Started yesterday in Bryant, drove through torrential rain to Arkadelphia (man, I need new tires) for Mr. Nelson's funeral, then back to Fort Smith. Got in a late run at the track, just an easy 6 with strides thrown in.
One of the speakers at the funeral invited us to imagine the inside of the store. Boy, that brought back some memories, since I spent a lot of time in that store. I still like hanging out in sporting goods stores, and Southwest Sporting Goods is why. My running career really began in that store, I guess. The track shoes I wore at AJHS came from there. So did my sweats and singlets and warmups and jockstraps...
But more than that, Red Nelson was just a good, friendly, decent man. You could see why he built such good relationships with his customers. I'm glad I got to know him, and it's obvious that where his kids were concerned, the fruit didn't fall far from the tree.
So what did I do last night after my run? Went to a sporting goods store and bought some sweatbands. Red would have preferred I buy them from him, but I think he'd understand.
Boston's getting closer. I need to call and make one more change to our Sunday night reservation, but that will be it. Down to about 40 days. Dad wants me to back off my training afterward. I'll probably take some time off, but I don't think I'll back off all that much. Enough to have some time hopefully for a love life, though. | 