My first River Run
Mom and Dad had this photo up at the cleaners. I figured I should scan it in for posterity. It's funny when I think of the amount of training I did back then. Not a whole lot. I wish I had trained more. I think my longest runs were usually in the neighborhood of 6 or 7 miles. I would have to get my Dad to drive the streets I ran to get the mileage. Too bad there was no GPS back then.
I usually ran at night, after the sun went down. Every now and then I would run before school. I can't remember ever being accosted. Sometimes Pete would ride his bike alongside. If anything, the only things in danger were the neighborhood garbage cans.
My route was typically to run down Belvedere or Avondale Avenue (depending on if Pete was accompanying me). From there I would turn left on St. Johns Avenue and run to St. Vincent's. I would turn around and run back down St. Johns cutting back through side streets after I crossed Fishweir Creek. Ultimately, I would run around the old Roosevelt Mall and then head home. I remember I would always run the last half mile home down Belvedere from Pete's house very hard.
Of course, at this time the Walkman ruled and there was no iPod. My Walkman (cassette with auto-reverse!) was a bit unwieldy to run with, so I would use my sister's little AM/FM portable stereo. Listening to the radio was OK, but I would think about how motivating it would be if I could run to a playlist I compiled. I once fantasized how cool it would be to have the local DJ play that custom playlist during the River Run. Now with iPods, the ability for every runner to be his own DJ is taken for granted. Funny thing is, I now rarely run with my iPod.
Glad I found the photo. Brings back a lot of old memories of training as a spry teenager.