I Ran

Among the small but determined group of folks who've run every Falmouth Road Race, I've heard there's some dissension as to what actually constitutes running the race. Does it count if you walk the entire way? Does it count if you use crutches?
There's a lot of pressure for them to stay in the game. Can't you see these guys a decade from now? All of them being pushed on gurneys for seven miles just to hang on to their bragging rights.
There are the select few who have run the Falmouth Race all 36 years and counting and then there's the rest of us who have all run a handful of races, but I wonder how many members of the Falmouth Track Club have never run the Falmouth Road Race? Probably not too many. The pressure to run Falmouth and thereby take advantage of those guaranteed numbers set aside for town residents, often proves to be too much. Even ordinary non-runners get caught up in the moment, saying to themselves, "I really want to run it, just once." Then they go out and do just that, breaking their streak without even knowing it.
Giving credit for not running the Falmouth Road Race should be like playing 10 numbers in Keno. Because the odds are against it, it pays out if none of your numbers come up.
There was at least one staunch nonconformist at Courtney and Carolyn's post race party who has weathered the peer pressure and managed, year in and year out, to sit out the most famous race in town.
My hat's off the Steve who knows how to just say no. Thanks for watching my kids while I went for that second (and third) glass of wine.

song: I Ran • artist: A Flock of Seagulls