—–Why do I love to run so many races each year?? Because of the people I meet and the stories that come with them. Here are some examples. These pictures were taken at the Talking Turkey 6 miler in Holyoke, Ma. on the weekend after Thanksgiving 2010.
—–Pam is a new friend that I met in the crowd as we were all waiting for the starting gun. With 1100 people and a narrow road to start on we had time to chat a bit until she jumped ahead of me with the widening of the course. A mile or so out I could see her up ahead of me. All of a sudden she stopped and began walking along the trail. I thought she might have injured herself. At least until she walked into the woods, apologised to the runners, dropped trough behind a very skinny tree and got rid of some extra liquid weight.
—-I ran past and figured I wouldn’t see her again til the finish, since she had made this unexpected pit stop. BUT, you guessed it, a few minutes later she when bounding by me. When we did meet up after the race, she said she was thankful I didn’t carry my camera while running the races.
—–Norm is a long time, great friend. He competes in a few of the races that I do and it’s always fun to talk to him and catch up on many parts of our lives. Someday soon I want to get a picture of him and his son and let you see a great father/ son team. Which is another reason I love the world of running.
—–Suzanne, this is a woman who does so many races-and hard ones-yet stays so humble. When I do see her, I love to tell people of her talent and give her the props she deserves.
—–Then there are the quiet legends. Jim(white shirt) and I are pictured with Tommy Leonard. This man has been running and organizing runs since before I was old enough to understand what running was. Tommy organized the race we had ust finished. This was the 31st year and had raised tons of money for the city and charities. Tommy also organized some of the Falmouth races and many others for decades. Yet, if someone didn’t tell you his back round you would never know the legendary person that he is.
—–This was the 3rd time I’ve run this race, also my 3rd Thanksgiving race of 2010, and it has always been a great event so you can enjoy the holiday a little bit more.