By 6:45 on the morning of Saturday, April 1, 2023, I was taking the short two block jog to the front drive of Trinity United Methodist Church in Richmond, Virginia.
A few years ago, the church mapped out a 5K course for a neighborhood run. This morning, I was going to follow that route to run the Give4GC5K, a fundraiser for the Greensboro College Athletic Department.
It was a balmy 65 degrees in Richmond, gray sky, a few raindrops, and a lingering March wind gusting up to 30 mph. My old sack of bones made it to the start line at Trinity. I checked my watch, hit the start button, and I was off like an Eastern box turtle.
This 5K course is a pretty one. It rolls through the neighborhoods of Rollingwood, College Hills, and Westham. The route is a mixture of flat stretches, gentle inclines, and a couple of steep hills for your heart.
Our home is in Rollingwood, and lots of the miles on my running shoes come from these quiet streets.
Along the way, I can see spring. Yellow pollen powder lays on the surface of rain puddles. Red buds, dogwoods, forsythia, and azaleas are at various stages of blooming. Their colors make a splash on the backdrop of this overcast morning. That gusty wind sways and whirls tree limbs.
I know that someday in the future, my body will tell me, “Hey, Bill, we can’t take you out for a run anymore. You’ve worn us down, we can no longer support your slug pace.”
That will be a sad day for me because going out for a run is an escape. My runs are an opportunity to take in the neighborhood and its seasonal changes, and I can also daydream and reflect.
Over the years, I’ve determined that I had no business being admitted into Greensboro College. I was a horrible high school student. Yet, somehow, Don Gumm, who was the youth director at Davis Street Methodist Church in Burlington, convinced the admission director to gamble on a worthless high school senior.
Miraculously, I graduated in four years with the class of 1975. I’m sure the English Department: “Magical” Mary Ann Wimsatt, Ed “Charlestonian” Coleman, “Gentle Ben” Wilson, and John “Willie Shakespeare” Long praised the good Lord that I was gone when I received my diploma.
It was Greensboro College that prepared me for a thirty-one year career in public education in Virginia. I was a classroom teacher, a coach, an assistant principal, and principal during my tenure. Those experiences kept me tied to education after my retirement too.
Greensboro College has assisted me with something even better. This is where I met my wife of forty eight years, Betsy Cloud, and made lifetime friends: Steve Boone, Dan Callow, Steve Hodge, Doug Kinney, and Butch Sherrill. I would not trade anything for my wife and our cherished friends.
Since our graduation in 1975, at least once a year and sometimes twice, those friends, our spouses, significant others, and our children have gathered in our homes and assorted locations for fun, fellowship, and mental journeys back to Greensboro College.
I will never understand the gravity that pulled four tar heels, a Marylander, and a Floridian together for life, but I would not exchange our friendships for anything in this world.
In the Apple TV show Shrinking, Dr. Paul Rhodes, portrayed by Harrison Ford, said to a patient: “No one goes through life unscathed.” Those words hold true for the lives of my pals and me, but in those tough life moments, our hearts are always there for each other.
Back out on the 5K course, I’m about to cross Westham Parkway, and then I have a long flat section down Brookside. When I was a lot younger, I could have sprinted down Brookside to Baldwin, but not anymore—I’m the steady box turtle.
Right turn on Baldwin, left turn on Stuart Hall, cross the creek, and head up the hill to the finish line. I cross the imaginary line and hit the stop button on my watch. When I peer at the time, I cringe— 34:06. My 5K spring chicken days are done.
Good Lord willing maybe I’ll make it to next spring. And if Greensboro College offers the 5K again, I might just show up to run it in Greensboro, and who knows I might be able to persuade Steve, Dan, Steve, Doug, and Butch to show up too.
Author’s note: This baloney was sent to Greensboro College in April 2023. I’m told it was enthusiastically received. The plan was for the piece to be published in one of the school’s publications. To my knowledge, as of today’s date, Thursday, April 11, 2024, the reflection hasn’t been published. Due to personnel changes, it was lost, and forgotten. I was asked to resend it, and I did. If they decide to use the baloney, that’s fine, and if not, I’m ok. Please do not attempt to post the piece on any of the college’s social media. Thanks, Bill Pike
might be baloney 