Bob Anderson would have us stretch every muscle, tendon, and ligament prior to any activity from ballooning to bowling.\u00a0 So it is that South Florida (SF) demands that we flex our vocabulary somewhat to accommodate what passes for our sport in that part of the world.\u00a0 Oh the words are the same; it’s just the attached definitions that depart from the usual northern meaning.\u00a0 Rather like my first experience with the bathroom in a French youth hostel: the sign was close enough to “toilet” \u2014 but the porcelain hole in the floor (with a couple of footgrips and matching hand holds screwed to the wall) more resembled the sewer in my basement than the familiar throne I had anticipated.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Although my stay each year is brief (a week at Spring Break), I’ve come to count myself among the “regulars” that return annually for their booster shot of warmth, Blue Jay spring training, Key Lime pie, and no tights<\/em>.\u00a0 The past thirteen seasons have afforded me ample chance to study the vagaries of running jargon as one moves south of the Mason-Dixon line.\u00a0 Take “hill” for instance.\u00a0 We, each of us has his own definition that we carry around.\u00a0 There’s Animal Hill<\/em>, a modest little climb weaving its way upwind (hopefully) of the zoo in Springbank Park.\u00a0 There’s Heartbreak Hill<\/em> for those of us who’ve sallied forth in Boston on Patriots’ Day.\u00a0 And there’s Pike’s Peak<\/em> for those who don’t count a run complete without a touch of altitude sickness.\u00a0 But back to South Fla.\u00a0 “Hill” to your resident Floridian refers to any bit of topography causing water to flow from one point to another.\u00a0 Perhaps an example would help.\u00a0 Imagine that narrow expanse of land between the ocean’s edge and the strip of asphalt parallel to it \u2014 we up here would call it a “beach”.\u00a0 In S.F. it’s a hill.\u00a0 And so, the race entry describing “a rolling course” requires a bit of creative translation.\u00a0 Read: “A tabletop with a couple of pebbles”.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Cold day for a race.”\u00a0 Before replying, I cast a quick glance at the digital thermometer in front of the First National Alligator Credit Union and Off Track Betting Emporium opposite the start line.\u00a0 Hmmm. 72\u00b0F.\u00a0 I eye the runner beside me for evidence of malaria or some other condition that may have dropped his core temperature by 20\u00b0’s or so.\u00a0 Seems normal enough \u2014 except for the tights, long-sleeved polypro top and gloves.\u00a0 “You a local?”, I query in return.\u00a0 “Yeah.\u00a0 How’d you know?”\u00a0 “Lucky guess.”\u00a0 Which brings me to the second aberration in the SF running lexicon: Outside Air Temperature<\/em> \u2014 and how one perceives it.\u00a0 The northerners are the intense ones with shorts and no shirt (modesty being thrown to the wind \u2014 after all, it was Spring Break) running pre-dawn to beat the heat.\u00a0 The natives (to the extent that any venture onto the beach\/hill anytime before noon) are invariably clad in full sweats with tell tale wires leading to electric socks.\u00a0 It makes ’em shiver even more when you lapse and make reference to degrees Celsius.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Imagine a land where 80% of the population speak from first hand experience of the Great Depression.\u00a0 Consider then what that must do to our cherished “master” designation.\u00a0 Age forty still qualifies \u2014 but the field is a little different.\u00a0 More pre-race chat: “Who should I watch for?”, I inquire of my over-dressed Floridian.\u00a0 “There are some pretty hot guys here today.”\u00a0 He continues, pointing out the local speed merchants, “Dennis, was second in the 10K state masters’ championship last year.\u00a0 And that guy over there can beat him!\u00a0 Better just key off one of them and try to hang on.”\u00a0 Race over and first master trophy tucked under my arm, I sidle up to Dennis who confesses he had a bit of an off day.\u00a0 What’s it take to finish second in the state<\/em> once you hit forty?\u00a0 34:06 did it last year.\u00a0 Bottom line: there’s a whole land ripe for the picking down yonder \u2014 once you learn to speak the language!<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bob Anderson would have us stretch every muscle, tendon, and ligament prior to any activity from ballooning to bowling.\u00a0 So it is that South Florida (SF) demands that we flex our vocabulary somewhat to accommodate what passes for our sport in that part of the world.\u00a0 Oh the words are the same; it’s just the […]<\/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\/616"}],"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=616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616\/revisions\/617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}