6 men showed up at 6am to run an extended Excelsior / Fart-Rat (River Rat route, 6am launch). Some started earlier, some turned back at the rock, others went the traditional route. Every man got his fill. Good men, good fellowship, good social distancing, good run – not much more I can say there. One thing I did want to add:
I found myself thinking a lot about Operation Sweet Tooth this morning. With this COVID-19 quarantine, and kids being home from school, and working from home… the days are just starting to bleed together into a blur. Right before bed last night my wife asked me; wasn't today supposed to be the annual 8K? And you know what… it was. That just snuck up on me outta nowhere, my sense of calendar is gone. I love that run. It's like the F3 Thanksgiving to me – it's the one event every year where I see ALL my friends at F3, even the guys I don't post with often. And Olive always gives a great speech, one that reminds me to hug my kids just a little tighter that night, and not take the gift of life for granted. And we raise money and awareness for a great cause, but perhaps most importantly, we embrace our brother in his life-long fight to find peace.
I think a lot of us are waking up to a more uncertain world, and I found myself really REALLY missing that kind of moment this morning. So I ran down a dark Neck Road, one blinky up ahead, and one a little behind… not alone, but not what I had hoped this morning could be either. And I couldn't help but be a little upset that I wasn't running in Birkdale, surrounded by several hundred of my brothers. These are crazy times we live in. I hope you'll all find peace that we may not be able to be together as we wanted to, as we normally can be… but we're also never alone. Keep an eye on that one blinky light in the distance and keep going. There's a funny thing about running; sometimes you ARE alone out there. But it's not as if you're the very first person to run on that road or trail or mileage. So in that sense, you're never truly alone – you're taking the same journey someone else has before. We run a path of brotherhood, parallel routes, simply at different times. And in that sense, none of us are ever truly alone.
Stay strong men.