Last night I received a phone call from my buddy Tristan
seeking my help. Now knowing Tristan since I was three (always getting each other into some type of trouble), I could only image what type of
ridiculous thing he had in-store for me. Could it be another request to help
him move to some far away land with no idea of where to live, nothing packed on
the moving day, and no truck to transport his belongings (he really thought
that one out) or maybe it would be another request to start a ‘Wham’ tribute
band? Whatever the scenario, I was bound to end up doing some crazy with the
hopes of it at least being legal.
To my complete and utter shock, Tristan (being very serious)
asked me to help him get ready for his first road race. Needless to say, when he
said he was running in a race I almost fell out of my chair. Holding back the
urge to laugh out loud, I asked him to repeat himself in order to make sure I
heard him correctly and to my amazement, he repeated his request.
Now before you judge me poorly for wanting to laugh at
Tristan for entering a race, let’s just say he is not your typical
cardiovascular guy. A smoker for the past 15 years, Tristan is more of a gym
rat with a hint of resemblance to ‘Mr. Clean.’ I’m pretty sure his forearm is
the size of my calf! But that is beside the point…
On Saturday, June 27th, Tristan will be running
in the Jimi Gubelli – 5k Walk/Run in Island Park. I share this with everyone
because it made me think about how/why I started running. It's been a
little more than 2 1/2 years since I walked out my front door and ran that unforgettable 1/2 mile (I had to walk back home). Obviously blessed with
terrible feet for running, leading to numerous injuries, I am amazed that I’ve devoted so much time in this sport. I remember calling
Tristan and telling him that I could go out one night because I had to wake up
early to go for a run. I believe his response was something like ‘What! Running? Are you
dying from some fatal disease?’
So now it is his turn to jump on the bandwagon and start running. I am excited that Tristan is deciding to lace up his
sneakers (I’ll make sure he is not running in basketball sneakers). I do not expect great things from him nor do I expect him to decide to
run on a regular basis but it’s awesome to hear him talk about
running/training. I will certainly be on hand for this race (maybe running in
it), supporting my good friend. I doubt I will be able to hold back my laughter
though! To be honest, this might be his craziest idea to-date – crazier than
the time when we were 14 years old and he tried to get into a New York City bar
with a 45 year-old African-American male (named Jamal) ID.
For more details about the race, visit http://jimigubellifoundation.org/.