Author Archives: nicholaskemper

Hanson-Larsen Park Trail System Run Time: 33:56 (weather-abbreviated) Thought I could squeeze in this run before the thunder and lightning arrived, but not quite. Too bad. This is a great trail run venue. All of the mountain bike tracks had me a little nervous, but my new friend Brody told me all he ever seesContinue reading “Rapid City, SD”

Central Cass High School Run Time: 66:31 + 2:30 kick No locked gates at Central Cass. I’ve run on this track before. It’s wide open for community use. There were two softball games going on over at the ballfields — young players, all wearing pink uniform shirts with differentiating shorts. The snack shack appeared toContinue reading “Casselton, 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 IContinue reading “Williston, ND”

Songbird Creek Trail and other nearby trails Run Time: 66:25 + 2:30 kick My hotel in Billings was a relic. The Montana Trailhead Inn: 7 stories high, next to an old Convention Center. It has an open commons area with a piano, couches, and tables that you look down on from all floors — allContinue reading “Billings, MT”

Chinook Middle School Run Time: 66:19 + 2:30 kick This is my second, possibly third time running on this middle school track. It is an open, unfenced, well-kept shared space. On this day, I shared it with a youth baseball team practice on the field above the track, some middle-school football players practicing on theContinue reading “Kennewick, WA”

Spokane River Centennial State Park Trail Run Time: 66:18 + 2:30 kick Liberty Lake is a suburb of Spokane, on the east side. It is related to freedom, obviously. At least for the white settlers who cleared out the Native Americans like trees in an old-growth forest. My hotel was not far from the lake,Continue reading “Liberty Lake, WA”

Lewis & Clark Middle School Run Time: 65:59 + 2:30 kick I passed this middle school about half-mile from the hotel, and I could see the empty track, so that took the research out of it, which is sometimes half the work for me. It was a beautiful day, and as usual, I was starving,Continue reading “Meridian, ID”

Charly Weston Bike Trail/Charles City High School Run Time: 65:54 + 2:30 kick More serendipity. I saw the bike trail on my way through town to the hotel, and then it crossed the main drive only a quarter-mile or so away from the hotel. It crossed a bridge, wound through a patch of forest, andContinue reading “Charles City, IA”

Jordan Creek Parkway Trail Run Time: 65:53 + 2:30 kick What a beautiful, warm spring day, so beautiful that I changed my mind when I got to the hotel and opted for a run instead of a nap. Two long drives, from Sioux Falls to Omaha, then from Omaha to Des Moines, and then itContinue reading “West Des Moines, IA”

Sioux Falls Bike Trail Run Time: 65:52 + 2:30 kick This was not my first run down the old Sioux Falls Bike Trail. I was here last year and stayed at the same Holiday Inn Express and made the same walk across the same strip mall to the same river bank. This time I ranContinue reading “Sioux Falls, SD”