The time — 2 hours, 13 minutes, 55 seconds — wasn’t stellar.
But the socks were. And so were the spectators.
For that 2:13:55 on Saturday morning during the Garry Bjorklund Half-Marathon, I wasn’t Jimmy Bellamy, I was: "Orange Socks," "Nice orange socks," "Go, orange socks," "I like your orange socks!"
I’ll admit, I’m not a runner. I’m a soccer player. I lack a passion for running, which makes it difficult to dedicate the time to properly train for runs like a half-marathon and Grandma’s Marathon. That’s why the socks played such a huge role.
I fed off the commentary from spectators who lined the 13.1-mile course from the North Shore Scenic Highway to Canal Park in Duluth. It gave me a much-needed boost each time those magical words — orange socks — were uttered. I thought, "I can’t possibly slow down now" each time someone called attention to my bright-orange Adidas soccer socks.
I wore them in honor of my adult league soccer team, Joe Golcz State Farm Insurance Agency, and complemented them with a green Marvel superheroes T-shirt to show my Irish pride.
Ironically, I opted for blue socks in my soccer team’s game later Saturday.
Thanks go out to all the people who noticed the orange socks.