I started running in the 1980s, and by the late 1980s, I started doing races. I wasn’t great, but I would place in my age group every once in a while. I had heard about a 5K in Plains, and even though they never advertised it, the former President Jimmy Carter usually passed out the trophies. I thought it would be pretty cool to have a former President hand you an award, so in 1994, I decided to give it a try. I ran a good race that day, but I figured it was unlikely that I would win anything. Sure enough, President Carter was there that year handing out the awards. It was actually worth the trip to see him. So, they announced first place in my age group, and it was not me. Second place, not me. But when they called out third place, it was me. I had made the podium by the narrowest of margins. A running friend captured the moment.
I may have weighed 135 pounds soaking wet, and if you had never seen President Carter before, he could have been any old Plains farmer. There were Secret Service agents around if you were looking for them, but they did an excellent job of blending in with the crowd. I took my family down to that race a couple of years later. President Carter and his wife Rosalynn were both there that year, and they couldn’t have been more gracious. My children, who did the 1-mile fun run, were able to meet and speak with them. President Carter even signed their race numbers. Sometimes we forget that these men who take on the monumental job of President are just men. When you meet them in their home town, you get a better picture. Now when I think of President Carter, I don’t think of the man who ruled over the most powerful nation in the world; I think of the kind, gentle man I met in Plains.