Autumn Breeze

Martha has run this early-October race in the Tallulah Gorge twice, if I remember correctly, but I had never run it before today.  I always seemed to be nearing the end of a marathon training program this time of year, with a 20-mile run the day before, and remember standing at the finish line taking her photo and feeling a little rueful not to be enjoying what she described as the most beautiful course she has ever run.  But there will be no marathon this year, and it was a fine day, leaves just starting to turn, temperatures in the low 70s and a little cloud cover, too - just perfect conditions.  The setting is indeed gorgeous, and the course follows the shore of Tallulah Lake and then a paved Greenway through the woods.

These days I am running according to that aging runner's dictum, "The older I get, the faster I was."  Slowed by the uneven path and its branches under the pavement, I ran a minute or so slower than expected (but still faster than my last race) and more importantly I felt strong all the way through the 5 kilometers, a first this year, I think.  It is indeed a good feeling to improve after an injury, to feel strength returning, as I have recorded in the pages of this blog.

While I passed a few younger runners (always a satisfying experience at my age!), I could not catch several others, including an amazing little boy who had no legs - no legs! - who was propelling himself forward by swinging rhythmically side by side on a little three-wheeled platform, pushed up the hills by his Dad who was running with him - truly incredible!  And as I neared the finish, I heard the sound of runners coming up behind me on both sides, left and right, and although I held on gamely I could not fend off two younger runners catching me at the line.  Martha took this classic photo:

"We are not now that strength which in old days

Moved earth and heaven;

That which we are, we are." - Tennyson