Richard Karampatsos’ Blog Across 50 States

Softly I Yelled (Within the Shadow of the Cross) ©1976

           Rrrick Karampatsos

A cold blizzard in New England;

Mother Nature in gown of snow.

Her newest gown  spread over us,

   while music of hard blizzard winds blow.

At first, eyes light up to the sky;

Cleanliness is felt inside.

But all so soon the fresh feeling

  Is turned spoiled and set aside.

The snow for others in stuck cars

alone the highway of the state

was cold, dirty and all so cruel.

   They felt no warmth; just cold hate.

But as I was among the others

Of paralyzed traffic and man;

   The burden of it all was light-

    I had the warmth of a hand.

Others felt the hardness of it all;

The snow and the wind that did blow.

   To me this was ‘White Heaven’-

     with my Lord Jesus Christ,

     I felt the warmth of snow

I am sure that most of you folks have heard or read about ‘shadow boxing’. No doubt, the question you are asking is: “What in the world is Rrrick talking about now and what does that have to do with running? I will be glad to explain.
First let’s look at the definition of the word ‘shadow’: a figure projected by the interception of light; shade; an inseparable companion; an imperfect representation; to represent faintly; to follow closely…This should work nicely to get me were I want to go with my course on ‘Shadow Running’. And remember, years from now runners will recall that they first read about it here long before it became popular worldwide! Read the rest of this entry »

Life has changed for me since I became so involved with running. There’s the obvious things like needing to schedule my time between work, shopping, church activities, Bible study and prayer time, writing, — but now being married to Donna I want to make sure we have quality time in addition to somehow making time to run, workout at home and at the Y.M.C.A.

Those of us who have seriously taken up this sport with its blend from walking, jogging to running are ‘LQQKING DIFFERENTLY’…I mean by that that I have noticed that my vision – the way I see things like signs, maps and directions now cause my thinking to focus in a different direction. Let me give some examples! Read the rest of this entry »

A number of years ago when my four sons were teenagers, the family took an unexpected trip from our home in the Boston, MA area to Pittsburg, PA.  It came about because my son Jason (a die hard Braves baseball fan) found tickets for the 7th game in the playoffs. I promised that if he got the tickets, I would drive.  The promise was kept and this unexpected adventure became part of our family store of memories.

I will cut right to one of the ‘highlights of the story’ and be as brief as I can without leaving out the important facts. Read the rest of this entry »

There are a limited amount of Heading Toward the Final Finish Line by RRRick Karampatsos available direct from the author. Read the rest of this entry »

Rrrick’s story tells how faith helps us approach many finish lines in life. He speaks of the
effort, expense, and pain expended for marathons and goes the extra mile to compare that
to preparing for the ‘final finish line.’

Read the rest of this entry »

The truth is solidly this. Even If I shared with you all of the emotional, physical and spiritual details you would not understand. Not because you are a person who has not lived the life that I have; not because we may differ in our spiritual or religious faith – not for a number of other reasons…You stare and wonder – questions are asked about me and why I do what I do. You know that I am in my early sixties, have had more accidents than anyone else you have ever known or read about – these facts alone have you just shake your head and wonder. Yes, wonder for a brief moment if I was maybe a little crazy. But, you admit that I look normal – in fact, in great shape and have achieved things  that none of the people you know have ever come close to…But – the questions remain unanswered  to the point that you really do not understand the core reasons of why and how I can continue doing what I do. Read the rest of this entry »

America looks a lot smaller on the map now. Not too many years ago, six years to be exact, I had only been in thirteen of them – all of which lined up on the East Coast. As I look at the map before me, I notice that I could fit most all of the states that I have been in into two or three of the larger ones out west! Because of the marathons that I have run in all of the states (and DC), I think of the word America differently – I also feel an emotion deep within my heart as I read or say, The United States of America. Read the rest of this entry »

Photos from RRRick’s Maui race

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