Nashville locals are aware that downtown has a thriving homeless man population. Somehow this fact had to date, escaped my running buddy Matt (aka the Dean: he's the Dean of a Christian college in Franklin). It was his turn to pick our Saturday run route, and distance. He chose parking on 4th Avenue, downtown, start time 6 am. I had a strange feeling about this choice.
I pulled up to a meter spot. Ashly (aka Mash) and the Dean were already there, sitting in their cars making final preparations. We were running 22 miles of the Country Music Marathon course. The Dean is going for a Boston Qualifier this year.
The Dean was the first out of his car. He lingered outside waiting for us. Then he motioned that he was going to borrow the nearby Hilton's bathroom. So I stayed in my car not wanting to be accosted by the high volume of street walkers moving like sharks up and down the street. I texted Mash that I thought this was a sketchy place to leave our cars before sunrise. A bum in a trench coat shuffled past my passenger side window pausing and then continuing on.
The Dean returned saying, "Real funny guys, April Fools was yesterday." I had no idea what he was talking about. Mash looked inquisitively at him as well. This went on for a while and the Dean began to get hot. "OK gimme my bottle, I left it right here!" he finally said. We didn't have his bottle. Probably shouldn't have left it sitting on the sidewalk but he had. "Dude, maybe a bum took it!" said Mash.
Then I started to put two and two together. "I saw a bum hanging out by my car, maybe it was him. He wasn't moving very fast." I looked up and saw a figure in the streetlight rounding the corner by the Bridgestone Arena about a quarter mile away. The Dean was off in full sprint and I felt obligated to follow. Ok maybe obligated is the wrong word, I was curious as to what he was going to do and I got the Dean's back.
The Dean was on him when I turned the corner, his arms outstretched, exclaiming, "Not cool man! Not cool!" The guy wore a trench coat and just stood there. I didn't know quite what to do, I just said, "Uhh come on Matt, Let's go, umm God bless." The Dean was furious, the guy had sucked down all his hydration, eaten his gel and taken his $10 bucks stashed in his handheld pocket. He did retrieve the hand held and the bottle though. Mash and I had extra bottles and gels we shared but the little occurrence stayed with us for the first few miles.
The run itself was fairly uneventful, we got off course several times and ended up with 23 miles, but the Dean involuntarily donated to charity and one homeless man was fueled up with electrolytes, caffeine, and a ton of nutrition. Who knows maybe that was the spark he needed to get off the streets.
I pulled up to a meter spot. Ashly (aka Mash) and the Dean were already there, sitting in their cars making final preparations. We were running 22 miles of the Country Music Marathon course. The Dean is going for a Boston Qualifier this year.
The Dean was the first out of his car. He lingered outside waiting for us. Then he motioned that he was going to borrow the nearby Hilton's bathroom. So I stayed in my car not wanting to be accosted by the high volume of street walkers moving like sharks up and down the street. I texted Mash that I thought this was a sketchy place to leave our cars before sunrise. A bum in a trench coat shuffled past my passenger side window pausing and then continuing on.
The Dean returned saying, "Real funny guys, April Fools was yesterday." I had no idea what he was talking about. Mash looked inquisitively at him as well. This went on for a while and the Dean began to get hot. "OK gimme my bottle, I left it right here!" he finally said. We didn't have his bottle. Probably shouldn't have left it sitting on the sidewalk but he had. "Dude, maybe a bum took it!" said Mash.
Then I started to put two and two together. "I saw a bum hanging out by my car, maybe it was him. He wasn't moving very fast." I looked up and saw a figure in the streetlight rounding the corner by the Bridgestone Arena about a quarter mile away. The Dean was off in full sprint and I felt obligated to follow. Ok maybe obligated is the wrong word, I was curious as to what he was going to do and I got the Dean's back.
The Dean was on him when I turned the corner, his arms outstretched, exclaiming, "Not cool man! Not cool!" The guy wore a trench coat and just stood there. I didn't know quite what to do, I just said, "Uhh come on Matt, Let's go, umm God bless." The Dean was furious, the guy had sucked down all his hydration, eaten his gel and taken his $10 bucks stashed in his handheld pocket. He did retrieve the hand held and the bottle though. Mash and I had extra bottles and gels we shared but the little occurrence stayed with us for the first few miles.
The run itself was fairly uneventful, we got off course several times and ended up with 23 miles, but the Dean involuntarily donated to charity and one homeless man was fueled up with electrolytes, caffeine, and a ton of nutrition. Who knows maybe that was the spark he needed to get off the streets.
1 comment:
I have my own set of stories from managing the old Service Merchandise store that was located at 3rd and Broadway.
John
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