Saturday, June 8, 2013

An excerpt from Distance Memories: Reflections of a Life on the Run


(Yes, I'm trying to whet your appetite!)


Flash forward to the afternoon of Sunday, June 10, 2012.  I was walking out the front door with my grandson Krischan (just over three years old) when he looked at me and said ‘I want to run like you, G-Pa.’  Three things immediately came to mind: (1) That sentence was music to my ears; (2) I’m pretty sure my heart just melted; and (3) If Krischan wants to run then gosh darn he was going to.

I dropped everything and instructed Krischan to run to the bush on the far side of the front yard and back again.  Instead he took off and ran around the circular stone flowerbed in the front yard.  Not only did Krischan instinctively run the course in a counter-clockwise direction, he also displayed an almost flawless running motion (a virtually still head, a forceful and driving arm swing and an even pace) that his G-Pa has NEVER displayed.  Krischan proceeded to run exactly…four…laps.  Once he finished he walked over to tell me he was tired…and immediately returned to the flowerbed and ran another four laps, a virtual carbon copy of his first four laps.  He walked back over to me and said yet again that he was tired, and this time I knew it to be true, as he was beginning to perspire and breathing a bit heavier than normal. 

I told Krischan how proud I was of him and that I would take him to a real track the following weekend.  I asked him where he learned to run so well and…well, he just giggled as only three-year-olds-who-know-how-to-melt-your-heart can do. 

Later that afternoon I measured the circular path Krischan had run around the flowerbed.   Exactly 75 feet.   In other words Krischan had (instinctively, perhaps?) run exactly 100 yards.   

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