Saturday afternoon found me at mile 22 on the course of the Indianapolis Marathon. For three hours on a beautiful afternoon I got to remain stationary, play guitar and sing while an assortment of runners and walkers passed by.
Uptempo was the order of the day as runners needed a little extra push by that point, and having a very transient audience allowed me repeat songs. Route 66 got played several times. More than a few smiles broke each time I opened The 59th Street Bridge Song: “Slow down, you move too fast.”
As the afternoon wore on, I started making up lyrics around “Four miles to go.” The job was to encourage the runners who had already run 22 miles and just had four more to go. That may be an idea worth pursuing. You’ve come this far; don’t quit now. Keep pressing on ’til you reach the end; you’ve only got four miles to go.
The afternoon was reward in itself with an assortment of smiles, claps and “thank you”s from the runners. I had forgotten to bring a water bottle, and one runner set his water cup down to share a drink with me. From the house across the street, a woman sent her son and his friend out to bring me a bottle of water. She sent them out later with cookies. I signed a CD and gave it to them. I think I got the better deal.
What a great time, and what a great opportunity to encourage some folks. We’ve come pretty far. Let’s not quit with just four miles to go.