Indianapolis, IN

Brebeuf Jesuit High School

Run Time: 61:22 + 2-minute kick

Another lucky find within walking distance of the hotel. I had to navigate some busy city streets at rush hour to get to the school, but it was an oasis. An upscale private high school with beautiful grounds and a new track. There was construction going on, but nothing that impeded my run.

School appeared to be in session. There were quite a few students and what I assume was school personnel, but no one said a thing to me as I ran onto the track, did a few laps, and then peeled off to a perimeter trail.

Why didn’t someone say something? I ran down the main drive entrance to the school, around to the back, through a gated entrance to the track, and started doing laps. There were coaches or school personnel riding all over the place in golf carts. There were soccer teams on the field but no one using the track. A few laps in, the cheerleading squad came out for practice, so that is when I vacated in favor of the trail, where I had seen a couple of kids running.

The trail got a little damp in a few places. There had been a hellacious thunderstorm when I got to the hotel an hour or so earlier. I guess because I am an old white guy who ran right onto the track like he owned the place, nobody felt like challenging it. As I left the track, I noticed some kind of ticket booth on the side of the school I had not run around where they were checking people’s ID, or maybe scanning tickets. If it were important to keep someone out who didn’t belong, they were failing.

I actually tried to think of some fib I could tell if someone asked me who I was or why I was there. My kid was staying late for a study group – I was just killing time till they came out. I’m one-third Native American (there was a bust of a Native American at the entrance to the track), and I figured I should be able to run anywhere on the continent (I’m actually only about one-tenth). Or I thought I could just the truth: I’m a traveling salesman just trying to stay in decent shape.

Of course, no one should have a problem with someone wanting to run on a school track, no matter who they are or where they are from. But some tracks are locked up. It is inevitable – at some point, some patriot is going to try to kick me off some school property. That could be the turning of the tide for the One-Tenth Native Americans.