• The encouragement keeps growing •
[2 MIN READ]
Thanks to Deputy Train Dave for the pix and to him and Deputy Stacey for the run report. Dave texted a lot of words about his intent for the attendance picture, but I stopped paying attention after “Photoshop.” So, I just did what I do with Paint.
The home team’s version of taking the show on the road.
That was the home team last week on the 5th Wednesday of the month. The traveling team (Jim and me) took the club on the road to do our now usual effort with Black Men Run Philadelphia.
The rituals and practices of homing and traveling pleased me for all that they represent: both stability and predictability on the home end and developing familiarity and fraternity on the away end. The deputies at home know the drill. The friends at Black Men Run Philly — and us with them — also do. When Jim and I arrived, one of the club officers said, “Hey, where’s the 3rd guy? Usually you have 3.” Having had that measure of consistency over our 3 visits in 2024 (including January and May) meant he could observe that. (Btw, #3 was doing traveling of a different sort.)
The travel team’s version of taking the show on the road.
Slightly less expected was the excited comment from one of the leads who said to me, “I met your daughter!” ‘Slightly less’ because she’d texted me 2 weeks earlier wondering if I knew BMR George (whom she’d just met at a poster exhibition conducted by Jefferson University’s 7th Annual Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference). Her knowing that GGR occasionally runs with the group led her to ask if he knew me: “Yes, I do!” That, in turn, allowed him the opportunity to share with me one other huge thing BMR does in the community about which he was presenting at the event: provide a social and emotional outlet through running to process and escape trauma, both its sequelae and its triggers.
Running and its active community does huge things for me, personally. Well, it’s a little bit of an understatement to observe that it does the same for other participants, too, in a variety of spaces. Getting to see how is a humbling and eye-opening experience that validates the benefit of a traveling team. Next 5th Wednesday: 10’30.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe), “Negative split or positive splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text and photos (unless otherwise stated): Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-posted: (1) Facebook JRC Growlers Group Run (2024’08’07’W Run Message), (2) GGR email list, (3) Cerebruns by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Cerebrun with added caption and images.
Updated: 2025’11’05’W (Editing)
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