This is my daily journal as I travel across Europe and back to the US this summer. I will be covering Meeting AREVA in Paris (July 5), then Glasgow DL (July 11-12), then Monaco (July 18), then World Juniors (July 22-27), then Commonwealth Games (July 28-August 5), then Europeans (August 11-17), then, who knows? Plus some surprises in between!
My view from Stade de France, 5 July 2014, St. Denis, Paris, France, photo by Larry Eder
As those who read this column will note, I have always wanted to travel. At twelve, I requested to go to a Kibbutz in Israel, which my mother promptly, but, lovingly declined. At fourteen, it was a collective farm in the Soviet Union (this was 1972), which she, again, declined. ” I want you around until you are 18″, was my Mother’s response.
Last summer, as I sat in my room in a small business hotel in Moscow, my mother texted me, ” Glad you finally got to Russia, just forty-one years after your first dream. Enjoy.”
Nicely done, Mom.
I am not sure of my need to travel. Perhaps, it is the new people, new places and new things. Perhaps, it fulfills something in my psyche.
I know that I am more productive when I travel. I know that I love to see new things. How people respond, Cultures.
To me, the simple things are fascinating. For nearly a decade, in my visits to East Croydon for the Crystal Springs meet, a lovely lady, in her eighties, worked a decrepit red bus that sold sausages, tea and chips until the wee hours.
As I was and am, a denizen of the night, I struck up conversations with this lady, some I remember, some I do not. Now, that I no longer live in a , shall we say, a liquid medium, I remember more.
On my walk last night, my dear old friend from Yugoslavia, was gone, as well as her red truck. Seems East Croydon has some construction, and in the year I had not returned, she is gone.
I will have to look her up.
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Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys.
Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
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by Larry Eder
