To Run

I have to find a way to get t-shirts for free other than running marathons and half-marathons. Those things are like crack for runners I suppose. When I first decided I wanted to run a marathon, I started training in a neighborhood close by. On one of my first runs I say a guy who looked like he stepped out of a running magazine on the trail. Even from a distance I could tell the guy was a runner; a real runner; not a runner like me. This guy's legs turned over with the fluidity of 30 weight motor oil rolling downhill on a sheet of greasy glass. I could see the sinews of his leg muscles from several yards (metres for you metric folk) away extending and contracting with each step. You might have thought the guy was wearing a brace up top because his shoulders didn't move, there was no head bob, and unlike me, he didn’t' bounce as he ran.

But even in the midst of what some of you are thinking was a wired man crush, my thoughts were of more sublime things. My runner could have been a plucked goose for all I cared. He could have been a Clydesdale running with the grace and finesse of a broke-legged beagle. But the shirt on his back; oh the shirt.

Though I had to speed up to a swift 11 minute mile to catch him, I was still some ways off when I saw the word that sucked me into my dilemma; the instigator of my quest; I saw the one word that had I not seen that day, may have prevented all the pain and agony, and ego-busting effort I've put in...FINISHER. Houston Marathon 2008 FINISHER to be precise.

I wonder if it had say Houston 5K finisher, if I would have thrown myself into short races. But his shirt said marathon finisher. I've completed three so far and have one more coming up.

I can't help myself, I love free t-shirts.