Runner Insight

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Just the other day I went for a 6 mile run…in my shorts! It’s December in Montana, and I was running in my shorts. Well, it was 45F degrees out. I had just read an e-mail that said “If you are wearing a parka and shorts at the same time, you might live in Montana.” How true that statement really is.

On my way back home from my run that day, I was waiting to cross the busy intersection. Just as I got done pushing the crossing light button, a car pulled up to make a right turn on red, and I got a whiff of what smelled like a very old car. I was immediately transported back in time to a hot, muggy summer day in 1969. Our family had taken a cross country trip in a station wagon from Montana to visit my dad’s relatives in
Daytona Beach, FL.

My Uncle Earl was an auto mechanic, and my younger brother and I discovered an old beat up car in the lot behind his shop. The car was rusting out and filthy, the seat coverings were tattered and almost non existent, but we didn’t care. All we saw was the opportunity to do something we had never done before: drive a car!

We sat in it and pushed in the clutch using every muscle in our spindly little legs, and shifted the gears, pretending to drive around town and out to the beach. Imagine how much fun this was for a 6 and 5 year old. Very Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for us.

Then the wind shifted, and I got a whiff of the Christmas tree lot across the street. Like magic, I was transported back to the corner of the busy intersection where I was standing. Breathing deep through my nose, the smell of the evergreens made me aware of that feeling of Christmas and holidays for the first time this year. Standing there in my shorts, it almost made me wish for snow…Almost…

All this time and emotion travel took place in less then 5 seconds here on the ground. I couldn’t help but marvel at how just the slightest smell could bring about such powerful responses: memories so vivid and strong. I love it when that happens!

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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Tags: blind runner, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Christmas, cross country, Daytona Beach, disabled athlete, Montana, run, Runner, Running, running shorts, Vision, Vision Runner, winter

This entry was posted on Friday, December 19th, 2008 at 3:58 am and is filed under Montana, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.