Sunday, March 18, 2012

L.A. Marathon And Grandson

Today marks the 27th annual Los Angeles Marathon. I was here when the very first one was run. It zig-zagged through Hollywood, where I lived, so it was easy to just gout a few blocks, brink along some coffee, and watch.

Years later, the route changed, as did my address, but the run route was right down my main street such that I would simply go outside in the morning, sometimes still in my pajamas, and open up a lawn chair, have my coffee, and watch the runners.

When my grandson was about two years old, he was skittish and wanted to run all the time. It was usually hard for me to take him for walks and stuff because at that age, he did not understand "STOP" when I would yell, and I was always afraid he'd run into the big street and get hit by a car. But one thing was for certain, we could not stop him from running in the marathon!

Zaire, at age 2:



Zaire at age 3:



A snippet of Zaire at age 4:



At age 5, with me running behind him (at age 56) - it was just a mile, but I was close to death at the end of that mile. Again, only a snippet:

6 comments:

Bob said...

thanks 4 the memories.

Carrie said...

It's hard to believe that Zaire's father has no clue that Zaire is a runner. The father seems to think this tall thin person should be a football player.

Yeah, right. Over my dead body is my grandson going to play football.

But these videos definitely show Zaire's love of running, for sure (shades of ValSpeak, i.e. Valley Girl).

Arno said...

Run, Zaire, run! Carrie too! I gots to get back out on the road, too!

Carrie said...

LOL, Arno. But, Zaire, can run. Just look at him at age 2!

Bob said...

I was in a band with a hulking lead guitarist with a bump in nose, good guy, we called him Moose of course. He broke his nose playing football & his mom said, "That's it, you're done." No appeal. So a fine guitarist was born.

Carrie said...

Same here. Zaire has potential to be a track and field person, with his height and slight build. He has long legs and a great stride. Football is so not his sport. Hell, he's even better suited for basketball than football. A lot of moms are putting their feet down on the football thing for kids in elementary and secondary schools.