Fathers and Sons

Patrick O'Grady chats with his old friend and colleague Hal Walter about the running career of Hal's son, Harrison. Patrick's father was a ball-sports kind of guy, and the two never connected on that level. But Harrison has grown up sharing his father's love of running, and he just completed his first season with the high-school cross-country team. This might be unremarkable if Harrison were not autistic. But he is, and it adds what gymnasts, divers and equestrians call "a degree of difficulty" to the basic activity. After some ups and downs during the regular season Harrison failed to qualify as a varsity athlete for the 2018 Colorado cross-country championships. But it turned out that he was eligible to run states in an event for special-needs kids. He wanted to run, but his dad had some concerns, and Hal shares the story with us in this episode of Radio Free Dogpatch. Background music is "The Matador's Entry" from ZapSplat. Audio clip from the Colorado state championship meet supplied by Hal Walter. Interview recorded using FaceTime with a Shure SM58 microphone, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB audio interface, and Ecamm's Call Recorder for FaceTime, which apparently will not survive Apple's transition to Mojave. Edited in Apple's GarageBand.