Last night I put in some miles on the streets where my running passion first bloomed. It was the 35th anniversary run of the Redford, now Northville, Road Runners Club. I headed out with many members of the same crew I ran with 35 years before. Admittedly, we looked like caricatures of those young, fast, punks of old but as the pace quickened and the break-away groups formed, the same old running magic was there. I jumped into a pack I thought I could hang with and as we put the hammer down and got into a groove, I felt we were in a running time machine. Sure, I was working as hard as I did back then at a pace a couple minutes per mile slower, but unless I looked at a watch, that seemed pretty irrelevant. Dig it.
May we run forever,
Randy Step, an admitted obsessed runner who knows only too well that life can turn on a dime and running does not give us any type of immortality. Yes, it's not about how long we live but how we live each precious day. Tonight I returned from a funeral home where one of Michigan's most fun, caring, giving gracious and competitive athletes, Karen Perzyk, KP, age 49, lay dead, just 8 weeks after her cancer diagnosis and just a few months after running a world class time in a full Ironman Triathlon. RIP Karen, and thanks for showing us how to live life fully to the end.