Heavy Heart

 I wasn’t going to write another Toro Talk, I was going to let last week’s wrap up the year. But now I can’t. I lost a very good friend the day after Christmas to cancer, and guess what - so did you. Most of you wouldn’t know this guy’s name, but he talked to a lot of you. Most of you didn’t pay much attention to him, but he made sure that he paid close attention to all of you when you ran a race. David Glave was his name and he worked for Event-Tech, the timing company that times 15-20 races per year here in Savannah including all the races on our Fabulous 14 run series race list. David was as nice, as helpful, and as accommodating a person you could have ever met. He was short, nearly bald, a little pudgy, and he always had the biggest smile on his face. He was smiling even when he wasn’t feeling well, and even when the timing equipment wasn’t working just right.

It’s been an interesting year, and when I say interesting I mean it. The breathing in of the highs and lows of owning your own business and having other people depend on you getting up every day and you doing your thing. I spent hours and hours of training thru the summer this year in order to complete my first ever triathlon Ironman event. Getting thru and navigating this industry continues to be more challenging, but so does getting up and running at this age, and we won’t stop fighting for either one. I knew as we always would finish the year strong, just as we try to finish each workout the same way. And as I finished the year with an apology, I also couldn’t wait to run on Christmas Day, an easy 12 miler thru the city.

Christmas Day is one of my favorite days to run and to think, and my thoughts this year were about how we just lost Richard Chambless a few weeks ago to cancer. We worked with Richard on countless big races, and this big man, with a big personality helped make a lot of our big races a reality with his flare and equipment. He’s now gone. And now I will have to say goodbye to another race buddy, David I wish I could tell you that I am going to miss your expertise, your patience, and your understanding when times got tough. All of those things are important, but what I will miss the most is your smile; no matter what was happening, you were smiling. So I will run into the New Year with a heavy heart, knowing the races are just not going to be the same for a while. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Chambless family, the HostSouth group, to the Glave family and Event-Tech for their loss - a loss for all of us. It’s interesting how you lose someone, but the good ones always give you the present of perspective as a parting gift. Thanks to everyone for all of your support in 2014, Happy New Year. See ya soon.