Tag Archives: running
Youth
I live in a little valley beneath the local high school track, where each May youngsters from area schools gather to compete in hurdles, sprints, relays and field events. Their physiques vary widely: Some are small and awkward as colts, having barely encountered puberty; others appear to have come neatly through that hormonal tumult and […]
Time
On a recent trail run, I approached from behind a mother walking hand-in-hand with her little girl. It was a lovely sight — this young woman walking patiently at the child’s slow but determined pace — and as I moved past them the little girl beamed up at me, her big blue eyes bright with the […]
Praise
Springtime in the Rockies is characterized by nothing if not snow, and today was a bountiful testament. I could feel it in the light seeping though my bedroom window as I stirred and stretched — following the example of my wise cats — then picked my way gingerly down the steep bedroom stairs to see what […]
Mike’s grave
Up the hill from my home is a cemetery opening onto a foothills trail that leads to a high school track, where a runner long sidelined might begin again, might test against age and injury the possibility of recovery, or at least resilience. And then might walk home through the cemetery, but not before stopping […]
Knowing Jack
Being a terminal geek, I was thrilled to learn recently that Roku has added to its line-up of television streaming options a channel devoted to The Jack LaLanne Show. If you are of a certain age — say, prehistoric, like me — you will recall LaLanne as the more knowledgeable, more appealing and way less […]
From my cat, I catch contentment
Some strange grace arises from the hand buried in the soft fur of my cat’s purring belly and spreads up my arm to the rotator cuff that tore and mended poorly, through the hollow of my chest wherein beats raggedly the perplexed heart, down the depthless region of fulfilled and disappointed desire, into the […]
Mountain marathon mettle
Megan Kimmel, 38, sprints to the finish of the 2018 Pikes Peak Marathon; her time of 4:15:04 beat the 1981 course record by 14 slim seconds. The race and its sister, the Pikes Peak Ascent, grace my little mountain town each August. They provide an unforgettable experience for runners, one I still dream — however […]
Tongue-tied
My usual trail run was a little slow the other day, because it’s hard to run when you’re laughing. I had been tooling along my regular 6.5-mile route, wending up and down hills, when I encountered a long string of high-school runners heading the other direction. The local cross-country team, gearing up for the new […]
The shape of goodness
A couple weeks ago, I got one of those phone calls you don’t want to get, the ones that — this you realize later — divide time into before and after. What?” I said. “What?” Uncomprehending. Because Mike was a runner — perhaps the best known runner in this large and lively running community — […]
Gnat, or Everything is Illuminated
A gnat flew into my mouth while I was running this morning, and despite the customary courtesies — the coughing and hacking to set it free — it lingered at the back of my throat, then slipped inexorably into my gullet. I was sad for a moment, but then not, because how likely is it, […]
Meditatio Ephemera 