Monday, July 25, 2011

Roger on Running: Summer Running

From Running Times online

Roger on Running: Summer Running

What a swell party it is

By Roger Robinson

As featured in the Web Only issue of Running Times Magazine

Summertime, and the runnin’ is easy. These relaxed July days are not made for serious hard racing, unless you are a track star. But don’t take the month off. The ingenious world of running has created some irresistible midsummer events, usually in special places or attractive surroundings, with the atmosphere of a frolic among friends. You’re not sure whether the important part is the race or the picnic, and you’re liable to drop your finisher’s medal in the beer cooler.

This summer I have been at two such races. You never heard of them. They are too obscure to rate even a dot on the global map of running.  But in my mind they stand high as scenes where I enjoyed that special conjunction of running and summer. They were also the races where I wore a bib number for the first time since 2006, complete with a new knee, a new age-group, and profound new humility. I ran extreme PWs (Personal Worsts), of course. I placed dead last for the first time since the age 9 100-yard dash at elementary school. But who cares? Doing some form of running again, however slow, among all those welcoming people and that wonderful scenery, who cares?

Read on here.

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