Williston, ND

Williston High School

Run Time: 66:30 + 2:30 kick

A long day of driving. Started in Winnipeg, planned to drive 288 miles to Minot, then 122 miles to Williston. Then a prospect I was scheduled to meet three days later in Fargo emailed to ask if we could meet in Grand Forks instead. So I diverted 146 miles to Grand Forks, then 211 miles to Minot, then 122 miles to Williston. So 410 miles turned into 478 miles, which put me at the hotel after 6:30.

So I didn’t feel like running. I was drowsy and hungry. But it was beautiful out, and I had not run the two previous days, and there was a high school nearby, so I changed into my running attire and drove the rental car to the high school, where I found the track… restricted. The gates were padlocked, and there were actually signs that said stay off the field, because it was for high school athletics only.

Well, fuck you, Williston School District. Here is this beautiful, relatively new running track, sitting unused for the whole summer, with a new housing development right next door, local citizens walking the sidewalks around the school. I would run the sidewalks, more in protest than anything else. I would run around the perimeter of the school, with my rental car with Texas plates parked right in the middle of the big, open, empty parking lot, which was probably meant for students, staff, and parents only.

This is one of the obstacles I come across that burns my ass. Why chain off a public school track? If anything, runners jogging on the track deter vandalism and loitering and unwelcome activity. When school is not in session, school grounds can be community space, where citizens who pay for the schools can exercise and commune and feel welcome and trusted.

So I’m coming around the east side of the building, and I look over at the track, and what’s this? A breach at Gate 7! Some coach left the gate unlocked, probably the football coach. No signs at this gate. I’m in!

I’m just wondering, what is the reason for closing off the track? I have seen a few that are in big cities, in sketchy areas, where you could justify keeping everyone out. I would argue that even those tracks would benefit by allowing runners and walkers. This track is in a small town, with nothing but open prairie on one side, and new housing on the other.

I was waiting for the local sheriff to show up, siren wailing, guns drawn, to escort me off the track, possibly to the hoosegow. One of the walkers would report me, no doubt, for trespassing and scoffing the law. I was ready for a showdown, but no such luck. I ran unbothered and criminally fast, because I was so pumped at finding entry through Gate 7.

A small gesture of protest, ignoring the signs of oppression posted at the main gate. In actuality, probably nobody cares about me, or anyone else, running on the track. It’s probably one person, one ridiculously rules-oriented school board member or school administrator or overinvolved parent, who made a pointless stand because they could. Someone who is unhappy, so they want everyone else to be unhappy. Unfortunately, sometimes one person can do a whole lot of damage.

Hopefully that person will move along, or go away, or be removed from power. We don’t need to be exclusionary. Do you know anyone like that? Anyone who thinks we need to put gates or walls around the field to keep out the outsiders? Maybe the citizens of Williston will rise up and remove that person from power. One can dream.

Be the thistle that grows up through the crack in the astroturf. Be the runner who finds the unlocked gate. Resist tyranny. Unseat the despot.