JIMMY,
THE RUNNING MAN
(A
Story of Triumph at the Arkansas Traveller 100)
Chapter
one.......
He sat quietly in the cab of his pick-up.
The smoke from his half spent cigarette curled from his hand and twisted
to escape through the crease in his sliding rear window.
The new spring sun that had shown so dimly just months before now blinded
him as he studied a sheet of paper. He
squinted and slowly mouthed the words he read, “The Arkansas Traveller 100.”
He had shyly accepted it from a scantily clad runner named Suzi.
He had seen her and her friends many times on the back roads.
He worked the roads, you see, picking up cans. Oh, he didn’t do it for the money, he had a wife.
Kate was a young school teacher in their small community, Perryton.
They had been high school sweethearts and married soon after graduation.
She with a gift for books; he with a gift for sports.
This was before things unraveled on him.
Now he didn’t spend much time at home.
He drove the back roads picking up cans and thinking about how things
should have been.
That’s how he met Suzi and her friends.
He had stopped at a lonely spot on a deserted road when a group of trail
runners dropped off the mountain side. He
wouldn’t have spoken but the cheerful one, Suzi, asked him if he had any extra
water. Jimmy was not an unfriendly
type, not even quiet to those who knew him.
But these people were different and he had felt uncomfortable with their
giddiness. After all, he had fallen
short several times in his 28 years and it haunted.
Somewhere he had taken a wrong turn in life. He was born of good stock.
His mother was strong; his father hard working.
He had won a football scholarship to State U and, with much fan fair and
promise, they left the farm for the city life.
I’m a “university man”, he proudly told Kate as he packed his truck
for the trip. But, by late fall he
was back home in Perryton, a victim of a freak football injury.
He moved back home with his family while Kate continued her education. Not a word was spoken. He
only sensed disappointment at an opportunity wasted and found solace in being
alone and staying on the road.
When the local Guard Unit was being formed, he and his remaining friends
went down to enlist. Not so much
for the pay but for the camaraderie. “I’m
a fighting man” and he proudly saluted Kate.
Three weeks later a letter arrived from Jimmy.
“Basic training has been tough but my football knee has been hurt
again”, he wrote, “They’re sending me back home.” Humiliated and hurt, the bus brought him back to Perryton.
After that first meeting with Suzi, he started to carry a water igloo in
the bed of his truck. It made him
feel important when he came upon these runner on his
back roads. They seemed to
appreciate the pause and refreshment. Over
time he learned their names: Suzi,
Max, Otis, Linda and Lou were just a few. He
even learned to identify them from a distance by how they looked while running.
Their trusting nature eventually put him at ease albeit from a distance.
On one such trip he was given the application that he now held in his
hand.
Taking another draw on his smoke he felt his life at a cross roads.
Should he continue his life of loneliness thinking about times when
things were good or take a step towards his new companions whom he barely knew.
Failing again would hurt too much. Thinking
about Kate he asked himself, “What would she want me to do?”
Taking one last look at the application he started his truck and put in
gear. Slowly he rolled down the
window and flicked his cigarette into a puddle of water by the side of the road.
Then he reached for his shirt pocket and brought out the remaining pack.
Crumpling it up, he thought to himself, “I’m a running man.”
Chapter
Two
(In our first chapter, Jimmy, a good man but one whose life has been filled with misfortune, meets Ultra Runners in the National Forest and decides to enter the Arkansas Traveller 100.)
When Kate heard the big news, she was both thrilled and apprehensive.
She had seen Jimmy this excited before.
College and he Guard, you know. But
she was not one to be negative and she gave him her blessing.
He respected that. This was the type of relationship they had.
Despite his short comings Kate always stood by her man.
Reading over the application for the tenth time, he still had four months
to prepare and to get up his entry fee. Selling
the pig was out of the question. (This
was an inside joke between he and Kate.) Oh
well, he thought, a way will be provided.
So early Monday morning before Kate had left for school, Jimmy was in his
pickup heading for the secluded roads of the national forest.
Going to be a running man! He
was very self conscious of his gym shoes, having seen the bright colored running
shoes of Suzi and Tom. That would
be another expense. Maybe the pig
will have to go after all, he laughed to himself.
The first morning out was not good.
After an hour he was tuckered and turned back.
Walking now he stopped along the road side and picked up cans and
deposited them in the bed of the truck when he finished.
Resting in a lawn chair he reflected on how far he had to go.
He settled on a training routine. His
plan was to run as far as he could then walk back to the truck trying to
increase the distance every time out. He figured if he was going to finish a 100 miler before the
cutoff, he must be able to run 30 miles without stopping too many times.
That was his goal. To run 30 miles on Labor Day.
The weeks of training solitude rolled by. His initial six mile run had now turned to 15 and he was
spending all day on the forest roads. Running
to his limit then walking on the return. Picking
up cans and road litter. In mid
June he finished his first 20 miler. Getting back to the truck he reached for a cool Pepsi and
unconsciously felt into his pocket for a cigarette. Boy, he missed his smoke.
But this was not the Jimmy he was back in the spring.
He now was Jimmy, the running man!
Over the 4th of July weekend, he took Kate out to show her his
training grounds. Passing by Lake
Sylvia camp grounds, he drove into the parking lot and there were the Traveller
crew, Suzi, Tom and the Gang. “YO,
Jimmy”, a bearded one yelled as Jimmy pulled to a stop.
Kate was a little uneasy at the scantily clad runners but she was soon
put at ease by their joking and helpful nature.
A balding one who later admitted he was an accountant, chided Jimmy about
the amount of aluminum cans he had in the bed of his truck.
“I bet you have enough aluminum for a new pair of Nike’s and your
Traveller entry fee.” A light
went off in Jimmy’s head. He knew
where the recycle center was in Perryton and he would be there the first thing
tomorrow. All the Traveller Gang
was interested in Jimmy’s training and at first he was reluctant to share it
feeling a little self conscious. But
once he told them they all seemed impressed and said that he was ahead of
schedule. He felt good about
himself and so did Kate. Soon they
departed but not before they had agreed to meet the following weekend for a
training run over a section of the Traveller course.
Jimmy and Kate laughed as they drove off about how the Gang frolicked at
throwing their cans in the bed of his truck.
Monday morning Jimmy had bought himself a new pair of Nike’s just like
the bearded one wore. “I’m
walking on springs,” Jimmy yelled to Kate and he bounced out of his truck.
Next Saturday would be the test, he thought.
At last Saturday came. Every
one was there and a few he had not seen before.
He met them all and they all seemed to be pulling for him.
Before the start a new one with a white goatee who seemed to be in charge
gave a trail briefing and explained the route and where the water was stashed.
As it turned out where they were going to run was the very spot where he
had been doing his training all along. His
confidence soared. With the run
underway, Jimmy ran! With his new
running shoes it never felt so good. He
crested the hills running with the thin guys then backed off to run with those
who were rather portly. This was
his test and he had made the grade! So
it went for the rest of the summer months.
Jimmy and his new running friends. After
the Labor Day run he noticed that the runners were quieter than usual.
Those who normally left early stayed and talked in hush tones.
Finally Suzi broke the ice. “Jimmy”,
she said, “we want to talk to you. You’ve
inspired us with your dedication and discipline.
We have all pitched in to give you a token of good luck for your race
coming next month.” She handed
Jimmy a neatly wrapped box. Opening
it, a tear of gratitude came into his eyes.
It was a running pack with two water bottles.
Just like he had seen the goateed trail briefer wear.
“We’ll be pulling for you at the Traveller”, Suzi said.
“You see we’re all Aid Station Captains or soon to be.
We’ll see to it that you have everything you need to get to the finish
line. You tell Kate that when the
starting gun sounds, she will not have to worry about a thing”. He would not let them down.
Not Jimmy, the running man.
Chapter
Three
(In
our first two chapters we meet Jimmy, a man of misfortune, who attempts to turn
his life around by finishing the Arkansas Traveller 100.)
Sleep had not come easy and when he awoke it took longer than usual to
clean the cobwebs from his mind. Three
A.M. will do that. He was thankful
that he had taken Suzi’s advice and had laid out his running clothes and
needed things the night before. The
drive to the start took a short 20 minutes but it gave him enough time to think
about all the things he had learned in the last four months.
Things like dropbags, water bottles, electrolytes, and pacing.
Things that he never knew existed. Suzi
and the ultra gang at Lake Sylvia had opened a new world to him.
Arriving at the start, the atmosphere was surreal.
There were bright lights blinking, generators humming, and runners
scurrying about carrying dropbags trying to check in.
Some of the runners were joking while others sat with glazed eyes
thinking about what lie ahead. Several
runners even asked Jimmy where the check in was, and the bathrooms and the
placement of the dropbags. Jimmy
who had been around the ultra gang all summer knew almost as much as an aid
station Captain himself and was able to tell them with confidence what he
didn’t know last year. There were
some last minute instructions by the goateed one that no one seemed to hear or
pay attention to. Jimmy was hugging
Kate when he heard – “Boom!” A
gun shot pierced the predawn and brought him to attention.
It was time for Jimmy, he running man, to run. Most of the runners and crews hooped and yelled as they set
off into the morning. Jimmy
included. “Good Luck”, he heard
someone say, and when he turned to look there was Suzi and some of her friends
waving small American flags. Easing
into the run he felt like he was on a cloud.
But he hadn’t forgot the words of his training companions – “Hold
back.”
He heard the first aid station before he saw it.
Everett, the Captain, was directing and giving orders to his crew.
As if on cue all the workers cheered Jimmy when he gave his name and
number to Ellan who was handling the clipboard. Giving his water bottle to one of the Aid Station
apprentices, he stepped back from the action and watched and listened to the
proceedings. He later recalled that
it was like watching a Broadway show. Mary
would offer runners cookies and tell them “My mother made them for you.”
Alice would add, “You’ll love this next section, it’s my
favorite.” Hitching up his waist
pack Jimmy smiled when Everett spoke to him and said, “I’ll see you at the
finish.” With that Jimmy was
pumped. At the next aid station he
was patted on the back as he filled his water bottle. One of the workers folded a couple of candy pieces in a
napkin and placed them in his pack. “It’s
a long way to Mule Shoe Gap Aid Station. You’ll
thank me later.”
And so it went. By noon
Jimmy had made the Lake Clinton Aid Station at 32 miles.
Checking over the food table the cookies and candy lost their appeal. Peg, the Co-captain, asked, “How about a ham and cheese
sandwich.” Jimmy thought to
himself “That Peg sure has a way with words.”
Sitting down, Peg produced a cup of coke.
Jimmy said out loud for all to hear, “It doesn’t get any better than
this.”
The next three or four stations passed quickly by.
They all wished him well and told Jimmy that they would be waiting for
him on the return. By the time he
reached the turnaround point and checked in it had begun to mist and the weather
turned windy and cool. “I’ve
got your dropbag, Jimmy” the worker yelled.
At that moment he heard the radio man talking to the Headquarters at Lake
Sylvia. He overheard him say that “he” had reached the halfway
point in good shape. A voice on the
other end said, “ROGER” and signed off.
He told Jimmy that Kate had asked for a status check on him. Slipping off his wet shirt, the worker helped him with his
longsleeve and found his gloves. The
soup at the station was the best he had ever tasted. At this stage of the race he wanted something hot.
Soup, coffee, Cocoa, anything hot.
Jimmy was really thankful that he had held back now.
He still felt good. A little
weary perhaps but no hurts or blisters. The
aid stations all did their job. At
the weigh station Jimmy’s weight was up three pounds.
“Great shape”, a corpsman commented.
“No problem here, Sir!”, as she turned to her superior.
Jimmy’s journey took an unexpected turn in the wee hours of the
morning. A strange sensation came
over him. “This is so strange”,
Jimmy thought. The aid stations are
coming too close together, too quickly. For the first time in a long, long time he felt like
somebody. The aid stations had
taken good care of him and made him feel so important. “I DON’T WANT IT TO END.”
Alas he was at the last aid station.
Only six miles to go. He
remained seated as others came and went. He
asked for a blanket and another cup of hot soup.
The younger workers talked and kidded with him.
Oblivious to the passing time. Realizing
what was happening, a seasoned worker moved in.
The younger ones moved quickly to the sidelines.
In muffled voices she and Jimmy talked.
They saw the pleading look in Jimmy’s eyes.
Then they heard the seasoned work say, “If you can finish a 100 miler,
you can do anything. Now hurry off!
You can still get under 24 hours.”
With that he was off down the darkening road to the cheers of all the aid
station workers. Down the road to
the finish line went Jimmy. Jimmy, the running man!
Postscript—Shortly after finishing the Arkansas Traveller 100, Jimmy with Kate assisting, formed a running club in Perryton and will have an aid station in next year’s race. He continues to train on the forest roads, however his hours are limited by his new business, The Perryton County Recycling Center, where he proudly wears his sub-24 hour belt buckle.
The
End