My Last Big Run Before the Marathon

There is so much I want to write. How life changes so rapidly. How age means nothing. How life gets in the way of everything.

And yet... here I am, in the beautiful landscape of territory known as Connecticut. And it wasn’t always this way, either. I was a New York City ‘lifer’. For 55 years, starting at birth, my life would have me swing between Queens, The Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester, and Long Island. I thought I would die in NY, too. But that would not be the case.

The same goes for my relationships, too. I always wondered if the woman I would be with would be with me for better or for worse and forever. And that would not be the case either.

Loyce is the most dynamic woman I have ever met. And no, it’s not because she is in my life currently. That would be too easy a concession. We both have had dreams of going “public” and sharing our stories right here and now. There is so much for both of us to tell; I just hope we have enough time to tell it all.

There will be times when I post (like right now) and other times when she posts as well on this site (Hence, the name of our website!).. and there will be times when we are both in front of this PC, linking arms and minds and sharing collaboratively.

The inaugural post, as this is, could be about anything or even nothing. I chose today, October 12th as the day to break the ice.

After all….Isn’t running 23 miles in one helping as good a reason as any? :-)

Oh, I am a runner, among many other things that you will learn about me. Let’s get the stats out of the way before I return to humanizing this blog.

31,845 miles. 416 races. 40 marathons. 3 ex-wives. 5 children (1 of them estranged). 31 different addresses and all with 1 heart.

Today was my last BIG training run. Originally scheduled for tomorrow, I opted for it today. Today was a sunny day, and tomorrow is a cloudy day. And I usually choose sunny.

I was only supposed to do 22 miles, but once again, my RunGo app failed me, and I failed, making wrong turns and desperately searching for Gatorade and water between Miles 13 and 17.

When you have a supportive person, you know it. Loyce is that person. I show her appreciation by showering her with flowers for any run over 10 miles. For today, however, I wanted to do just a little more. After finding a pair of funny Halloween googly-eyed glasses on my way out towards the state’s capital building, I added a dozen and a half red roses at Mile 20. I ran the last three miles holding those flowers ever so gently, and with less than a half mile to go I threw on those glasses. Loyce was waiting outside with her daughter and four grandkids. While I knew that “Nana,” as she is so affectionately called by her grandchildren, would be outside to greet me, I was so happy to see everyone out there cheering me on and holding signs that she made for the kids to hold.

Days like these make all the bad days go away.