Sharing the Road

As you can see, I am not a very consistent blogger.  I have been running. Oh yes. I'm just not blogging.  There is not much steam in my stride. I find blogging to be harder than jogging!  My last entry was in November of last year.  Enough excuses .  . . Great run the other day! One of those runs that feels good once you get going. It was cloudy, cold and windy.  So the first few minutes was filled with thoughts of, “What?  Why am I doing this?  It is cold and windy and it is so warm back at home.”  But I remembered that the first 5 minutes are always the hardest.  I was rewarded with a very nice run through my old neighborhood west of Massachusetts.

I miss running those streets.  And I miss my neighbors.  One family in particular . . . the Mitchells.  And coincidently, my neighbor was driving down the street as I was running toward my old home.  I finally got a wave in Lemon Grove.  It was Graham Mitchell.  Yes, that Graham Mitchell.  Our illustrious City Manager. A great guy, and a great City Manager with a great family. And my new hero.  Follow the link to a Lemon Grove Patch article and you’ll see why.

(http://lemongrove.patch.com/articles/running-lemon-grove-gives-city-mana...)

We both endeavored to run all the streets in Lemon Grove. The article says that, “Stapleton’s running sparked something in Mitchell.”  I would use the word “ignited” rather than “sparked.”  Graham took on the challenge full force.  He saw it as a worthy and important goal to embark on and he went after it relentlessly. I saw it simply as something novel and didn’t tackle it with the gusto that he did.  I still really think it is important for me to encourage the community to live an active life style. And I am glad I took on this challenge to raise Lemon Grove’s awareness of the HEAL Zone.  But I’ve lost sight of my goal.  I’ve been running a lot in the mean time, just not in Lemon Grove. 

I started running the streets on August 10, 2012 and Graham started shortly after in mid-August. If I am not mistaken, by the end of January 2013 Graham had finished.  What am I doing? I am still running the streets with several miles to go!  Thanks for your example, Mr. Mitchell! I tip my hat to you Graham.  It really is quite an achievement and I hope you congratulate him the next time you see him.  He deserves props, shout-outs and kudos. Thanks, Graham, for showing me, showing us, the way.  I am following in your foot steps. Come join us Lemon Grove. The road is wide. There is room for everyone. We are sharing the road. 

Stay tuned. My next jog-blog will be up soon.  After all, the trail has been blazed.  It is “clear sailing” from here on.