Five old friends.

One crazy, wonderful weekend of running and catching up on our lives.

Let me explain.

My lovely bride and I moved from sunny Charlotte, North Carolina over twenty years ago. We decided to move to this amazing city to be closer to both our families. It’s been wonderful despite the cold and dark winters. It was difficult to move from Charlotte because we had made some amazing friends in NC.

Speaking of those friends, a short time after I moved there, some guys I worked and played softball with invited me to join them for runs on Saturday mornings. I did so. If not for those guys and our early morning runs, I may not have met this wonderful woman I now call my wife.

I’ll explain once more. After running each Saturday, those same wild & wacky guys and I would head to the local Bruegger’s bagel shop for coffee, bagels and camaraderie. In 1999, a stunning but sweaty young woman came up behind us, while we were chatting, and asked if we were going to order. As we were in no rush, we let her go ahead of us. She just happened to be wearing a Clarkson sweatshirt which is a college located near several of my relatives.

All of us began a conversation with her and eventually invited her to sit with us. She mentioned that she was from Vermont and I said I had recently moved from New Hampshire. The conversations continued and we said our goodbyes. My friend Tony (yeah, he’s to blame! Ha!) suggested that she seemed to be just what I was looking for; a nice woman who liked to exercise.

We ended up dating and it was pretty obvious we had something special. After twenty-four years together, it’s still pretty amazing.

In discussions about how we all met our wives, it was pretty amazing to see that a moment here or a moment there could change not only our lives, but obviously those of our children. One couple met in a dorm at college, another met in high school, and the others at work. It can show how random things can be. A different dorm assignment, not having the same Spanish class, or being away the weekend you met, can change everything. If I was a little later getting bagels that morning, neither of our kids would be here. I know stuff like this happens all the time but still, it can make you believe in fate just a little bit more.

So, let me explain for the last time. I love the Vermont City Marathon & Relay. I’ve run some piece of this race every year that we’ve lived here. It’s my absolute favorite weekend of the year.

I have been trying to get this group of gentlemen (they’ll get a laugh out of that!) to come run the relay race with me. This year, it happened. Chris organized the hotels, registered for race and the all-important team name: “Beer tent or bust.”

They arrived Friday night, after a slight delay and we all gathered at a local microbrewery (which became a theme for the weekend) and had dinner. We have visited them several times in Charlotte but this was the first time in Vermont for them.

We had a blast. We always do. We harass each other, encourage each other and just had a great time relaxing. They loved Burlington as I told them they would.

The race day finally came. Although warm, it was sunny and beautiful outside, just as I had hoped. (I’ve run the half marathon previously in a freezing sleet storm and also in eighty-five degrees with ninety percent humidity.) It’s Vermont, you never know what you’re gonna get.

It was a great weekend and fit in wonderfully with my theme that life is short, do the stuff.

We did the stuff. I miss the guys but thanks to texting, I still hear about their Saturday runs (or walks as we’re getting older).  The hardest part of leaving Charlotte was not my job, not the weather but knowing I’d miss out on our runs, conversations, and friendship.

Nothing lasts forever but friendship with this group of weirdos continues despite the distance.