I could never train on a treadmill. It reminds me too much of an assembly line where they put cars together. It’s the Industrial Revolution for bodies. And it’s boring. But pump me full of music and send me out on to the street and I’m ready to risk running into the neighborhood dog. Or deal with the changing weather. I was walking one day when the heavens opened up. It was during an August heat wave so no problem there but when your eyes fill up with rain water they sting and you cannot see. But it is still preferable to running like a caged hamster. You learn how to avoid disasters. Carry a small set of goggles and some dog biscuits.

I started walking four months ago after realizing that my sedentary lifestyle came with certain “rewards”. Weight gain was apparent and other things as well. I imagined that I was surrounded by a transparent plastic bag. It was far away enough that I couldn’t feel it. But it was shrinking just a tiny bit every day and there was no doubt I would be shrink wrapped and ready for the tomb in not too many years.

You have to figure that at age 60 something is going to happen in the not too distant future! Disease or death are no longer props for the imagination. So how do you want to deal with this fact?

I couldn’t stop thinking about an elderly lady in her nineties we knew who was busy every day until her last. She went to bed one night and arrived in Heaven before dawn. She hardly thought about herself at all and in the end many others thought about her.

She spent much of her time doing for others. And she reminds me of many of the folks I ran into yesterday out on the course. Because months of walking led, naturally, to an attempt to run/walk in a half marathon. And so on a beautiful, fall day we headed out from downtown Richmond in the general direction of Bryant Park.

The park is hilly, has a rough surface and is miles from a comfortable chair but there was an angel there handing out small mint chocolates. Time seemed to stop for a moment as I looked into her smiling face and tasted something that was so good. You cannot experience this goodness sitting at home. Walk seven miles and chocolate explodes in your mouth!

Soon after leaving the park we approached a stone archway where the half and full marathons merged. Suddenly there were brilliant blue lights reflecting on the sunlit foliage as police motorcycles approached followed by the elite runners who had already run twenty miles! We all ran through the solid stonework together. Continue reading →