Dear Valdosta,
I am writing you from an undisclosed location in the Pacific.
Yes, technically I was supposed to be on Baytree Road today, this fine fourth of July. However, the Baytree 8K went from a future possibility to a reality, and I decided to use the fitness that I gained to hitchhike cross country.
Waking up at 6:30 a.m. and then putting my legs and heart to work just an hour afterwards was a scary proposition. In my last week of training, I realized that I would have to maintain activity for five miles, which translates to about an hour. An hour of constant movement!
I couldn’t slack, either. My weekly updates about my progress have let people know I would be among the sweat-soaked competitors this morning, and fleeing behind a bush wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.
I’m sorry to get your hopes up of seeing a past-his-athletic-prime sports writer being drug across the finish line, but trust me, it wouldn’t have been a pretty sight.
So I thank you for your support as I attempted to transform from a couch potato back to someone whose ticker acted more like it was 26-years old than 46.
Sincerely,
Bryan Fazio
This note was prepared because, I’ll be honest, writing this just 17 hours before the race, the butterflies were moving around my stomach much faster than I could run five miles.
But then I thought about those people reading the paper, knowing that this is the day that has been previewed for six weeks. They would pick up the sports section, read the first line, wake up the kids with the scream of NOOO!!!, spill coffee all over the dog, slam their hand on the kitchen table, break their hand, disabling them from being able to drive to work and that poor family would be down and out because of a fear for five miles of running.
Well, no sir, I will not let the Valdosta family at the breakfast table down. I will instead put my preparation — getting my heart accustomed to the activity, my legs becoming sore after days of running around the Lowndes High track and up and down Baytree — to use and put my fears aside for you.
So, I say to the city of Valdosta, at 7:30 a.m. I will lunge from the starting line and run until I can’t anymore, and before this paper enters the recycling bin. I will do my best to run, walk or crawl across the finish line. I will complete the Baytree 8K.
So when those fireworks are screeching to the sky tonight, think not of the screams of pain and the wincing of my lungs along Baytree, but think of the blast to a more active lifestyle that this mission has brought me, and that these writings have hopefully inspired. It feels good to have gotten back into shape.
Happy Fourth of July, everybody!
Baytree 8k
July 3, 2007
Column: It’s finally time for the race
- Baytree 8k
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Seppala takes 8K again
The field was bigger, the weather was hotter, but the result was the same: John Seppala dominated the Baytree 8K.
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Seppala runs away with Baytree 8K
On Wednesday, John Seppala ran away from the other 180 runners at the Baytree 8K road race.
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Column: I did it!
Wow, I did it!
- Column: It’s finally time for the race Dear Valdosta,
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BAYTREE 8K - Registration Form
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Training for 8K is getting me healthier
OK, it’s hitting me. Five miles is a long way. But for me, running just two is also coming a long way.
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Rise and shine, 8K runner
This far into preparations for the Baytree 8K, my legs are supposed to be a little sore. However, I can’t tell over the pain my fist is experiencing from the fifth week.
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Nothing can stop me now.
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Baytree 8k, Here I come!
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Week 2 and still training
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