{"id":218,"date":"2017-06-04T12:11:05","date_gmt":"2017-06-04T16:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=218"},"modified":"2017-06-04T12:11:05","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T16:11:05","slug":"running-with-david","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=218","title":{"rendered":"Running with David"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018You eliminate one person, and the whole world changes\u2019
\nFred Ballinger, Youth<\/em><\/p>\n

David J. Barenberg, in memoriam.<\/p>\n

We met first on a track \u2014 thirty-six years ago. Both driven, David revisiting his miler days from university and I fresh from minor surgery and suffering the effects of being too long sidelined from running. We\u2019d eyed each other carefully as we pounded out the 120 laps of this tiny, suspended surface above the Y\u2019s gymnasium. Walkers and joggers came and went, were passed again and again, finally leaving just the two of us. Two points in opposition, neither gaining ground on the other, taking care not to lag. Competition and obsession: the key ingredients of a relationship that would bind us for many years to come \u2014 and defining our respective personalities. 10 Km. logged, we allowed a greeting, mutually cautious, mutually respectful. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rare event when one encounters a catalyst, mentor even, in early mid-life. By then, we are well into the entrenched, \u2018old dog, no new tricks\u2019 mode. Rarer still to be able to track the unfolding of a relationship and be blessed with the recognition of how it has shaped decisions, validated enthusiasms, pushed limits, and fostered achievements that might otherwise have been passed by, barely noticed, allowed to lapse. I was, by most accounts at 34, a \u2018running vet\u2019, modestly accomplished in a time when runners were seen as a peculiar lot. But stuck in a routine that had stagnated, \u2018mailed in\u2019 but stale. This was about to change on many fronts.<\/p>\n

6:30 a.m., September 11, 1981. I parked in front of David\u2019s house on Parklane at the agreed upon time, not a little uncertain about where this new relationship might lead. In that time, runners were solitary souls, meeting at races, but otherwise preferring their own company. David, as was his want, had \u2018his route\u2019, measured with precision (as much as the technology of the 1980\u2019s would allow) and careful to include a mix of terrain. We toed the invisible \u2018start \/ finish line\u2019, started watches, and stopped talking. This was a training run \u2014 not a social event. We snaked our way thru\u2019 Stratford, up the hills available to us, checking \u2018splits\u2019 \u2014 both encouraged that the novel idea of a running partner, even in these formative days, was working. 39:12. Finishing side by side. And close enough to a 10 Km. \u2018personal best\u2019 to confirm the hope.<\/p>\n

The first of hundreds of such runs, that would see us ground and anchor each other thru\u2019 all weather, injury \u2014 and the vagaries of personal and professional lives that would weave together and sustain us. That would discipline and push us mutually to individual goals. Always purposeful, never casual. Bad runs tolerated; good ones, target and intention met, logged with quiet satisfaction, never celebration. This was about improvement, not attainment. Commitment to a personal standard. The way David lived his life. <\/p>\n

Thank you David<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018You eliminate one person, and the whole world changes\u2019 Fred Ballinger, Youth David J. Barenberg, in memoriam. We met first on a track \u2014 thirty-six years ago. Both driven, David revisiting his miler days from university and I fresh from minor surgery and suffering the effects of being too long sidelined from running. We\u2019d eyed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=218"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218\/revisions\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}