RUNNING IN MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND

    I am in the process of completing my application for the Half Marathon race and couldn't 
do so without sending these thoughts your way.  They   may not make it into any form of 
print, but I would like to share them regardless.


    This will be my twelfth year participating at the Avenue and this year will be different--and 
not only because I will do the Half Marathon instead of the 10K.   This year I will be traveling 
and running without Stan, my devoted husband of 42 years and my best running buddy.  Last year Stan 
crossed the 10K finish line just three weeks before being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma and 
just six weeks before he died.  On the program for the memorial service, we used a picture of Stan 
taken at the Avenue 2005 finish line and the words "They that wait upon the Lord...shall run and 
not be weary."

    During Stan's short illness we were proud of the fact that he had so recently completed a 10K, 
but most of all we were happy for the quality of life our running provided in retirement.  We retired 
to Eugene from Illinois in late 1993.  Beginning in 1994, the highlight of every spring--we missed only 
one for an important family event--was our beautiful trip from Eugene down the Oregon Coast to the 
California Redwoods.  Although Stan wasn't feeling tops last year and his running times had deteriorated 
terribly over the two years previous, he was determined to go and to participate.  Stan had a 
curmudgeonly side to him, and some may remember the year he complained when they ran out of paper in 
the porta-potties.  But mostly he had a kind heartand deep appreciation for nature: he would have wanted 
everyone he had met and talked to over the years to know how much he enjoyed being a part of a very 
special race in one of the most beautiful spots in the world.             

Suzanne Rodkey 
3428 Timberline Drive  
Eugene, OR  97405 
(541) 687-65