The Human Race

Running. From yesterday's post, you may have concluded that it is not Jeff's favorite thing. He literally has to give him self a pep talk to go run. He convinces himself at 5:30 that he wants to be home by 5:35. Not always the best attitude to leave with, but it makes sense for a man who prays for red lights.

His little episode at the God-foresaken green light reminds me of a race he signed up to run with his brother, Jon, and I a few years back. He wasn't just dipping his foot into this racing thing, he chose to participate in a 6.2 mile race. The Human Race down in New York City. Did I mention that Jeff decided to sign up for this race a mere three weeks prior to the actual event? Well, he did. And he was starting from scratch as he hadn't been running at that time.

The day of the race we were all smiles. Very excited for the event, figuring this would be a great race. Nike was putting it on and the whole concept was that in major cities all over the world, people, about one million, would be running in this "Human Race" at the same time. The race in New York was to begin at 7 p.m. Before we headed over, we took a picture to memorialize this joyous occasion.

Once we got to the race the smiles disappeared. Not for game faces, but because the start of the race was delayed. The special guest who was supposed to kick off the race, Nate Robinson, then of the New York Knicks, was late. That little pip squeak kept all of us waiting for about 35 minutes, jammed packed like sardines at the starting line. During this waiting period we fooled around with the idea of all running together. We went back and forth before ultimately deciding......to this day, quite honestly, I am not sure what we decided. Jeff and Jon contend that we decided to run together. Me, I didn't think that was the consensus, so when the NBA slam dunk champion, who was crowned simply because of his size, set off the starting gun, I began weaving through the Human Race. I threw a few elbows to get where I needed to be. Jeff and Jon did not.

After I finished, I took in the whole scene, had some pictures taken, and roamed around the stadium that housed the finish line. As I waited and waited, I began to worry that I would never find Jeff and Jon.

Finally, I saw Jeff and Jon enter the stadium. They made it!

Jon had not let Jeff stop and walk at all during the race. Much of the course was lined with people, cheering and sharing encouraging words. As we walked away from the race, Jeff expressed how most people like the encouragement the crowd offers. He on the other hand, had to muster up every ounce of self-control he had not to throw his fist through their faces when they were shouting "keep running," and "you're almost there!" He wanted to tell them to shut the ---- up or get their a$$es out there and run. 

He did neither of these things as energy escaped him. We have concluded that Jeff should have tried a 3.1 mile race before jumping to it's 6.2 counterpart. I doubt it would relieve his hate for running though, as I witnessed this same hostility on our run yesterday!