The Night I Wore Running Shoes to the Club

When I was 19 I began going to my hometown's downtown area. Growing up, my town's downtown bar/club scene was pretty much nonexistent. Many college students would leave my town to go to nearby cities which always bothered me. I had hopes that my hometown would change and become an awesome place for young bar goers to enjoy. Amazingly enough, when I became the right age to be able to go into bars, my cherished downtown was growing with me. I will always remember standing in line for the opening of a dress code style night club with a friend. We were both so amazed that our town was opening a nightclub. This nightclub actually required patrons to dress fresh too. Oh, fact that some nights were 18+ was awesome and a welcome change.
Flash forward 6 years...that nightclub is now a new bar with a variety of well marketed ideas for each day of the week. I was amused by the clever Manic Monday deals. In essence though, my beloved, tiny downtown has become something that I used to dream about. The bars that I used to enjoy going to at 19+ and then as a new drinker at 21 were fun but they were never a collective place that was talked about amongst many with a positive remembrance. The downtown bars which have often changed names, remain familiar to me in many ways. Almost beyond belief, these same bars that I enjoyed when few others did, began to thrive. In an ironic shift, the hometown that many of my friends could not wait to get away from after completing their teens and early twenties has begun to be a solid place.
I'm still ready to move on though. Now when I go out downtown, Im often flooded with memories of past times with strangers I once called friends. I have happy, sad, painful, amazing, even life-changing memories formed in my downtown. It's now time to find a downtown that will allow me a fresh start. I must say though, I'm excited for the next group of fresh, young bar goers in my hometown to finally have solid options of bars downtown. It's refreshing to say that I'm proud of my hometown and it's growing downtown. I will never forget my times on that one, small block. I will remember with a smile my night out downtown in my running shoes. As I have learned...a person knows they need to move on when the desire to stand out becomes null and yet, they begin to stand out like never before.