Where It All Started

I’ve been taking a walk down memory lane as I tackle my summer project of going through boxes of old photos.

I stumbled across the above photo of my childhood best friend, Kim, and I at one of my first road races. I thought it would be perfect for a post. I wish I could tell you where this was, the distance and give you my results but I don't have it recorded.  And since this is circa 1978, I can’t just google it for you.

What I can tell you is that I ran a handful of races starting around this age (my mom thinks I'm 10 or 11). I My Mom, who worked at various hospitals, used to ask me if I wanted to run the hospital's fundraising races. I wish I knew how I felt about running those races. Did I get excited or anxious? Did I have a goal? I'm sure it was just to finish and probably have fun. Hey, maybe that's how it should be now. ;-) Don't think about things so much. If you ask someone my age if they want to run a race, they'd probably get nervous about just doing a race, or think about how much weight they'd lose training for it, or maybe just think to themselves that they could never do that distance. I don't think any of those things would cross the mind of a ten year old. Again, I wish I had a better memory of these races so I can tell you more about how I felt, if I enjoyed it, etc. but alas, my memory is blank... but I do have these awesome photos to share!

Can you say fashionistas?!  Awesome sweatsuits! Kim is wearing the one from our swimming club. The sweatsuit I’m wearing was one of my first and I remember loving it!  It was a velour-like material with a trio of colors on the ankle and wrist cuffs. If my memory serves me well, on the back it had the letters RUN. It's an article of clothing that I can instantaneously look at and it brings back good memories. I wish I knew why we felt it necessary to take off our running shoes before the race. Now they tell you not to stretch before your workout - only after. I don't do either. Bad, bad, bad.

I like looking at these pictures and noticing how different things are today. No one has headphones. No packets of GU. No heart rate monitors to give you your calorie burn at the end of the race. There are no waist hydration packs. There is no chip timing. And there are no big fancy Garmin watches on runners wrists giving your precise mile per hour. And look at how big the numbers on our shirts are – written in someone’s handwriting. Awesome! I LOVE it.

I'm pretty  certain that's Kim's dad stretching against the tree behind us. He was a big runner. He probably still is. I remember him running all over town. My friend Lisa's dad was also a big runner. I feel like it was unusual for parent's in the 70's to be so active.  I don't remember anyone's mom being athletic. How different things are today.

I am assuming the above picture is right after the race - not sure. We don't look tired or sweaty but the man with the towel around his shoulders looks like he might have just run. I like the way we are posing. That's how everyone poses after a victory, right?  Aren't you just loving my tube socks? I’d like to think I was early to the trend of compression socks and not some nerd. But look at how the yellow in my socks matches my yellow t-shirt which is so nicely tucked into my running shorts. And those Nikes!! Royal blue suede with a bright yellow swoosh.  These were some of the first ones. Now Kim is sporting head to toe Adidas. She looks cool as usual.

I'm having fun going through all my old photos. So many memories. I wonder if my friend Kim is still running? She lives on Nantucket and since that's one of my favorite places, I'm thinking it might be fun to go visit her on a weekend the island has a running race. That would be a fun weekend!