Bill Rodgers and Good-byes

Today, there are two things on my mind:  A conversation I had yesterday with Bill Rodgers about running and running shoes, and saying good-bye.

First: Yesterday, my fiancée, my friend, and I went to Boston to a high school classmate.  It's also convenient to go to the Bill Rodgers Running Center when I'm in Boston because they sell racing flats which are hard to come by.  Lo and behold, Bill Rodgers* himself was tending the store and I tried on the shoes that I had had in mind and ended up buying them.  I commented to him that flats were very hard to find and he sighed and said that flats don't sell very well because people aren't as interested in becoming very competitive in racing.  He mentioned that more people run, but fewer and fewer people are getting to the point where they need flats.

It brought me back to the last time that I had gone looking for flats at a different running store.  I had called ahead to ask if they had flats, which they assured me they did.  When I arrived, I was taken back to a wall of spikes (for racing on the track or on a cross-country course).  After attempting to communicate exactly what I wanted, I was shown waffles ("spike-less spikes") and minimalist shoes.  I told them that they didn't have what I was looking for and started to leave and the owner came over and asked me what I was looking for and took me back to the minimalist shoes.  I finally managed to get out, but I was disappointed that people who sell running shoes for a living no longer know what shoes go with what races.

In any case, talking to Bill Rodgers about the fall of competitive, "club level" road racing in the United States was disappointing.  I think that it's cool that running is so democratic, that I can interact normally with one of the most decorated American runners in history, but it's sad that he has to witness the decline of the US from world power in running to a mere mid-packer.

Today, I said goodbye to my co-workers at my work-study job.  I have worked there since freshman year and have seen a lot of changes happen.  People came and went, but they all cared for me and took an interest in how I was doing.  It was a little embarrassing (in a good way) when they told my family how helpful I've been, but I'm happy that that's the way I was embarrassed.  I learned so much from working there and met a great number of very important people that I won't ever forget.  I owe them so much, but the funny thing is that they got ME gifts!  I am going to wish for two things: that my future co-workers are as good to me as they were and that I can be as good to other people as people have been good to me.  Saying good-bye is hard!

-Lane

*Bill Rodgers is basically the Tom Brady of American distance running.  Hero of Boston and all that.