The picture caught my eye. A couple standing in the shallow water along a stretch of pristine white sand Negril beach. It was taken in 1969. I swear I remember being there at the same time.
Negril was and is a very special place. Especially now that the Reggae Marathon is a fixture on my running and vacationing calendar …”1st Saturday every December! Only 156 days to go…register online!
Growing up in Kingston, Negril was exotic to my sisters and me. Almost every weekend Dad and Mom packed the car with enough food to feed an army and we headed out to the beach. The beaches in Kingston Harbor, Dunn’s River Falls, Runaway Bay and Doctors Cave were the usual destinations but every once in a while we made it all the way out to Negril.
These beach experiences were boisterous family affairs. Especially Negril: the super-early morning departure combined with the long drive heightened the anticipation of arriving at the ‘miles of white sand and warm water”. A convoy of cars carried various members of our extended families: grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends. Once there, we slathered on the ‘suntan oil’ (remember suntan oil? … no concern for UV rays back then) and spent the day playing in and out of the sea.
All these memories came flooding back when I saw Dan Cumming’s picture on the Negril beach on the Reggae Marathon Fan page. And since this is a social media world after all, I did what we all do…started a conversation.
It turns out that Dan is a very experienced runner. He calls himself a ‘Seasoned runner’ and I love it. After a lot of back and forth we came up with an idea for Dan to become a regular contributor to the Reggae Marathon blog. Starting next week, we’ll begin a monthly column called, ‘Ask Dan’. Here’s your chance to ask any and all questions about anything to do with running. There are 3 ways to send your questions to Dan:
- Leave a comment on this blog post
- Comment on the Reggae Marathon Facebook Fan page
- Send your questions directly via email to [email protected]
You’ll get to meet Dan next week in his first post. Dan, thanks for helping to sustain the passion for running.
By the way, can you tell where on the Negril beach that photo from 1969 was taken?
Until next time…
Reggae Marathon RunninGuy
