As most of you know, I've have been running for many, many, and I mean many years. One of the benefits of running in over 220 races since 1978 are the many, many, and I do mean many t-shirts. When is the last time you rummaged through your t-shirt drawer? Every once in a while, my lovely wife Pat will decide it's time to clean out my closet. I usually beat her to it. I've been riding around with about 20 of my favorite t-shirts in the trunk of my mustang for over a year. If you don't believe me, the next time you see me, ask me to open my trunk and show you my Turkey Trot t-shirt from WJBF T.V.'s 25th Anniversary. It's a black shirt with a silver emblem......dated November 26, 1978. It's still safe and sound in my mustang's trunk. I do some digging occasionally looking for a particular t-shirt, but tonight I just picked up a few t-shirts and starting thinking about those races. What a great way to spend an evening and what a great way to stir some old memories. Let me take you back to some of those great races.

I found a red t-shirt dated April 29, 1978. That was my first 10K. I won a trophy for being the heaviest finisher...but today, 220 pounds does not sound all that heavy. I still remember going to Augusta with Wally Salter, Jim Hite and Kenan Kern.

I have a dingy white United Way 1 Mile Fun Run, that was the first race I ran with my then nine year old daughter Michelle. That was May 20, 1978. On July 4th, 1978 my family and I were going to Washington D.C. for vacation. I talked them into stopping in Atlanta for a little get together called the Peachtree Road Race. I still have the t-shirt but boy did it shrink!

On March 17, 1979 I raced Bill Rogers in the Dublin Leprechaun Marathon. It was only a 10K, but back in those days any long run was called a marathon.

I still have a white t-shirt with two youngsters running in front of a group of trees, the race was at Wildwood Park on Lake Thurman, Michelle and I ran the mile in 9:30. That was June 16, 1979.

I have my 1979 Peachtree t-shirt. When I got back from Atlanta that afternoon, I found out that my mom had a heart attack earlier that morning. She was in the hospital in Savannah, we lost her on July 16, 1979. I still have that Peachtree t-shirt.

From October 25, 1980, I have a white shirt with red rings around the sleeves and neck. Pembroke Lung Run, the race director was Jim Hite. From September 26, 1981 I found a brown t-shirt from Augusta College's Jaguar Jaunt. I ran the 1 mile with my two daughters, Dee Dee, age 11, and Michelle, age 12, and then raced the 5K.

I have a long sleeved tan shirt with a small Augusta Marathon logo on the right chest. That was December 6, 1981. My time was 3:31:04.2, we're talking marathon PR!

I have a tan shirt with big orange sunset behind a group of runners. The date was February 27, 1982. The race was The Bartram Trail Cross Country 5 Miler at Lake Thurman just outside of Augusta. Rob Sharkey and Rob Newbern went with me, there was an ice storm the night before. Get Rob Sharkey to tell you that story some time.

I have another brown t-shirt with a bear running from a group of bees. That is from my first race with Tim Rountree, The Bear Creek Streak, that was August 7, 1982.

I have a white t-shirt with the Statue of Liberty from Stroh's Liberty Run on October 13, 1984. This race was contested in a number cities around the country and the times were compiled and a neat magazine was mailed to all runners. It had age group results from the entire country. I ran the 5 mile race in 35:19. In my age group, I was #272 out of 2059 runners locally, nationally I was 5774 out of 20,744 runners. Talk about Glory Days! And yes, I've still got the magazine.

I found a running singlet with Jim Dandy Dog Food on the front. This is from the Stadium Run 5K in Atlanta on May 18, 1986. The afternoon before Tim Rountree and I thought it would be cool to run up the trail on Stone Mountain. Guess how that turned out? But we did get to talk to Billy Mills (Running Brave).

I have a really neat magenta colored shirt from July 11, 1987. This was my first triathlon. Tim Rountree and I went to Rocky Point, Alabama for this race. This is the one and only time I actually beat Tim in a race.

On August 26, 1989, Wesley Parker and Jason Jenkins joined me on Jekyll Island for their first triathlon. On August 6, 1990, Jason Jenkins and Dale Parker joined me for my one and only Summer Biatholn in Albany, GA. We had to race a 5K with two stops where we fired 5 shots at targets. I misplaced this t-shirt, but I still have the mug for my second place finish and I still have a can of beer in the fridge from this race. (I don't drink!)

On June 22, 1991, Tim Rountree and Randy Brannen joined me for the first Savannah River Bridge Run, I've still got the medal (all finishers received one) and the t-shirt. I also remember Jim Hite passing me going over that bridge like I was standing still.

I've got the shirt from three races in less that 24 hours from Jekyll Island on September 21 and 22, 2001. Eddie Shelton, Joyce Hodges-Hite and Jim Hite were there when we did a 5K beach run on Friday evening, a 5K CC race Saturday morning and a 5K road race on Saturday evening.

I have my Jingle Bell Reindeer Run t-shirt from December 5, 2002. I also have the 25 inch color t.v. that I won for best costume. I ran as Santa climbing out of a chimney...thanks Pat for fixing me up.

On April 5, 2003, I ran the very first Sidney Lanier Bridge Run in Brunswick. That was two days before the bridge opened for traffic. A group of us ran the first Savannah River Bridge Run back in 1991, and I ran the first Sidney Lanier Bridge 5K, wonder how many people did that?

Of course I could go on and on........and I'll bet you can too. So take a rainy afternoon, turn off the t.v. and start digging through your old race t-shirts. It's great to look at your trophies and medals, but everyone gets a race t-shirt when we run. That's where the memories are. Think about about the great times you had running with Jim, Joyce, Eddie, Rob and Randy. I'll bet there are a lot of very pleasant memories stored in some of your old shirts just waiting to get out. Well, today is a great day to "turn'em loose!

Now if you will excuse me, where did I leave that Gum Swamp Stomp shirt? How about my Street Skedaddle or my Frog Wallow Waddle shirts? I hope Pat didn't beat me to my Dingus McGee's 5K or my Kaolin Kanter 10K shirts. How about my Sylvania Bull run or my Metter Road Race shirts from 1985?

Wow........so many shirts.......so little time........now......if I can just reach that box on the top shelf of this closet!

See ya,

Ray