It is with pure GiddyUpness that I see the Nebraska State Fair Marathon trumpeting the addition of an elite field to their event. “Elite runners from New York and Colorado Springs.” Promising a new course record with it flat and fast course. I just had to post our 2014 Freedom Run winners results on their page. 1:04:48, 1:17:41. Fastest male time in Nebraska in over 30 years.
I made several drives out to Grand Island 6 or 7 years ago. Meeting with the leadership of the then Grand Island Half. Introduced them to the concept of a USATF Certified course. Suggested they eventually add a marathon. Mark Merritt and I rode many miles on our bikes scouting out various routes. And now they are getting it on their own. Good on ya State Fair.
Lincoln Half. State Fair Half. Freedom Run Half. Good Life Halfsy. I’d like to see those four halves unite in an annual Half Series. All kinds of Good Things could come of that.
Mid-July 1969. I was eleven years old. Atwood, Illinois. Middle of nowhere. The only Real Entertainment for us was the Moultrie-Douglas County Fair, over in Arthur, seven miles away. Home to the largest Amish community in Central Illinois. We would go every day and night, rides, funnel cakes, etc. Doing things 11 year olds of my time did, mostly on $2/day. Included in the gate admission were the musical acts.
But that week in 1969 was something special, I knew it even as a small boy.
The fair opened with Carl Perkins & The Tennessee Three. The next night was Tammy Wynette and George Jones. The final show set me straight on the Man in Black. Johnny Cash with wife June and the Carter Family.
This weekend The Marshall Tucker Band will be back in Arthur. And I’ll be there in my mind, a far simpler time with music that shaped the country side of me.
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