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: trailrunning
Running Kzoo.
Borgess Wishes & Oberon Dreams I've participated in the Borgess Run for the Health of It festival of races every year since 2013, with one brief interlude in Pittsburgh which doesn't need to be mentioned. But after all these years, it FINALLY occurred to me why the event has such a bizarre name. "Run for …
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, …
Positively Unstoppable.
How yoga (and a retired pro wrestler) saved my running streak and helped me own my life. Last week I got a free t-shirt in the mail. Wait, I take that back. It wasn't "free" in the traditional sense. No money changed hands. I paid for it in sweat. I finally crossed the 100,000 point …
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 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 