2022 Week 1: Foundations

 Here we are, already on the 5th of January 2022!  I was about to fall behind on this challenge which is somewhat ambiguously named "Foundations."  Suggestions included talking about a builder in your history, or maybe an ancestor who inspired your interest in researching family history.  I do actually have builders in my family tree:  my father worked in construction, big construction like dams and freeways, and his father apparently had a roofing business (opposite of foundations but I dare you to build a strong house without a good roof) but none of that seemed to exciting.  No, I'm going to talk about feet.

I am a runner, weather permitting.  I am an old runner at 66, but I take care of myself and I buy good shoes because feet are foundational.  They hold you up and they keep you going.  My interest in running started in 7th grade when I discovered track and field.  It didn't require you to be super-coordinated (though the ability to stay upright was useful) and you could train all by yourself a lot of the time (important to an introvert).  On the other hand, I loved being part of the track team in high school.  Our school was brand-new and when that first spring of 1971 rolled around the powers that be created both a girls and boys track team.

Shoe technology then was not what it is today.  I owned a pair of Adidas spikes (we mostly had cinder tracks and I had the gravel in my knees and palms to prove it) for track meets and I think a pair of running shoes for training.  I suspect that I often just wore tennis shoes which makes me cringe now when I consider my current Hoka Clifton 7s which protect those feet from all sorts of bad things.  We wore snug uniforms for meets but definitely with more coverage than you'll see on Olympic athletes today.

Anyway, we were pioneers of a sort.  The women I ran with then are proud of what we accomplished, and yet we marvel at what we were not allowed to do in competition. Still, we opened the way for those who followed, including our daughters and granddaughters who now routinely run marathons and ultramarathons.  My oldest daughter has run the Marine Corps Marathon several times, again taking care of those feet.

So maybe as the first woman in my family to run, I am a sort of foundation too.  

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