Alma, NE

Pheasant Ridge Trail

Run Time 61:50 + 2-minute kick

Alma is way down in south-central Nebraska, near the Kansas border. It is small. Subway is the only fast-food option. The Motel 8 was closer to a 4.5. I was not expecting to find a good place to run. But there was. A very well maintained cement path ran along a large lake just south of town. It made turns and went up and down rises and in and out of groves of trees. The grass on either side was runnable. It was another lucky find.

I passed a few dog-walkers, and they came up a rise, and a group of teenagers came running toward me — must have been a cross country team. They were going the other direction, in groups of 2 to 5, probably 25 in all. The last few were walking, way behind the others. I got nods and smiles and a thumbs-up from some of the boys. The girls just gave me a “what’s this old dude doing out here running” look.

I think it is valuable for some high schooler in rural Nebraska to see an old geezer out running at dinner time. They might be thinking, running sucks, I don’t know why I joined the cross country team. Or I’m going to be in this excellent physical shape all of my life, regardless of whether or not I keep running. But then they see me, and they might think, that’s cool, I think I’ll keep running till I’m 70.

I’m nowhere near 70. I’m just thinking what some hayseed Nebraska cross country runner might think.

They were a healthy-looking group of kids, not a single overweight one in the group. That speaks well for the area. You generally can’t say that about kids in most places, or adults for that matter, but I suppose a cross country team would not attract the massive. Still, I was thinking maybe the entire Senior class in a town this small would be 25 kids, so it was encouraging to see 25 athletic kids out running in the sun.

I saw several hawks, and a few deer tracks, along the trail. The bugs were abundant. A lot of crickets and grasshoppers. As I mentioned on my last visit to Nebraska, the fly is a common regional companion, but out here in the wetlands I did not encounter any. The lake was low, but picturesque nonetheless. It was a very peaceful run, one I will probably never repeat, given the remote location of Alma, Nebraska, and its unfortunate dearth of a decent hotel.