Sunday morning I awoke and found that my troublesome knee felt remarkably “normal”. I felt confident enough to get my running gear on and give it a go around the mile loop in my neighborhood. My wife woke up with a similar thought in her head and we discussed the concept of running together.
“I’ll run with you” she offered generously…
Kimm has never really enjoyed running the way “runners” do. She has trained and ran a few road races and, on occasion, found the groove that runners love to get into of a great pace and the feeling of being able to go on forever. That said, she has been getting out and hitting the road and prepping for a 5k race that she is going to be running in August.
“Thanks…but I’ll just slow you down”. No way do I want to impede her progress.
She continued “Don’t worry about that…I’m happy to run with you”.
“Run” I think to myself. “…or something that looks like it…just much slower”
“This is something I need to go through alone.” I said, knowing that the first time out it would be an ugly and painful experience.
So Kimm took off to get a couple of miles in.
I got stretched and took care of a couple of chores while she ran. During that time, Sammy came down and watched me stretch out.
“Can I run with you”? His little face was all lit up…
I paused…. “This is something I need to go through alone” echoed through my head. I really did not want to have to drag a seven year old around the loop when I really needed to focus on dragging myself around it. I also remembered one of my reasons for starting off on this journey: To be a better example as a father.
“Sure Kiddo…get your shoes on”.
By the time he was ready I was fully stretched and I had gotten a bottle of water ready for Kimm as she would soon be returning. We stepped outside and saw her coming down the street. She had a nice stride going and I thought she might just wave and keep going. Upon seeing the water though, she came right to me “It’s a lot hotter out there than it feels”.
In my head I hear Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry saying “Swell…”
“Oh it can’t be that bad…” I say smiling....trying to convince myself.
She playfully squirts me with some of the water and says “Be careful…”
So Sam and I start off.
“We’re just going to go nice and easy Sam…no need to kill ourselves” I instruct my young son knowing I should do so while I still have the breath.
“Okay!” He replied in a tone that was so nonchalant it was almost flippant.
The quarter mile or so I was really focusing on my knee. I wanted to make sure that it was really feeling sound again. It was holding up. Now I just had to turn my attention to the fact I was actually running again, planning to go for a full mile, and having to deal with blowing the rust out of my muscles and lungs that had accumulated over time.
“Once around the loop” I think to myself. The term “loop” triggers a Caddyshack-esque run of “looper” thoughts. I find myself thinking “So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas”. My random thoughts do nothing to help me run faster though it does take my mind off the "WTF!?!?" messages my quadriceps are sending me.
“Hey Dad…this is easy!” Sammy squeals with glee as he darts ahead and slows down adjusting his pace as not to leave me in his dust.
“Gungala galunga... ” I say not even realizing I’m doing so. Sammy bounces along for another 50 yards quietly before he asks “Dad…what’s gungaba gungaba mean”? Before I can answer, he follows with “Hey Dad…look…I can run backwards faster than you”. I look even though I know what I am going to see. Sammy is running backwards…effortlessly.
As for me, I am realizing Kimm was right. It was MUCH hotter than it seemed when standing around in the front yard. I felt like I had Extra Virgin Olive Oil flowing out of my forehead.
“Dad…what’s gungaba gungaba”? Sammy repeated?
The humidity in the air made it that much harder to breath…which is what my body really wanted me to focus on… but I managed to say “On your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness”.
This confused the boy. A quick look over and he resembled “Mongo” from “Blazing Saddles”… In my head I hear Alex Karras saying “Mongo just pawn in game of life”…
The EVOO has now drenched my shirt and I feel like I am jogging in a waxed cotton duster coat. The heat and humidity is oppressive. I plod on. I really want to finish the loop without stopping.
“What’s total confluence”? asked Sam, pulling me back to reality.
“Consciousness”, I corrected him. “Basically it means that when you die you’ll understand everything you need to know”. Right about then I needed to make it another half mile without listening to my screaming legs. I just needed to keep putting one foot in front of the other…
Cue the music…enter stage left the Winter Warlock from the Rankin Bass animated Christmas special “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” Next thing you know I have Mickey Rooney and Keenan Wynn singing “…and soon you’ll be walking ‘cross the floor…oor…orrrr!”
Really. This is the soundtrack of my life.
“Dad, once I’m dead, what good is understanding everything”? Sam asked as he darted up ahead only to run slow motion until I pass, then to darting on up ahead again.
“You’re mocking me aren’t you”? With that he giggles and sprints the last couple of houses to where Kimm is waiting for us with some water.
Sam’s ease of doing something that I struggled through, coupled with his hare-like running style that taunted my slow and steady tortoise-like pace made me realize why tigers eat their young. I also realized that he served a tremendous distraction to me and kept me from listening to my body wanting to stop and walk. I really owed the kid a debt of graditude.
As I finished in front of my house, I hear the Winter Warlock again “One foot in front of the other…and soon you’ll be walking out the dooooooorrrrrrr”!
I had made it. A bottle of water, a hug , and kiss were my rewards. Sam proudly announced that he had “won the race with Dad”. Kimm let him know it wasn’t really a race and that we both were winners for getting out and exercising.
In my head, the Winter Warlock agreed…”Hey, I’m not such a loser after all”!
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