Sometimes.....
Sometimes I sit down here to write something and nothing really comes to mind. I like running and you like running (and if you don't, what in the 'thump' are you doing reading a running blog?), so we agree on that but nothing is knocking down the door of my creativity saying "this needs to be said!" So last night at the Trak Shak there were probably about 150 people running and the thing that struck me was the 150 different universes out there...some were really fast, some slow, some there for the 'social' and some just because they can't stand to run alone. One girl (lady?) that I know who's the quietest, nicest person ever came, wasn't in the mood to run so she just walked - but she came for the atmosphere...pretty cool. I had 2 runners do their first 3 miles ever and another do 3 miles for the first time in a while after suffering from a freak injury. Kinda cool, witnessing their individual triumphs. We'll get to see a lot of that Saturday; there are over 60 runners that I know of who'll be completing their first 5K. To me, this is a great indication of what 'can be'. It'd be great to see the 'Y' be the foundation of running in B'ham rather than a shoe store (nothing against the shoe store) - wish I knew how to make that happen. More races put on by the 'Y'S ? Dunno, the Downtown Y has (sorta) tried the group run route,the Shades Valley Y used to put on the 'Hog Jog' which (I thought) was very successful. I do know that the Spirit will triumph for a lot of people Saturday and the residual effects (money raised & the kids that benefit, excitement over running accomplishment - the adults that benefit, hopefully new habits of a life time of fitness, life style changes) will have long reaching positive effects...then I think of the possibilities. Now I'm sort of a dreamer and this is just a thought that I have, I have no solution or idea, but it's a nice dream...the YMCA of Birmingham as the Johnny Appleseed of area running.