Father's Day Run

I ran 3 miles today with my brother in law and it felt great. I called my dad today, which was hard given the prognosis on his new line of treatment. But the run and this photo made me get past thoughts of cancer and cheer up. Here's a shot from back in the day:

This is me looking over my shoulder at my dad during a race sponsored by Emily's Across the Street in downtown Detroit. Emily Gail was a an entrepreneur and activist in the city when I was a kid in the 1970s. One of my favorite things to do when my dad would take me downtown to visit his office was to go to Emily's shop. I remember she was always there--she coined the phrase "Say Nice Things About Detroit" and was a real champion for the city. I knew this even as a young kid. Her shop was filled with lots of novelty items. I have a particular memory of these popular "kitchen witch" stuffed witches that people bought as gifts. Lots of the Kliban "Cat" stuff (Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head is still my favorite cartoon book).

A couple of interesting things date this picture. First, you can clearly see my dad's Department of Justice running shorts. He has a great USA sleeveless jersey (a good pun, since he was a United States Attorney--USA for short--at the time). I am wearing a WRIF D.R.E.A.D. shirt. I remember begging one of my dad's assistants, Lenny Gilman, to take me out to get this shirt. This means it was probably around 1979 and my folks were going through a divorce.

Also dig my dad's shoes. Those are New Balance shoes, and they've just re-issued that model as part of a vintage line of running sneakers.

Below is a shot of me wearing the shirt from that race:

That shirt must date the picture--not sure when the 3rd Annual race was held, but it must have been 1979 or 1980.

The D.R.E.A.D. shirt has its own back story. WRIF was a popular rock and roll radio station in Detroit (still is). They ran a popular anti-disco campaign with membership cards. It was easy for an 11 year-old kid to get caught up in such a thing. Here are some snaps of DREAD cards being auctioned on eBay right now:



So this Father's Day I am transported back to 30 years ago; my mom was alive, my Dad didn't have cancer, and a nice woman named Emily Gale held a 3rd Annual run where I got my picture taken with my dad in Detroit.

Back to that run, I was really surprised that I was able to do it. I suppose it makes sense--I've been working my way up gradually. Steve ran 1.5 miles to my house and we went out for the 3 miler, then he ran the 1.5 home. We kept a reasonable pace, doing the 3 miles in under 29 minutes, which means about 9.5 minutes per mile--not bad for where I am right now. But I am happier that I finished without wanting to bail. We'll see how the run with Bill goes tomorrow at work. I hope to get stronger and stronger.