The Don Linville Memorial 50k, 2007-
A runners report by Jim Linville, 8/25/2007   

Photograph by Paul Hurla

“Where did you go?” That was a very good question posed to me by the blonde headed young man in the little white sports car as I rounded the corner for the last two blocks of a 31.2 mile run. “I saw you every where today”, he continued. Where had I gone? “To McDonalds & back” was the answer I gave, but that was only the short of it. Where had I gone would be hard to explain.

            At 8:00 a.m. the Race Director, Paul Hurla, let go with the starting whistle. Four males & two females of various age groups were lined up at the starting line on the old highway by the Breckenridge High School. The 5k course & the 50k course were both out & back, only a zero made the difference. The 5k field consisted of a mother & her daughter, Kathy & Katy Lee of K.C., Mo., a father & his son, Mike & Joe Resor of Chillicothe & one more gentleman that looked like he had run a race or two. Rob Clevenger of Cameron. The 50k field consisted of Jim Linville of Columbia, one of the founders of the Don Linville Memorial 50k returning for a 3rd running. Brother John is back again this year to man the support crew of the Linville team.

            As the 5k runners sprinted past the gates to the cemetery, the lone 50k runner turned in. The half mile figure 8 through the Rose Hill Cemetery quickly approached the grave of Donald Wayne Linville. How could one man have made such a difference in only 25 years on this earth? 18 roses lay at the headstone, “I love you, Johnny. I love you, Donny. Got to go, Mom. See ya later Daddy.” A quick hug & that was it for the memorial service. Miles to go before we rest. “Where did you go?” “I went to see my family.”

            The sweltering heat of the Mid-Missouri summer had climbed into the triple digits for going on two weeks. Training for a day long run was grueling. But I felt stronger than I have ever felt before. I knew that I was going to break open a new record in the Don Linville Memorial 50k. On to Chillicothe we went. Twenty five minutes running & five minutes walking, mile upon mile, hour after hour. That was the way I trained & that was the way I ran. It left little room for error. I cut three minutes off of last year’s time & that was with a stop for lunch with an old friend, Chuck, at McDonalds. He awoke abruptly Friday morning with the announcement over the radio alarm that Jim Linville would be doing a fund raiser running from Breckenridge to Chillicothe on Saturday. “Don’t stop to pick this man up.” What a way to start the day. “Where did I go?” I went to the edge of my limits.

            Chuck had been one of the old friends at dinner the night before. Paul Hurla, the race director, along with my road crew, our wives & half dozen old friends. I can’t help but smiling, even laughing at the memories we conjured up. All the ones that weren’t there became the topics of conversation, “where had they all gone & what were they doing.” As fortune would present itself, one of our favorite topics, passed away that night in a motorcycle accident about the same time we were discussing “where had they gone.” How tragically ironic.
         
   But, ironic was the path that this course often takes. The first year I ran this course, as I stepped out off of the black top county road onto highway 36, an older gentleman pulled up from the opposite direction. “Jimmy! Is that you?” It was the undertaker that had put my father to rest on that cold February morning back in 1965. Ironic? Where did I go? I went to see old friends, dear, bittersweet, old friends.
         
   This past year we established a scholarship at the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg in the memory of our late brother Donald Linville. This year’s event earned us $178.20 in donations. Some very generous friends it is that I have. I challenged my co-workers in the University of Missouri Health Care’s Hospital Patient Accounts to express their opinion as to whether I should let my hair grow or continue to keep it shaved. Then I upped the anti by dying my hair bright red & my goatee pink, The Flaming Ampersand. We will continue to grow the Don Linville Scholarship until it reaches at least ten thousand dollars. At that point, it will be endowed & take care of itself by earning interest. Until then, you will hear another story or two like this from me. Where did I go? I went to be with family & friends & that is where I’ll stay.