The morning of May 10th was a busy and exciting morning for me. It was the first group run for the Patrick Henry Half Marathon Team, and a few of us decided to run 5 miles before the 5 mile training run (10+ miles total). This year, we added a group that runs out of the Patrick Henry YMCA in Ashland. This is my second year of coaching the team. We had pretty good weather, although there was a threat of rain. We have a very enthusiastic group of coaches and runners, and the first run went well.

After the training run was over, I hurried to downtown Richmond where the Race for a Cure events were going on. I had to run about a half mile to get where my family was because of road closures. My wife and sister had gotten the whole family together to participate in the event. It was a big surprise to my Mom when they all showed-up (including Jill's parents and aunt) wearing pink t-shirts with her picture on them and the words “I'm walking for my mother (or other relationship) Jean Grant – 10 year cancer survivor”. They had told her they were going to watch the grandkids run in a race. I missed the races, but got down there (with my pink shirt) in time to take a few pictures.

After the race, we headed to Carytown for an early lunch. I persuaded the family into visiting The Road Runner running store. I had heard that Bill Rodgers (4 time winner of the Boston Marathon) was going to be there to help celebrate The Road Runner's 25th anniversary. He was also going to be taking short runs with local runners that wanted to join him. We milled around the store for a while as others were talking to Bill (we're on a first name basis now). I never have really sought after autographs from anyone, but decided to buy a running shirt & have him autograph the back for me. He asked about my running and was really a nice guy. Jill told him I was shooting for my 3rd marathon in 3 months to qualify for the Marathon Maniacs (more on that in the next blog entry). He said he had done 58 marathons, but didn't run marathons anymore.

We left the shop, and I told Jill I'd like to go for a run with Bill, she said sure. While most people have probably never heard of Bill Rodgers, he was a legend to me. Probably the greatest American Marathoner of “my time”. I quickly took my stuff back to the truck, hurried back to the running shop. When I got there, Bill was gone. I asked Thom, the owner, where he went, and he said “oh, they just left for a run, go down that street you can catch them”. Me catching Bill Rodgers??? I ran out of the store and down a cross street from Cary Street. After a short time, I could see a group of runners about a quarter mile ahead of me. I ran faster, but every time I would get kinda close, I would have to stop for traffic. I finally made it to Bryd Park and caught the group. Bill said “hey”, and I told him I would have a story to tell the grandchildren “The Day I ran down Bill Rodgers, 4-time winner of the Boston Marathon”. He laughed.

I think Bill said he was 60 years old, but he looked younger than me (and I'm 27 ;>). He still ran with a bounce of greatness in his stride. He told some great stories in the 3 miles we ran. It's maybe hard to explain to non-runners, but the experience was something like throwing the ball around with Nolan Ryan for baseball fans, or cooking with Martha Stewart for a cooking enthusiast. I wore my autographed running shirt at my last marathon (next blog post coming soon) and got a lot of comments from other runners, some even got to hear the abbreviated version of the story I will be telling my grandchildren, although by then, Bill will have been 2 miles ahead of me and still just as fast as he ever was (you know how the stories get better with years).

See ya on the streets,
Tom