Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Running, Men and women of my time (3)

 Today’s automobile:

 1954 Merc,  Brand new when the 4 minute mile mark was broken.

 Some thoughts for today:

Exercise is popular today.  We see many walkers and runners in our neighborhoods now-a-days.  It causes me to look back to my youth.  At 17 I ‘placed’ about 4th or 5th in my outfits’ competition at Camp Geiger.   That was the 440 run. I have never ran miles and miles in competition.

We are proud to say our Granddaughter Sherece ran marathons that included, rope climbing, walls, mud and water. ALSO Grandson Joshua still runs today and has run in road marathons over 25 miles. Even as a Marine 5 miles is the most I have run.

This subject brought the name of a famous man in my lifetime from Great Brittan, Roger Bannister! He made world headlines when he broke the 4 minute mile, a goal most thought would never be made. But in 1954 these were the headline news:

 Bannister, who was running for the Amateur Athletic Association against his alma mater, Oxford University, won the mile race with a time of 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds.

Since then over 1600 runners have been challenged to try, and have broken thru that barrier.

Our family cannot forget Sherry’s brother Vernon, Retired Green Beret. He loved to run. One day he did something normal for him. He told Janet (his wife) Which road he was going to run, she was to watch the clock and in a ½ hour she was to drive and catch him. He ran for 2-3 hours before she drove up in a neighbor’s car. He had the car keys in his pocket, and was WORN OUT!  A story that lived with him the rest of his life of course, he loved it.

NiteShipslog

PS:  wise quote:

When looking for wise words, the best ones often come from our elders. 

Catherine Pulsifer

4 comments:

Mevely317 said...

Those who run (on purpose!) totally amaze me. Even as a girl, when we'd have to run laps in P.E. I'd get stitches in my side.
Vernon's story is SO funny. Thank you for the belly laugh!

betty said...

Good for Sherece for the races she does! They sound hard to do! I used to enjoy running (not necessarily racing) when I was younger. I just ran to run, not to win any prizes :) I do admire those that can run really fast and really well!

betty

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

I never was much of a runner, but I loved to go for walks. These days even that is limited. I rely on my walker whenever I'm on my feet very long or have to walk a ways. Walking is wonderful excercise and it helps us to think better too. So many times, I walked my way through some tough problems. They say we all sit too much these days and I'm trying to less of that.

Glenda said...

What a wonderful post!!! Love that Merc and the Vernon story made me smile big!!! Love and hugs from Chobee, Glenda