Run, Raven, Run

Here he comes.  Can you see him?  

Today, there are 3 others running with South Beach's native, nicknamed the Raven. 

Raven has run this 8 mile jog everyday for the past 39 years and is keeping his streak alive at age 63.

On this evening, Raven has a newcomer joining him that Raven has nicknamed Permission.  Raven nicknames all this running-friends who join him, all 1,942 of them over the 39 years of his streak. Close Call is running tonight, one of the Raven's regulars along with Poutine, another regular that Raven nicknamed because she has many French-Canadian friends who eat poutine but now she has given it up in her attempts to be healthy. I wrote about poutine when we visited the Skillet Diner, a good thing she has given it up. Close Call got his name because he worked in the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001 but had called in sick because of a bad case of food poisoning from the weekend before.  He is from Finland, now lives in Michigan, but comes down here 3 months of the year to live and will run with Raven.  And who is Permission?

Permission is a guy from Idaho on vacation who had to call his wife for permission to run the whole 8 miles instead of his usual 3 miles.  When he ran into Raven and decided to run with him, he knew he'd be out a lot longer than he told his wife, so he called for permission.  And I said "Yes, of course!  Do it!"  Bruce was Raven's 1,942 running-friend to join him.  Raven keeps track of it all.  He keeps track of all his running-friends' birthdays, too, and he says he's only got two dates in the calendar year that haven't been someone's birthday yet.  So, he immediately asked Bruce his birthday.  Bruce said they talked the whole 2 hours they jogged the beach.  You can read Raven's story here from the Southwest airline magazine.

The Long Run

This is where we read about Raven so it wasn't by total accident that Bruce ran into him. He has 6 different routes that he runs so Bruce asked a lifeguard where Raven was running and he told him so that's how Bruce found him.  He had already started running so Bruce caught up with him and they started running together.  Bruce had already run 2 of his 3 miles so he actually ran 10 miles today!!  Once Bruce started talking to Raven, he knew he wanted to run the whole way with him.

He is a very inspirational guy, well-spoken and motivational.  He's actually worked as a motivational speaker at one point, as well as a songwriter.  He also recently made a commerical with LaBron James for Nike.  He has run over 107,000 miles and is ranked No. 8 in America today. Believe it or not, there are more than 400 runners on an active running streak today.  Raven has a website where you can read more about him.

I gave Bruce a copy of our name and address to give Raven when they ran by so Raven can send Bruce his Raven Run T-shirt. The group today said it was rare that a newcomer like Bruce who doesn't usually run that distance actually finished with them.  There were actually 6 of them who started out but a few dropped off along the course.  Raven has dozens of running-friends who run with him on a regular basis.  So, what will our memory of South Beach be after our 36 hour visit? The run with Raven.