Friday Night Lights

Dave Smart, Jon & Waverly Walk


The Start


starter - Dan Green

It's about 8:30pm Friday night. I've been at work since 6:00am. I'm tired and not very excited about running the BMI Cross Country run. I had decided to run this race to support one of our Ten For Texas runners Tammy Conatser who is a Doctor of Ophthalmology (eye). BMI is short for Benevolent Missions International which is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing needed ophthalmic care to the underserved in many areas around the world.

The race director, Bill Phelan, is also a friend who has an incredible story as he is a 4 time cancer survivor. ( he has a book out that can be picked up at Luke's Locker titled "Running with Cancer: The Ultimate Marathon" ) It all sounded good several weeks ago but now I'm at the event which is piggy backed onto a High School Cross Country Invitational and I really don't feel like it's going to go well.

One of the things I miss most about racing is the camaraderie. I ran into Jon & Waverly Walk which is always fun. I also saw blogger Dave Smart and several old friends. It really doesn't matter if it goes well, I'm back in the mix. I've always been more of a social runner. Even when I was running very well...it was still social. I found Tammy who I offered to pace and around 10pm after the last HS event we headed to the starting line.

First rule about pacing - make sure you can keep up. Tammy did very well Friday night and ran off and left me after about the first 3/4 of a mile. Did I say that I felt like it wasn't shaping up to be a good night. It wasn't good in a lot of ways but it was in many others. I started, I finished, I have a time ( 33 something...ouch ), supported a good cause and I saw a lot of good friends.

I got to sleep around midnight and was up at 4am to set up for our Saturday workout group. They all did very well today including Tammy who tacked on another 8.5 miles this morning about 8 hours after her race. I think she takes after Jon Walk.