His family asked friends to send any "Brian stories" they could come up with, so that they could put them together for his perusal (I'm sure this will happen at a party - I am sure it'll be a fun one. Wish I could be there.) Here are my Brian stories, written a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away:
.........
Excerpt from
an article I wrote for Marathon &
Beyond (the Eccentricities of a Long
Distance Runner):
…Speaking of
shoes, here’s another case: Brian. My longtime friend runs as much as anyone
and can certainly afford to purchase new running shoes. He doesn't in fact,
buy any. How does he manage to train for and run marathons year in and year out
without buying shoes? Simple. He accepts charity donations of everyone else’s
old worn-out shoes. For his latest birthday party, he opened an aromatic box
containing more than 20 pair of used running shoes. Such is the value placed on
Brian’s participation in the Foxes and Hounds Great Lakes Relay Team. Brian
tells me that the sizes of the donated shoes do not matter all that much to
him. Lately he has been getting injured a bit more often and he’s actually
wondering why.
Excerpt from
an article I wrote for Marathon &
Beyond (Running’s Woodstock A Look
Back at the 100th Boston Marathon):
…This was
but a minor problem, however. The race and the entire weekend had been an
unqualified success. Almost without exception, runners praised the event as
something they would remember for the rest of their lives. This marathon, of
course, was still 26 miles and thus not necessarily any easier than any other.
One tired runner, hearing others gush about how great an event it was,
exclaimed, “And the best part is, it’s over.” (Guess who that was.)
A story from
the Great Lakes Relay in Michigan:
At one
point, Brian was running and was about to hand off to me. I decided to make the old guy sprint at the
end of his run to tag me. It worked, getting a gasp out of him and a laugh from
everyone else. It just so happened that
my next leg was also after one of Brian's.
This time I started slowly to give him a break. But some gratitude-
instead of tagging my hand, he pulled down my shorts! This resulted in still bigger
laughter from the onlookers.
Excerpt from
my Book, The Long and Shorts of It:
Speaking of
old age and cunning, on a later run I observed our friend Brian Peacock, who in
turn surpasses me in both characteristics, employ a slightly more direct technique: that of pushing Geoff
toward some bushes before beginning The Sprint To The Finish.
It was while
reflecting on these types of experiences that Brian first told me the story of
the old bulls and the young bulls. Perhaps you've heard it before; it goes
something like this:
There were
two pastures divided by a fence with a gate. The higher one contained an old
bull and a young bull; the other one had several very desirable and
good-looking (to the bulls) cows. One day after the farmer left the gate
between the pastures open, the young bull said, "Hey Old Bull, the gate to
the cows is open! Let's run down there and smooch a few of them!"
(Author's note: verbs other than smooch could possibly be substituted here, but
since this is a family oriented publication...) The old bull then said,
"Nope. Let's saunter on down there slowly and smooch the whole lot of
them!"
I'm not sure
exactly what this has to do with shoving Geoff in the bushes, but Brian can
always come up with some kind of explanation.
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