Ten more reasons why it’s a great thing to be a runner in Tallahassee

 

By Jane Johnson

 
Because … you can travel all the way to Chicago to run a marathon and run into 40 other people from Tallahassee while you’re there.

Because … our club has transformed a simple Listserve into an invaluable and dynamic mechanism for sharing information, exchanging ideas (and insults), soliciting medical advice and training partners, following Tim Simpkins through his illness and now keeping up with his brother Johnny, and even getting the inside scoop on Dr. L’s Toe Stretchers.

Because … we have Martha Haynes – a truly unsung hero, who quietly maintains the club’s website which is always new and interesting and has become an indispensable information source for all of us.

Because … there is just something about conversations that take place on a long run that can be replicated anywhere else.

Because … running is the great equalizer, and when the gun goes off, money, status, titles, intelligence, and good looks all become irrelevant. We all cross the finish line in the same elemental, sweaty state – and none of those “social” attributes are of any use.

Because … running can temporarily suspend age – and during the minutes when I am running with my teenage daughters, we are simply running partners, and can share at a level that transcends mother-daughterness.

Because … being a runner means you can speak in a language that only other runners can understand – which you tend to take for granted until someone in your office gives you a blank stare when you start talking about your negative splits.

Because … if you have a really good race, you can always be sure that someone else is going to swear that the course was short and ruin your day.

Because … we will never really know just how long the loop around Lake Overstreet is – and we like it that way.

Because … we have Julie Clark who spends hours each spring encouraging new runners through her weekly training classes so that they can experience the satisfaction of completing the Springtime 10K (we don’t tell them about the total physical exhaustion part until after the race.)