Today on an unseasonably hot morning at Seneca High School was the 12th Annual Run For Our Girls, supporting the Precious Gems Foundation in honor of Amanda, Megan, Shana and Angela, who were killed by a drunk driver in North Carolina on April 6, 1999. Amanda's parents are among my closest friends and she played on a Medford rec league soccer team with my son Scott way back at age 7.
I ran a lousy race (5K), but who cares. We're here because four girls died. If you knew any of them or their families, it's impossible not to shed a tear when their names are read just before the start.
I was pleased to see another good turnout for this event, which benefits the foundation as well as substance awareness programs at Shawnee and Seneca High Schools. Shana's sister, Erin, is a teacher at Seneca and all of the girls were current or former students at Shawnee.
My good friend, Bob Ellis, who is three years older than I am, continues to defy age and beat me by more than three minutes while my son, Scott, ran a 20:05 on the slow course, good for 5th overall and 2nd in his age group. But times don't matter. We're here because four girls died.
Five years ago, when the race was run at Shawnee H.S., I caught up with Cara, at the time a girl on my Medford Strikers Xtreme team, in the first mile. No way a 9th grade girl on her high school track team should be running behind a guy in his late '50s, as I was then. We had a game that night, so as I ran by, I told her, "Cara, if you don't beat me, you're not starting tonight." She passed me at the 2-mile mark and finished comfortably ahead of me. (See post-race photo, right.)It was a good race, and everyone had fun, but then, as today, it didn't matter. We were there because four girls died. Honor their memory.
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