For many years, it has been my habit to run on this first day of the year, even in the most extreme conditions. From 2004 through 2020, that run was part of an annual event called the New Year’s Resolution Run hosted by the Highlands Roadrunners Club, which officially ended in 2020 (largely due to Covid). It was surprising how many runners and walkers would show up on January 1. One year it was so icy that a handful of us tip-toed very carefully down Main Street in the sun and back. But at least it was a run, and at least it indicated our dedication. Or what my sensible wife would call “Not Right in the Head.”
I have photos that long-time friend and HRC member Bob Sutton faithfully took for every one of those years. It is poignant to look at those photos now, all of us older, some of us gone forever. Here is the photo from 2004. That is Richard Tankersley, third from the left in the rear, and (perhaps) Don Paulk, second from the left, both of them dead now. I am in the center, with daughter Katy in front of me. And to the left of her is Morris, and Vicki and Thalley in front of him – the four of us still run on Saturdays. But we no longer look as young.
Here is the photo from 2020, only two months before Covid shut the whole world down and we discontinued the event. I’m in the rear toward the left. Brian and his dog Jaxon, kneeling on the right, still run with us on Saturdays.
I did not take a photo this morning because I was the only one who showed up. It was windy and cold, and I encountered only two or three others out walking and running, all of them strangers to me, visiting Highlands for the holidays. I completed only two miles, but they were filled with gratitude, and with the memories of past Resolution Runs and all of those other runners and walkers who were Not Right in the Head. And then I returned home and entered my mileage in my new running log. That brings my total mileage up to 33,628.
Siempre adelante, nunca atrás – always forward, never back.
