LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

June 19, 2016

I was searching for something else this evening when I stumbled onto a journal entry from 2011. The date of the entry was less than one year prior to the last in-person Father's Day with my dad:

August 21, 2011- Like Father, Like Daughter

I've been giving my dad updates since I started running a few months ago. I think it pleases him to see me follow his lead. Athletics came naturally to him--basketball in high school and college followed by years of running, cycling, weight lifting, and racquetball. Even at the age of 80, he follows a disciplined routine with daily workouts. I've admired his fortitude and recognized his abilities could be as easily passed along to a daughter as a son. At an early age, I invested my inheritance in whatever activity came my way--kickball, dodge ball, softball, climbing trees and eventually tennis. Running more than 2-3 miles is a recent affair. Dad preceded me in distance running by more than 40 years, averaging 3-5 miles per day with occasional 10 mile runs. Just this weekend, I learned that he was the first to reach the 100 mile mark in the Xenia, Ohio YMCA "Run for Your Life" program! The plaque is still hanging in his office.

Back to the future, Father's Day 2016--Dad's plaque is now fondly on display in my home. I'm still running, although I think I would be running faster, further, and stronger with my favorite coach here to encourage me. And yet, something tells me it might be more than coincidence that I "stumbled" onto this gem on Father's Day.

[Carolyn Fjeran, LowTide explorer/reflective writer; horticulturist & gardener; former writer for Cooperative Extension Service, Master Gardeners and The Newnan Times Herald]