Why "Ragged Cap Runner"?

   Why the name "Ragged Cap Runner", you ask?
    It  does seem like an oddly inappropriate moniker for a running blog, I'd be the first to admit.
   The name came to me perhaps over a year ago as I was writing a blog post and I wanted to end the post off with a fairly flippant, toss-away line to describe myself. I happened to be looking at a picture of me wearing the cap I almost exclusively wore at the beginning of my running career. I saw a runner who was wearing a ragged cap and, all of the sudden, "ragged cap runner" popped into my head. And I kinda liked it!

The cap, before it became "ragged"!

   I never thought about it much after that, but as I became more and more dissatisfied with calling my blog "Strides", the more and more "Ragged Cap Runner" seemed to appeal. Hence the switch.
   Here's why it's actually an appropriate title.
   I identify with that old, sweat-stained, torn-up cap. It is rough around the edges in much the same way that I am, at this stage of my life. I'm in my sixties now and and have lost some of the lustre we all lose as we age. I've got aches and pains I never used to have, loose skin has appeared, wrinkles abound and the skin is marked. The legs are generally willing but they sometimes struggle with a mind that is not. And vice-versa.
   It's a body which has seen much and done much, though, and the ragged cap symbolizes all of that. It has seen a lot of golf, it has seen a lot of sand and it has seen a lot of blistered and nicked fingers. It has traveled most of the way across Canada. Like me, it is old and tattered. But you know what? It still works fine and so do I!