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: runner
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 …
Fabruary.
As winter drags on with no end in sight, how do we keep hope alive? Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures Winter. I'm over it. Whatever whimsy or curiosity or snowy wonder lingered on past Christmas and into January has been beaten down and snuffed out. In Michigan, we've endured snow storms, ice storms, sudden thaws, …
Running Jams: Weezer’s “White Album”
Want a hot take? The White Album is Weezer's best album. I realize this statement will be received in exactly two ways: "Are you out of your mind? This is late-career Weezer. This is lightyears away from the Blue Album and Pinkerton" or "What is Weezer?" No matter which camp you belong to, I hope you hear …
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 …
No Country For Slow Men
"Oh no. You're going to write about this in your blog." The famous last words of my dear friend Jon Schlosser. OK, maybe not his actual last words (thankfully) but his last words after a long and arduous ordeal where, after exerting improbable mental and physical energy, our bodies spent and beaten in the snow, …
Running Sick
I finally went to the doctor last week. I don't fall into many traditional male stereotypes (see: garish jewelry, long hair, fondness for gossip), with the marked exception of never seeing a medical professional until it's past the point of necessity. So when I started showing the telltale symptoms of a sinus infection back in …
Long May You Run, Bella.
Remembering Bella, 2004 - 2019 Yesterday our beloved family dog Bella passed away. She was a 14 year-old mutt; or, a crazy, ferocious, wild, coyote, fox, wolf, hound, beast dog (according to my dad). She loved going for walks, playing catch, chilling on the couch, and wrestling around with my dog, Basher. She had a …
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 …
Numbers.
Showing off my half-marathon number (and month-old tattoo) on Mackinac Island, October 2009. On Monday I ran my 2,500th mile of 2018. It was the first time crossing that elusive threshold in a calendar year — and there's still about two weeks left to tack on another hundred miles or so. A few years back, maybe 2011 or 2012, I challenged myself to join the (imaginary?) 2,000 …
A Running Life 