which, when pursued, is
always beyond our grasp,
but which, if you will sit down
quietly, may alight upon you."
Nathaniel Hawthorne
"All men should try to learn,
before they die, what they are
running from, and to,
and why."
Unknown author, Chinese Fortune Cookie.
Both these sayings are in the start of a wonderful new book, "In the Long Run" by Jim Axelrod, a CBS news correspondent.
Not to ruin the plot, but in 2008, while covering Hilary Clinton's run for the White House, Axelrod feels himself being pushed out of a job at CBS. At the same time a friend emails him Axelrod's father's times in the NYC Marathon when Axelrod's father was 44, 45, and 46. With his father having passed on, and Axelrod not even close to being in shape to run around the block, Axelrod, age 46, decides, on the spur of the moment, to run his first marathon. And for good measure, he decides to beat his father's best time: sub 3:30, which means averaging sub 8 minute miles for all 25 miles.
It's a great read.
Welcome back. We hope your holiday weekend was a great one (even yours angry gurl).
See you in court, our marathoning days having passed us by (we never ran one, and we never will.)
Can we finally put an end to hip hop weekend. It's getting old when friends want to visit me in south beach but I can't have them over bc I have to stay in a Miami hotel. Nothing racist, but take a look at the beach in the after math - shootings, vandalism garbage everywhere. It's an embarassment to our city.
ReplyDeleteA real tribute to our men and women in uniform. I'm sure they are impressed
Gotta love the ACLU stating were a " tourist city and should embrace tourists". Tourists are great. Tourists that destroy restaurants, shoot each other, walk out on their bill, and destroy the city aren't tourists; they are a-holes
ReplyDeleteIf I owned a hotel I'd board it up, hire security guards , and perform " yearly maintenance". No way I'm opening my business that I sunk all my money in so some out of towners can trash it. Not to mention hip hop is crap music
Let's invite the Hanson brothers next year. Mmm bop seems a little more benign than songs involving the degradation of women and shooting eachother
I think I saw Early Sweatshirt over the weekend.
ReplyDeleteRumpole is having to eat his words about the Miami Heat. He better hope that the Heat lose the championship series so he can have at least some measure of vindication.
ReplyDeleteWhen my Grandfather was diagnosed with incurable cancer in 1985 I made the same commitment-to run a marathon before he died. I did. 4hrs 30 mins. What an accomplishment. 2011-grandpa still alive. WTF?
ReplyDeleteHave you seen how those "hip hop" people drive on I-95?
ReplyDeleteBlack guys in fancy cars doing 100+ and cutting people off left and right.
It makes good black people look bad.
"in the long run we are all dead"
ReplyDeletejohn maynard keynes
no gun in the car and no gun on the body? where is the gun?
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember Rumpole two years ago saying that he (or she) was going to run the New York Marathon one last time before his (or her) hips made distance running impossible.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, when I drive, I wish I had a photon torpedo launcher on the roof of my car. Then, I could vaporize people that drive bad. I don't care what color they are. Or what music they listen to. That would be sweet.
ReplyDeleteI'm a local black lawyer(under 30) and I was absoultely disgusted with how many of my "brothers" acted this past weekend but, I saw the video and it looks like the cops killed a guy for no good reason.
ReplyDeleteI think I will leave town next year for Memorial Day weekend.
To 3:20-
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear four grandfather screwed you like that. I suppose the least he could have done was to die once you crossed the finish line.
But seriously, making that commitment to run marathons when confronted with difficult times happens often.
My brother began marathoning when his daughter died as a result of infantile leukemia. He has run a minimum of 3 marathons a year, since her death. He runs for the Leukemia Society, raises money for them, and trains other runners in his area. Being very lazy myself, I just make a donation every time he runs a marathon. It is his goal to run a marathon in every state in the US.
To 3:21-
ReplyDeleteThe obvious fix to this problem is to go back to the good old days when black people were not permitted to drive, huh? Besides when a black person is driving a nice car, they tend to get uppity, don't they?
Idiot.
Rumpy, you are on the bandwagon with the rest of America about the Heat! Will you apologize after they win the championship? You suck!
ReplyDeleteAll the locals leave South Beach for Memorial Day, locally visited businesses too. It's the drill.
ReplyDelete