I'm sure I'm not the only person who dreads the end of summer. Maybe dread is too strong a word. How 'bout lament? Yes. That's more romantic. Lament, noun, a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. Boom. Nailed it. I'm sure I'm not the only person who laments the end of summer. In Michigan, a …
Tag: runhappy
Any way the wind blows…
The strange saga of racing in a "bomb cyclone" With five minutes to race time, we reluctantly staggered into the pouring rain and howling wind. As we ventured from our safe haven of the Loy Norrix High School lobby, sheets of rain blew across the parking lot, carried by the improbable 50 mph winds. The announcer, already soaking wet and …
Snow Daze
The Polar Vortex has descended, the lake effect snow has piled on, and schools across Michigan (and Wisconsin and Minnesota and Illinois) are shut down. With wind chills dipping into the preposterous -40 and -50 range, Governor Whitmer has declared a State of Emergency and most state agencies are shuttered. In Kalamazoo, Western Michigan University …
Running Jams: 2018
Welcome to the final edition of A Running Life for the year 2018. I started this blog in September to share stories from the trail, drop some halfhearted wisdom, and take time to truly reflect on this foolish obsession of mine. I've managed to string together a few hundred words every Thursday and some people …
The Iceman Cometh.
"Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks." — Tom Petty This morning's run was a rock. I lumbered my way through the usual 3-mile loop with all the grace and dignity of a broken washing machine, shuffling from side to side to avoid patches of black ice while hacking up the lingering phlegm of a …
Thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. It is currently Thanksgiving morning, 7:32 am. I'm sitting in our room at the Holiday Inn Express in Frankenmuth, Michigan, looking out the window at a gorgeous sunrise coming up over the Yankee Candle and Tervis Tumbler stores. I wasn't planning on writing anything today; but as I sit …
The Streak.
Young Kato after finishing the Kalamazoo Marathon in 2014, the first year of THE STREAK Today is day 1,780 of my running streak. I haven't missed a day since January 1, 2014 and am currently tied with 16 other lunatics for the 510th longest active running streak in the United States. (Apparently the first of …
How To Run.
Last week I wrote about the transition from fall running (marathon training, cross country season, sweat leafy goodness) to winter running (cold, snow, cold snow). Despite the descending temperatures and earlier sunsets, November is one of the best times of the year to start running — or, to resume running after months (or years...) of absenteeism. This …
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.
November is here. The leaves are coming down, the temperature continues its steady descent, and Halloween is a preposterous memory. Daylight Savings Time comes to an end this weekend; it's the good time change, as I annually remind my wife. We "fall back" and get that blessed extra hour of sleep. Election Day (which really ought to be …
Marathon Six.
The marathon run, and it's unique distance of 26.2 miles, is taken from the pages of Greek history. In 490 BC, a Greek solider named Phiddepiddes ran from Marathon to Athens, approximately 26 miles, to announce the defeat of the Persian army. Upon arriving in Athens, he had just enough time to shout "Niki!" (Victory!) …
A Running Life 