Willie Nelson Joins My Campaign?

Willie Nelson apparently heard of my habit of wearing a red bandanna when I run, and has posed to show off his support of my efforts.

Why a bandanna? Why red? Complicated questions you ask, pilgrim. When I first began running as a wee tot, in my mid-teen years, it was the early 1980s. I read in Runner's World, I think, a story about someone wearing one, or maybe there was a picture of him (was it marathoner Ron Hill? Miler John Walker?). I let my hair grow longer. Image was where the action was, if speed was not available in my legs. I sweat from my forehead, so the practical side mattered as much as image.

Now, older, in the constant midst of the runner's dilemma, I wear something for necessity, and the red bandanna, I think, as an homage to memory, to the reminder of the rebellious fight against the conqueror worm.

See the related Time Magazine interview with Willie. And no, no. Willie has no idea what I'm doing, though I understand one of his staff is a very serious Ironman Triathlete. Hear Willie and Sheryl Crow sing "On the Road Again."