After my run today, I was thinking the joy and the memories I will make in December whenever I conquer my second marathon. After careful recollection of memories from the first marathon, there was something that I never told anyone.
This event occurred the evening after I completed that marathon as a high school senior in Memphis, TN. When the awards ceremony was finished at the Pyramid that day, I joined a few members of the local runners club for a post race event, that was somewhere on Beale St., I believe. One of the members of the runners club had drank a few beers, and so I remember giving him a ride back to his car after we departed from the party together. What happened next was something that I hope changed his life.
We shall call the man T.D. T.D. and I left the party together, as mentioned in the previous paragraph. At that time he was probably in his early 40s; I do not recall approximate age though. He seemed as if he was pretty coherent. Then again, I had just run a marathon for the first time in my young life, and was ready to go home and finally crash after the long day. As I recall, we both headed down a street known as North Parkway.
We were maybe five minutes away from the Pyramid, when I remembering hearing and seeing a loud crash in my rear view mirror. It seemed that T.D. had lost control of his car, or may have even misjudged a turn slammed street into a lamppost on the before mentioned North Parkway. This area is home a large subsidized housing community. I turned around, and noticed the T.D. was in his car in a state of shock. Around us were residents of the housing community coming at us in large droves. T.D. was hurt pretty bad, but also panicking too.
Looking back it seems that I helped a man flee the scene of an accident. I also saved him from some jail time, for driving under the influence. We ditched his car (or at least left it in that parking lot where it was slammed into the pole), and I drove him around, because at that moment he needed some help badly. He was too scared to go to a hospital for help due to what had just occurred, and what was in his system. As I recall we found a pay phone somewhere around downtown, so he could phone a lady he knew. She was either an old girlfriend, or a family friend.
Whoever this lady was, I was thankfully she was in the picture at that moment. T.D.'s big head gash needed some attention, and I am sure there were some other pains he was suffering at that time too. I forget the lady's name, but we were lucky to find that she was home. T.D. was able to stay with her and get some assistance with his injury, and through the rest of his trials, that were a result of this head on collision.
It has been a long, long time since I have seen this man, that was at times a running partner of mine. I do recall him telling my father and perhaps a few others "John saved my life". I'm not sure if I really saved the man's life, or if I just helped him evade some jail time. I do think the event did help him to quit drinking, or at least slow down his drinking quite a bit after that event. As I processed another event in my head, I wondered perhaps, if I was paying it forward.
A few months after 21, I received a DUI, but I remembered how committed the police officer was of my safety and those in the community. It was not one of these things you see on TV where they arrest the guy and just throw him in the back seat. It was "hey this guy made a mistake, and he knows it, but let's be supportive of him in his time of need".
I have no clue why I decided to post about either of these two big life events, but they both popped in my head as I reflected on that first marathon. Perhaps T.D. is still out there somewhere in the world. After that evening of his horrific crash, there was never a handshake again whenever our paths crossed. He would always approach me and give me one of those father-son type hugs. Memories can be life altering sometimes, but we never realize the impact they have on us until later down the road.
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