RIP – The Turtle 1983-2014

 

I was afraid that this was the news I’d receive, given that after physical therapy and medication I’d been relieved of the pain, but it returned instantly during that last running attempt.  I was inconsolable and had already been low-key depressed about not running since July. At any rate that evening I swallowed that bitter pill with some wine and snacks and began to reminisce.

I ran my first 2.65 miles with my father in 1983 at Shady Side Park/Aqua Gardens. He left me of course because that’s what dads do, but it didn’t matter, I fell in love with running anyway.  I didn’t run much during college, only on summer breaks but after graduation into adulthood (yay/boo) I ran everywhere that I lived. Lakeshore Drive in Chicago, the streets of this little suburb called Addison IL, Audubon Park and City Park in . New Orleans the streets of Doraville Georgia and downtown Atlanta and the many fine parks of Gwinnett County where I currently live.  My first race was the Peachtree Road Race in 1995 and subsquently completed 16 of them. I ran for diabetes, alzheimers, AIDS, breast cancer, churches and various charities and I ran just for T-shirts.  One of my bucket list items was to run in all 50 states, I had 44 to go. Yet even with the bucket list and racing, those things were never front of mind because running for me was a matter of health, physical certainly, but mostly mental and most of my running was done alone.