Quote of the Week...from Jeff Galloway

Being an athlete is a state of mind not bound by age, performance or place in the running pack.
                                                                  ---Jeff Galloway

One thing that you probably noticed upon reading the above quote by Jeff Galloway, himself a longtime runner who has achieved personal success in marathon races and who encourages and teaches others from the general population who want to complete a 26.2 mile race for themselves, is that his definition of "athlete" is confined to the sport of competitive running.  I'm sure, though, that Galloway, many of whose precepts about running I follow and who seems like a thoughtful, reasonable sort, would normally expand "athlete" to encompass the world of sport in general...although when ESPN shows poker games I draw a sharp line there.  Some people who otherwise could physically and medically participate in athletic sports are prevented from running...sometimes they have issues with their knees or feet, or example.  These can transfer Galloway's statement to another activity, be it swimming, biking, or maybe something more team-oriented.  Although I do not enter running races with the primary goal of beating others, even my finishing time is increasingly secondary to actually covering the distance successfully.  And maybe it's ironic that I'm like that, since in the last two races I finished this past spring I won awards for best finisher in my male/age category...then again I was the ONLY finisher in the category for each race!  I consider myself to be an athlete, not only with running but also with walking.  That's also good, since as I age (I'm 63 now), barring medical developments to the contrary, I intend to continue running and walking as long as I can do so.  On November 10th I plan to run the Tom Walker Memorial Half-Marathon to be held at 8 AM at Boulware Springs Park in southeastern Gainesville...

As long as I'm writing about running and this is the first day of November, here is my running report for the previous month.  In October I ran for a total of 139 miles, with 13.3 miles being my longest single run.  I missed running for two days in the month, and during that time I was walking considerably, including a hike along a Georgia mountain trail with Melissa.  All considered, a pretty good month for my running/walking.  Looking forward to see what happens this coming month...