Every running first is welded into our minds in detail, the first time we consciously set out to go for a run, the first running event we entered, the first time we ran farther or raced farther than ever before ... I find these first time memories popping up from time to time, usually while on the run when some feeling, sight or whatever takes me back.

I was giving this some conscious thought on the run yesterday while I was running the 10K course for this Saturday's Canton Liberty Festival Run for the first time. For sure there will be many running their first 5K or 10K this weekend and I was thinking how the course would look and be remembered by them, the pre race nerves, the surface of the road, the weather, the look of the neighborhood, etc. Doing this brought a flood of running memories to me, a cathartic feeling not quite explainable. It struck me that each run we go on connects us to every run we've ever been on and even future runs we have planned, connected both physically through the training effect and mentally with our thoughts and feelings. Dang this is a cool sport!

May your run be a magical mystery trip to the center of your mind,

--Randy Step, an obsessed runner diggin' the dj vu...