Colorful Characters

One of the things I love most about being a runner is my "colorful" friends! Each week I meet with several great individuals who make the running life that much more, shall I say colorful. Each person has their own unique personality, story, and reason for why they have joined the running life family. From my shaggy haired freshman runner Will who took up the sport to get in shape for soccer to Dan, a special Ed teacher who served in Vietnam when he was not too much older than Will. For many years I preferred the solitary nature of the sport, often logging thousands of miles with just the company of my own thoughts and whatever song nature decided to provide that day. Even though I still love an occasional solitary romp in the early morning, I really look forward to the camaraderie of running with a group. As interesting as I find myself to be, I have to admit, other people are much more entertaining and make the miles fly by. From small talk to jokes to political discourse, running with my running buddies is what gets me out of the bed at 4:00am in order to get in a workout before sun up. By nature, I am an afternoon runner and enjoy the sun baking my shoulders while barking orders to my athletes, but as I have aged, I need to play with kids my own age. Unfortunately, most adults don't get off work at 3:00pm and the duties of adulthood do require the majority to attend to other "adult" responsibilities outside of the work hours. Hence, in order for us to still run around scantily clothed and enjoy the silliness of high spirited hi jinx, we must rise while the rest of the adult world sleeps and slip on our youthful spirits and run wild. It is during these early morning romps that the inhibitions of adulthood are thrown to the wind the colorful personalities break free and the fun begins. As I have spent the last couple of days shackled by my adult responsibilities, I look forward to my run tomorrow morning when I will cut loose with my colorful friends and will run wild in the streets before my work colleagues awake, drink their coffee and wonder why I saunter in with a whistle, smile, and a twinkle in my eye. As always, stay healthy and keep running.