This photo is for reference, only. I had to dig it out of the archives to help with the visual. I was probably 18 in that photo, taken by my brother Sam in our parents’ basement. It was one of those nights where we were making fun of SJ cowboys and documenting it.
Flash forward to yesterday. I had about a week and a half of facial hair going, mostly out of sheer laziness. It was time to get rid of it, so I shaved it into a handlebar mustache just like in the photo above, before hopping in the shower after my run. The only purpose was to make Reagan laugh, which she did (nervously). I had intentions of shaving completely before work this morning. I was able to carry out that plan, but not before taking a run down the west side path.
I woke up totally forgetting about the trucker ‘stache and hit the trails. Along the way, I came across a couple of friends who started laughing when they saw me. I was confused for a sec, until they complimented my handlebars. Hahahah.
About 10 minutes later, I caught up to this dude running in moccasins with duct tape on the bottom, who had stopped to be a good Samaritan and remove a dead rat from the path. To myself, I was like “oh man, I have to talk to this guy.” So I struck up a conversation with him, and we ended up running about 6 miles together. I learned that he is almost 50 and lives in my neighborhood, that his name is Barry and he grew up inspired by Prefontaine, but had only started running again recently after adopting the minimalist approach to footwear.
Barry is awesome, I wish that I could have kept going with him. When it came time for me to turn around and head back up town, I thanked him for the chat and said that I hoped to run into him again. Almost immediately afterward, I remembered about my mustache. Hahahahah. He probably just thought that I too, was inspired by Prefontaine.
Comments
8 responses to “Handlebars and Barry”
WOW… Awesome story! Got a good laugh out of this one. 🙂
SO funny. I would stick with Barry. Handlebars are good for your image but duct taped moccasins would be better.
Thanks for sharing this story, it made my day!
Nice. I always thought that the Buehner hat with flowers was such a contradiction, like floral paintings next to a trout poster?!
@mindy: Hahahaha, for sure. I think Sam picked up that fake Van Gogh at DI, and the basement hall was the only place that our mom would let him hang it up. Lets not forget about the wallpaper. Holy cow! Thems was the the good ol’ days.
Rad wall paper. Loved the story. Its funny, when I have nasty facial hair I think it is silly but people take you totally serious, oh the joy.
I loved Steve Prefontaine. Me, who has never run, but made it around the the reservoir in Central Park once about thirty five years ago. That picture is scary. Life is strange, isn’t it.? One of my favorite quotes is: Every wall is a door.
This made me smile. The Prefontaines have been some of our dearest friends for years and years. You can always tell a true distance runner by whether or not they know who Steve Prefontaine is.
My uncle still wears that look on his face today…on purpose.