Nerve Endings Firing Away

The few things I love about the Ameriki Swantantrata Diwas (4th of July for the Yankees out there) in Hotlanta is the annual Peachtree Race.Its not the run-of-the-mill race wherein teeming adolescents push each other out of the way to reach a finish line a few hundred yards away. It stands proudly in the league of the New York & Boston Marathon and regularly attracts those amazing Kenyan long-distance runners. Considering that 55,000 runners swarm the barely wide Peachtree Road that winds its way from Centennial Park to the Piedmont Park 6.2 miles or 10K away, it surely is one of a kind event in this otherwise quaint southern city. What surprises me is that the sole motivation for the majority of runners is the possession of the prestigious rag of tshirt that you get if you complete the race on the better side of 55 minutes. The ones who are lucky enough to get that piece of cloth proudly wear it at nearby pubs at Buckhead, guzzling beer and taunting their less unfortunate friends. Of course, the Kenyans run to feed their starving families on the African continent and fortunately are the ones to take home the bulk of the $100,000 plus winnings. The fastest among them completes the run in 27:46 flat (I wonder if they get 2 tshirts).

Me ?? Nope, I cheer them on from the sidelines and I didn’t even do that this year. The 3-mile jog I did on my treadmill was more than enough for me until the whole exercise started resembling my life. Running hard, dripping in your own stinky sweat and then realizing that you are right where you started. Not an inch forward. That reminds me of a very good friend of mine who, while training in the Navy ran 14 miles each day. When the bugger came home for his vacations, he dragged me for his daily jog. He gave up on me soon after I blacked out halfway through on the first day. Of course, I love running and have done my share of running in school. But 14 miles !!! Gimme a break. The only exercise I have been doing recently amongst all my Comps reading is jumping to conclusions, mostly the wrong ones. But I notice the $0 registration at LA Fitness while driving to Starbucks. Hmm…that surely set my thoughts at least on track…maybe I will too.