Quote of the Week...from John Bingham

If you run, you are a runner.  It doesn't matter how fast or how far.  It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years.  There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get.  You just run.                             ---John Bingham

John Bingham is a marathon runner...now in his 70s...who has promoted marathon and distance running for the masses, stressing the activity itself and not competitiveness in races.  He and his followers have been dubbed "penguins" because of their slowness and tendency to take walking breaks in the middle of races.  Some in the sport object to its growing appeal to slower runners, but I believe they're not thinking this out correctly.  In order for a sport's championship to mean anything, it is important that underneath that excellence is a mountain of lower achievers...a sport that no one engages in is one whose elite is the elite...of what?!!  Running is an activity you just need some good shoes to invest in and...you're a participant!  Some of my more memorable runs have just been me stepping out my front door and going off on long runs up and down the streets of my neighborhood and those nearby.  I don't try to run fast...and if I feel like it, I'll take a minute or so here and there and walk a bit.   As for races, like Bingham I'm getting along in years and don't see me making the local news for excelling in my age category in a race even if I trained with winning them as my primary goal.  My priority when running in a race is first to finish it and second to maintain a pace in line with my level of practice...besides that I'm just there to savor the experience.  So Bingham and I are in total agreement with our running philosophies...neither of us need to prove anything to anybody else, and if others don't like running slowly, then who's forcing them to?  If they don't like my strategy in a race, then they can dang well pay my entry fee for me before telling me how to run...