January 21st 2009.

Mom would've been 83 today.

When we were young summer wasn't defined by barricading oneself in a bedroom surrounded by every gizmo known to man. Cell phones, PSP, playstaion, XBOX, ipods. Back then the only thing that was instant were Polaroid pictures, today everything is. To Generation Text the Sun is something viewed best from a window or on a digital device.
 
I think the only time we stayed inside was to play paper football. So many summer days were filled with Dennis  & I saying bye to our mother and heading off to one of our sisters houses. This wasn't done by car or bike, nope we did it the old fashioned way, we walked. This would have taken most of the day and was approximately 14-20 miles in distance depending on our destination. We'd usually spend the night there and then be driven back on Sunday. I think our mother was trying to get rid of us.
 
I'm sure this had some impact towards distance running. "Hey, we could get there faster if we ran", never actually did though, was all too happy to scamper at a walkers pace. I can't remember how often we did this but I think it was quite a lot. We walked everywhere.

There are times that Nancy & myself are driving somewhere and I'll say " I remember Dennis & I walking here" and she'll say "This is like 20 miles from Streetsboro" and I'll say "yep". This was life in Streetsboro.  

Mom was at my first marathon in 1986 and since I finished that one in 4:00:11, she was forced to come to my second one in 87 to see if I could break the 4 hour wall. I did, 3:36:??

Thanks for being there Mom.