrow it for the trials... Watch for him... Mikey Cox with a black band on his right wrist."
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Here are some articles about Mike's Olympic Trials qualifying in the severe heat of Chicago:

Chicago Heat

Concorde University story (Where he coaches)

Pictures of Mike Cox during the Olympic Trials
Mike ran a 2:20:12 for 41st place and a new PR.