Summer 2018 Running Column
By Dan Gardner, TOCA Special Running Correspondent
TOCA Runners Club at TOCA 2018 Annual Meeting.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the TOCA Run/Walk at the annual meeting in May in beautiful Cincinnati. . We appreciate the great turnout and look forward to similar numbers next year in Charlotte. It was also great to see so many of you at the TOCA annual meeting and especially wonderful to run alongside (or mostly behind) so many of you at the walk/run.
As with most regular columns, the emails and text messages that follow each edition of TOCA Talk and this column seem endless. That is certainly true this time. As most of the questions deal with my love of exercise and running/walking, I feel it necessary to briefly reflect on my own
history of running.
I started running at age 30 at the behest of my neighbor – a MN Hall of Fame Cross Country Coach. (Editor’s Note: It should be noted that brother and TOCA Executive Director Den Gardner had been running for years prior to that – not inspiring Dan at all.)
After working out and running a race that first summer – and finishing in 276th place (do you wonder what color the ribbon was for that finish?), I was hooked on the great feeling one had WHEN FINISHED!! Yes – running is not the easiest form of exercise. It is, however, one that brings great satisfaction. The right to say “I ran three miles today” brings great joy to the heart (in more ways than one . . .). So keep working out – even if it is one mile/day. That walk or run or jog will give you a great feeling of accomplishment.
Feel free to contact me – Dan Gardner at twin1gard@aol.com – your TOCA Running Editor. I’ll be happy to help you with any running questions, general health concerns or simply share my philosophy for living life at its optimal level . . .
Finally – to help make TOCA the best membership association it can be – keep that brain working as you get very much needed exercise and formulate how YOU can play a part in making TOCA an even better association.
Until next time, be well, be smart, be healthy and be TOCA!