MY YOUNGER years of running half and full marathons gave me some great memories.

Like starting the race at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York with more than 20,000 other runners.

And covering most of the course at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington with a good buddy on a beautiful fall day.

Taking part in eight long races over 10 years or so also gave me some unique and downright strange experiences.

Like running past an empty lot in Harlem where a man was chasing a chicken with a tire iron.

And getting flashed by a man in a long black raincoat in Georgetown, seeing the most beautiful day ever along a stretch of Philadelphia's Schuylkill River and running into (almost literally) one of my high school teachers on the marathon course in Richmond.

All these runner's memories are swirling around this week as Fredericksburg plays host to its first really large-scale run, the inaugural Marine Corps Historic Half marathon today.

Though many folks here didn't realize what was happening until waves of runners and their families streamed into town, those of us who have experienced races like this in other cities had a rough idea of what to expect.

I welcome them all to our fair city and applaud them for the hard work they've already put into training in order to be able to run 13.1 miles.

My experience with distance running started when I was in high school.

I was interested in running track because all my pals did, but it didn't take me long to realize that speed wasn't my thing.

Seeing all the guys gravitate toward things like the 100-yard dash or 220-yard sprints, I noticed that precious few guys wanted to run the two-mile race.

Given the way athletes now run as far as 100 miles in a race, it's hard to believe that back then, there was serious concern that two miles was too far.

Because of the "inordinate strain" that could cause, girls at my school weren't allowed to run that far. And coaches were told to keep a close watch on the guys who did.