Columnist Matt James has another great column in today's paper (full disclosure: Matt is a friend and lived with us for a couple of months last year, so I may be biased -- but I don't think so).
In the piece, "Run your race, but don't be in a rush," Matt writes about the Alyssa Samansky Track Challenge, which is tonight at Clovis West. I already knew the story behind this event, which is held in memory of a little girl who died four years ago, but the way Matt tells a story, even a familiar one, brought an audible sob out of my throat.
As a runner, I know the Samansky family. Alyssa's dad Aaron owns Sierra Running Co. Later, when I learned what happened to his daughter in a Save Mart parking lot, I realized that he had fitted me for my first pair of good running shoes less than a week after his little girl's life was ended.
The Track Challenge give anybody a chance, whether you're fast or slow, to see what's it's like to do track events.
As adults, most of us never get to run a track race, not even the serious runners. ... Tonight, you can enter a meet. It doesn't matter what your age and speed happen to be. For $10, you can enter one event -- or as many as your body can take.There are no trophies, no medals, you just race and find out your finishing time.
The money raised -- just a few hundred dollars -- goes to the Woodward Park Library, in memory of a 7-year-old girl who "could race through books faster than her parents could get them from the library." Sounds like my daughter Alyssa.
I urge you to read Matt's column, maybe go throw a shotput or run around the track tonight, or drop off a check to buy a book or two for the library. Books feed our imagination, take us around the world. But especially absorb the message in Matt's last paragraph. And if you have children, hug them tight and cherish every minute you have with them.
"If you can't make it to the track today, at least slow down. For a minute or even an hour. Drive slower. Stop for yellow. Look both ways. Go home from work an hour earlier. Take time to appreciate. It'll feel even better than running fast."
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