Great Olympic moment...Billy Mills wins the 10K

Saturday, July 28, 2012
In 1964, when I was nine years old, I watched my first Olympic games that I can remember.  It was the Olympics of Billy Mills, the Native American Lakota runner who became the first, and to this day, the only American to win the 10,000 meter race.  He did it by upsetting the world record holder, Ron Clarke of Australia and by running 50 seconds faster than he ever had before.  I watched as he received his gold medal and when they played the National Anthem and raised the stars and stripes over the stadium, I cried.  It was the first time in my life that I’d ever cried emotionally and it was a surreal experience.  The feeling of patriotism I experienced made me decide that there was nothing more special I could possibly do than to win a gold medal for my country and stand on that podium with my hand on my chest and sing the National Anthem with tears streaming down my cheeks.  I never came close to having that happen, but I never stopped getting choked up every time I watched it happen to someone else.

My back continued to hurt throughout the day.  I switched from ice to heat mid-afternoon and it seemed to make a difference…so much so that I suggested to Holly we hit some garage sales and then grab a meal from Heinen’s and take it down to the Chagrin River in the Metroparks to eat.  They have quite a salad bar there and charge by the pound.  I managed to get several pounds squished into my plastic container, which I figured was a good thing.  I mean…total Paleo, which is always good even if it weighs in like a bowling ball.

We weren’t able to have a picnic table right on the river since there was a group in the ‘Reserved’ area…the bastards…but we were close and it was a perfect evening to be sitting out and eating.  We returned home to some rather loud music coming from a house on the next street over and behind us.  They were having a graduation party and had forgotten to include us.  The music went on until about 2 a.m., but no other neighbors were complaining since they’d probably been invited.  I figured it was a one-night thing and elected not to sneak Ninja style through the night and take out their speakers with rifle fire.  Besides, we’ll be having one for Jack next summer and I’ll be able to return the favor.