Run On Buck Fifty Runners!

 “150 miles doesn't come easy. It's challenging. It's tough. But you're tough too. The Buck Fifty will build a lifetime bond with your teammates and will show you just how strong you really are. With beautiful views running through 3 state parks this is a race you'll never forget.” 

That is the beauty of this race. You don’t need to be “in shape” (though being prepared does have some major advantages), like making the decision to run a marathon – it is a test of your willingness to suffer and fight through adversity. It is a way to see yourself in a different light and trust there is much more to you than the person in the mirror who may not have reached (or is still grasping for) those goals you set for yourself years ago. 

Sure, this may be a small step (actually, a couple hundred of them), but who is to judge? This is a yearly reminder that there is so much more to each one of us. When I left for college in the latter part of the last century (seriously, guh), my grandmother gave me a framed copy of the following and it has been displayed in every dwelling I have had since: 

The Man or Woman in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that person has to say.

For it isn’t your father, or mother, or husband or wife
Whose judgement upon you must pass
The person whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

It’s the person to please – never mind all the rest
For it’s with you clear to the end
And you know you have passed the most dangerous test
If the person in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears

If you’ve cheated the person in the glass. 

For the first time, I will be missing The Buck Fifty in 2023. I’m jealous of all of you who will be competing with one another - as well as yourselves - against shear exhaustion, the pain, the heat, the cold, the elevation, the never-ending straight stretches of Ross County asphalt and those damn grain elevator lights that seem to get further & further away in the night sky the closer you get to them. 

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.” 

Run On, Friends! 

Craig R. Simpson
Team: Traffic Panthers (2017-2022)