Mark had a tattoo of a tree on his shoulder, in honor of his own dad, who had also passed away several years ago. As his son, Josiah, went back and forth from the fit bench in front of me, to the sidewalk outside the store, to try the different pairs of Nike Pegasus, Saucony Kinvara, and Adidas Glide that I had brought out for him, Mark and I shared stories of our dads.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Mark and I had both started running 5k\u2019s competitively at age 9, both of us inspired and encouraged by our fathers.\u00a0 I told Mark the story of how when I got to High School, I only ran one season of Cross Country because by then, I\u2019d had enough and I was ready to try something else for a while.<\/p>\n
That lead us to a conversation about how sometimes you just have to get back to a love of running.\u00a0 Sometimes you have to leave the Garmin at home, forget about numbers and just run.<\/p>\n
I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity last weekend.\u00a0 I was back in Kirksville, MO for the 20th<\/sup> reunion of the KHS class of 1993.\u00a0 (Go ahead and do the math, I\u2019ll wait\u2026but for the record, having an October birthday made me one of the youngest in my class.\u00a0 Got my age, now?\u00a0 Ok then, let\u2019s move on)\u00a0 So, even though I didn\u2019t graduate with that group due to a move back to MI, these were the friends that I went to elementary school and Jr. High with.\u00a0 Memories of the \u2018Ville include things like nights at Leo\u2019s roller rink, my first boyfriends, the beginning of my cheerleading and track career, endless sleepovers with Kirsten, Maria, Stephanie and several others.\u00a0 On Saturday morning, after a long night at the Dukum Inn and Pancake City, I finally roused myself for a run through my old stomping grounds.\u00a0 I had intentionally positioned myself in a hotel near my old neighborhood, so I set off up Shepherd Road towards College Park.\u00a0 I started the Garmin and realized I had a low battery.\u00a0 Oh well, I wasn\u2019t planning to go far, so it should last.\u00a0 About a minute into my run a black SUV pulled up next to me, rolled the window down and I heard a voice say, \u201cLindsey?\u00a0 Lindsey Jacobs?!\u00a0 OMG!\u201d\u00a0 I responded with, \u201cOMG, Jason Barron!\u201d\u00a0 This was funny because Jason and I had spent several hours the night before having that very conversation, repeatedly.\u00a0 After agreeing that we would see each other in a couple hours for the rest of the festivities, he drove on and I continued my run.<\/p>\n I looked at my Garmin.\u00a0 The face was totally blank.\u00a0 I was at most a half mile in.\u00a0 I smiled as I considered that maybe that was my dad\u2019s way of telling me this wasn\u2019t a run to focus on the numbers, but rather one to just let the memories come back and enjoy the moment.<\/p>\n I ran up Shepherd and made the right turn onto First Street.\u00a0 I was at the top of the hill that I used to run for hill repeats.\u00a0 I smiled as I realized the hill I once thought was so big, didn\u2019t seem like nearly as much anymore.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about perspective isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 As we grow and face life\u2019s challenges, we find that the things we once struggled with, just aren\u2019t as big in comparison to the things that we face as we get older.<\/p>\n I ran down the hill and back up to turn left into College Park and then right on the very first street in the neighborhood.\u00a0 And there stood my old house in all it\u2019s glory. \u00a01 Shady Lane.\u00a0 Now, I ask you, is there a better address anywhere in the world?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0 I slowed to a walk as I passed.\u00a0 It looked just as I remembered. \u00a0I remembered playing in piles of leaves and building snowmen in the yard. \u00a0I saw my old bedroom window, upstairs on the far left, where I used to sit and spy on Rick Gooch when he would come home late. He always waved.\u00a0 The Gooches lived across the street and for years Chad and I were like Dawson and Joey.\u00a0 (Don\u2019t pretend you don\u2019t know what I\u2019m talking about.\u00a0 Who didn\u2019t love Dawson\u2019s Creek?\u00a0 Especially when adorable tomboy Joey would climb up through Dawson\u2019s window.\u00a0 Yeah, Chad and I were like that, except Chad\u2019s house was a ranch)<\/p>\n I noticed that our old jungle gym was gone, the one where my brother fell and needed stitches over his eye.\u00a0 In its place was a garden.\u00a0 The acre yard seemed to have a lot less trees than it used to and our tire swing was gone.\u00a0 I continued down the street to the last house on the right, Angela\u2019s old house.\u00a0 Angela was my very first running partner, she used to run that hill to Shepherd with me.\u00a0 I remembered all the times we camped out in her front yard in the tents we built with sleeping bags and old blankets, while playing with transformers and trading baseball cards.<\/p>\n Just past Angela\u2019s house, Shady Lane ends at a little lake.\u00a0 There is now a walking path around it thanks to my mom\u2019s efforts 25 years ago.\u00a0 I ran along the path, past the spot where we lit sparklers and shot off fireworks for my brother\u2019s July 2nd<\/sup> birthday a whole lifetime ago.\u00a0 As I ran on, houses stood next to the lake, where there used to be only fields and trees.\u00a0 I ran to the back of the neighborhood and then returned by way of College Park Drive.\u00a0 I saw the houses of so many old friends, Andi, Marcus, the Tindalls, the Morascos.\u00a0 To me, it all looked like not a day had passed.<\/p>\n I exited the neighborhood and went left, continuing on First street, past the Lundburg\u2019s where I used to catch the bus and spent hours playing Atari; up the hill to where Elgin\u2019s house once stood before it burned down.\u00a0 I turned right on LaHarpe and I realized I had exactly run the old familiar path that had made me fall in love with running almost 30 years ago.<\/p>\n I ran past Stephanie\u2019s old neighborhood and remembered the night we called the radio station to request Jesse\u2019s Girl over and over and over, much to the annoyance of that poor DJ.\u00a0 I got to the corner of LaHarpe and Franklin, the Truman State campus was in front of me.\u00a0 When I lived there it was Northeast Missouri State University, where I had packed half of what I owned to go for weeks of basketball camp and cheerleading camp, thinking I was so far from home.<\/p>\n I ran back up Franklin, just before I got back to the Holiday Inn Express, I could see to my left the old Country Kitchen where my dad used to take me for breakfast before school and the Hyvee where my sister used to work.<\/p>\n I entered the hotel parking lot and slowed to a walk, dripping with sweat from the Missouri humidity.\u00a0 I had managed, maybe 4 miles, probably not even that much, on a day that I should have run about 14.\u00a0 I have no idea what my pace was, but I\u2019m guessing pretty slow.\u00a0 And ya know what?\u00a0 I didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n That run wasn\u2019t about speed or distance.\u00a0 Regardless of whether I left the Garmin at home or it just died on it\u2019s own that day, that run was about remembering why I became a runner in the first place.\u00a0 And Kirksville reminds me that even after all the miles I\u2019ve run and mountains I\u2019ve climbed and the challenges I\u2019ve faced head on, I am still that same carefree, light-hearted, happy go lucky, free spirited girl that I\u2019ve always been.<\/p>\n Although it is now time for me to come out of post Racine retirement and get back to making it happen for the Chicago marathon, I pledge to occasionally forget the numbers and run to celebrate the glory days. \u00a0I will remember that I run, first and foremost, because I love it. \u00a0I will remain calm and leave the Garmin at home\u2026sometimes.<\/p>\n
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