About a car . . .

When I was a kid, my Dad was in the automotive business.  He always drove a car with a “dealers” plate, a license plate issued to auto dealerships for temporary use on company vehicles.  Although he was insured when driving these cars, no other family members were covered.  My mother never drove and didn’t care, although she looked forward to having a child drive to run errands for her.  As the oldest, I was the first to obtain a license to drive but needed a car if I was to become her “errand boy.”  My father found me a trade-in.   A real classic.  In the parlance of the day, a “babe magnet.”  Not really.  A four door, 6 cylinder, standard shift, 1960 Ford Falcon (pictured below)  He had the audacity to charge me $20.00 for it!  “Nothing in life is free, Stevie Boy!”  But wheels are wheels when you’re a kid and I drove that car over 40,000 miles in the first two years I had it while in high school.  I was in those days, the “designated” driver.  No, we didn’t misbehave.  Nobody else had a car!  I ran errands for my mother and drove everywhere with my friends who would chip in for gas (about .22 cents a gallon) three times per week.  Following graduation and before heading off to college I worked for a small trucking company about 20 miles from my home.  I commuted every day, but by mid-summer the Falcon had enough of the hard driving and met its end after two plus years of excessive use.  It hurt to put out $800.00 for my next car (a 2 door, 8 cylinder, automatic 1964 Ford Galaxie 500) and for the balance of the summer and the next several years I had some regrets for having run the Falcon into the ground.  I could have used the $800 and would have saved a bundle on gas which I was now paying for myself.

OK Coach, where are you going with this?  Well, the truth is I had not given any thought to my first car for decades until this past week.  I was reminded of how foolish it was to do all that driving while in high school and essentially go nowhere.  One end of town to the other over and over, stopping to talk to other guys doing the same.  15 miles round trip when I would have accomplished the same thing by going 3.  I don’t regret time spent with friends, but much of my time would have been better spent doing something more constructive.  I could have “saved” the Falcon and had it when I needed, and wanted it most.  It is the same with running.  You can run 100 miles a week in high school if it suits you, but your legs might not be there when you need them and want to use them most . . . following graduation.  Like the Falcon, you’ll burn out.  You will have accomplished little, have one less thing to look forward to, and leave your best miles behind you in high school.

I would have preferred to tell you that as a boy I learned a valuable lesson.  I paid for a car which I cared for and pampered.  I drove it to school and back and did the occasional errand for my mother.   I had the car serviced regularly and it has served me well, and I still have that car today as a result.  But alas, I cannot say that.  What I can say is that I have trained appropriately for decades, and avoided injury and burnout in the process.  Like most of you, I absolutely love to run, and I hope to continue doing so for another decade or two.  Take care.  I hope to see you running the roads in 2035.