Younger

It's been a long time since I've posted twice in one day.  Maybe I'm inspired by the fact that I'm having a beer - well, a second beer - for the first time in, oh, six months.  I'm certainly not a teetotaler, not by a long shot.  It's just that my drink of choice is a good bourbon or a heavy cabernet.  Not beer, which is a whole different story.  

This morning, as I drove home from coffee at Sump, catching up with my baseball friend, Gavin O'Heir, I saw JP running down West End Avenue.  Shirt off.  Ripped, not an ounce of fat on his body, six pack abs, the whole deal.  I guess that's what eight days running at altitude will in Boulder, CO, will do for you.  My son, my guy, putting the work in on a summer morning in early July, when the temperature was already on the wrong side of 90 degrees.  

JP looked amazing.  Youth.  Peak form.  Just getting it done.  I honked at him and he waved at me, nonchalantly, seemingly locked into the zone you get in sometimes, as a runner, when it all feels right and life makes perfect sense.  Running.

I drove around the neighborhood as I finished by call with Gavin.  It was nice to get caught up.  I miss sitting with him at baseball games at baseball fields all over middle Tennessee, watching our sons play baseball.  His son, Gavin, is playing for Harris Baseball Club again.  JP is not playing baseball this summer, instead focusing on running and getting ready for a run at the state title in cross country this fall.  

As I sat in my truck in front of our house, I saw JP go flying by me, finishing his workout with a series of sprints on Linden Avenue.  I got out of my truck and just watched him, as he ran three of four more sprints.  He looked invincible.  It was inspiring.  Sweat glistening off his torso as he ran by me, his face a mask of intense concentration.  Straining with effort but not too much, because he's in such good shape.  

It was beautiful moment and one I want to always remember.