North High School

Run Time: 59:04 + 1-lap kick

Sunny, but cold and windy. Too nice to not run, not too nice to run. The track was deserted – my favorite. I normally do not travel on Sundays, but this week I have to be home Thursday, so I drove to the location of my first sales visit and enjoyed a work-free evening at the hotel.

I got back onto my modified Prefontaine program. For my three running sessions, I ran a little faster each time. For the first 10 minutes, I was just short of 4 laps outer lane. For the second 10 minutes, I was just over 4 laps outer lane. For the third set, I was just over 4 laps outer lane, but the run time was only 9:06. The 1-lap kick was actually a little shower than that set. I was shot at that point.

It felt good to work that hard, to breathe that hard. It felt even better to know I actually ran faster the second set, and even faster the third set. Kicking it up for one lap is one thing. Kicking it up for four laps is tough. I nearly coughed up a lung a few minutes after the run. I think I still have some leftover respiratory matter from my recent cold – or I did, anyway.

I have a lot of travel planned for the next 2 months. After I drive home Thursday from Des Moines, Barb and I drive right back to Storm Lake, Iowa, the next day for a funeral service. After we drive back home Sunday, I fly out the next morning to Minnesota for a week. After I get back from that, we have back-to-back road trips to see the kids – Alex and Rachel in NC, Samantha, Sophie, and Kevin in Ohio. Then I have a few days at home before a 2-week sales trip to WY/MT/SK/AB/ID.

I am just looking forward to the Spring weather. I am looking forward to running in shorts. I am looking forward to driving with the sunroof open. I am looking forward to no piles of dirty snow in the hotel parking lot. I am looking forward to green fields. Road travel in the winter in the Northern U.S. is no fun. I like fun. Bring on the sun.

Scranton Middle School

Run time: 58:14 + 2-minute kick

It was sunny in Brighton. Who could have predicted?

I actually never ran on the Scranton Middle School track, but if I ever stay in Brighton again, I will. It looked very nice. Plus there were trails through the school grounds woods. I thought it was walking distance from the hotel. Turns out it was long distance running distance.

So I cobbled together a run along busy roadways with no sidewalks, around ballparks, through suburban neighborhoods, and down well-manicured ditches. I got to the school over halfway through the run, so I just had to turn around and cobble back toward the hotel. There was actually a guy on a riding lawnmower going over his lawn in one neighborhood. There couldn’t have been much grass to mow, and if he was mowing just to collect the seven leaves that had congregated on his lawn, well, that was overkill.

Random running is not my normal gig. I do not settle in to my run if I do not see the complete setting in my mind. I kept looking at my map app to see how far I was from the school, and what might be the best route to get there, and could I run between two houses to get to a different road. I do not recommend looking at your phone while running.

When the time changes in Spring, I will go back to trail-running. I cannot risk running on a trail in the dark. Track running I can do in the dead of night. I often ran well after dark on the middle school track near our home in Oregon. It is exhilarating to run late at night on a warm summer night, listening to the crickets and the barking of dogs. If you take off the headphones, that is.

Running is a stream-of-consciousness activity. Well, I guess most things are. Running is a freer stream-of-consciousness activity than tasks requiring thought. It’s the body that is doing the work. You can’t let the mind control how to land your foot. Freed from control, it wanders and meanders. It is almost meditative, especially when the breathing is rhythmic. For some reason, meditation is the pursuit of mindfulness, yet also absence of thought. Running is mindlessness.

And the road goes ever on and on.

Avondale High School

Running time: 58:12 + 1-lap kick

A cold, windy track run. No stairs. The bleachers were slick and aluminum and not very accessible. It felt good, though, to just stretch out and run laps, like I used to at the junior high track near our home in Oregon.

I tried Pontiac High School first. It was a mile or so closer to the hotel. Beautiful track, all locked up. What is the harm of leaving a single gate open? Is there going to be rampant vandalism? Are we going to have kids smoking pot in the open, fresh air? If you welcome runners to your school track, you are basically employing a fit, vigilant volunteer security crew. Who appreciates the fact that your track is accessible to them and allowing them to generate endorphins and prolong their life, and they will hunt down and kill anyone who endangers that.

Public schools are community facilities. Never mind that I am not a long-term member of the Pontiac community. I am a temporary member, and I will honor my temporary membership with impeccable behavior. School districts should reach out to community organizations and invite them to use public school facilities, without remuneration, and without a registration and application process that deters and obstructs. Near our house in Oregon, there was a elementary school, the gymnasium of which a local church used every Sunday for services. Never mind about separation of church and state – it was a great partnership. You know they left that gym cleaner than they received it. And more blessed.

The good people of Avondale know this, and they welcomed me to their blustery track with open gates. Kids were coming and going to this or that athletic practice, and a group were kicking a soccer ball around on the adjacent pitch, and SUVs were pulling up and idling for half-hours at a time for pickup and dropoff, and no one harangued me for running on the track without permission. Permission is implied. Public schools are public spaces. I can see why we do not want random adults wandering into middle school libraries during the school day, but open up a gym when it’s not in use and invite the locals in for some pickup basketball. Drag the baseball field in July and invite the locals in for sandlot ball. Find local artists and ask them if they will teach community members how to draw or paint or play guitar in one of the empty classrooms on a weekend or in the evening.

Will it go perfectly? No. Will it be worth it? Hell, yes.

Mount Pleasant High School

Run time: 58:10 + 1-lap kick

Another lonely winter track, with leaves piled onto walkways, and mats laid across the track for the football players to access the field. This one had cement grandstands on both sides, so I ran a lot of stairs. The grandstands were built on human-made hills, which helped to block the wind.

Yes, we had sun. It does not rain a lot in Michigan, but neither does it sun a lot. What it does a lot is cloud. This is way different from Utah. My guess is that everyone in Michigan is Vitamin D deficient. So the blue sky this day was welcome.

The stairs were tricky – uneven, non-uniform, and crumbly. This made it interesting. Since I learned about the proper pitch of stairs by watching “This Old House,” I am keenly aware of stairs that require a stride too long or too short. Uneven pitches are good for the brain – they demand attention. I caught the toe of my running shoe just once, on the way up, so no emergency room visits.

It was a cold, dry week. I was able to circumnavigate the state in our Honda Accord – no need to rent an AWD. The 2+ feet of snow we got right before Christmas had melted away, along with the giant icicles that hung from our eaves. The snow interrupted my home running schedule. Samantha and Sophie flew in Christmas morning and stayed till New Year’s Eve. I got my exercise dancing and running up and down the hall and laughing and clowning around.

Christopher was also home for a month. He lobbied hard to go to the cinemas to watch “Violent Night.” We did. We sat in the empty theater, eating popcorn and alternately laughing and cringing. Was it the best artistic work I have seen? No. Was it funny and well-made? Yes. I have a feeling it will become part of the family holiday film canon in years to come.

It was a low-key Christmas. Alex and Rachel flew to Utah to be with her family. Kevin stayed home to watch the dog. They would have added to the frivolity. Back in Oregon there would be drop-in visits from friends to add some spice. Our neighbors John and Lynn came over for a wonderful enchilada dinner prepared by Barb before their holiday trip to California. We all missed Ruby – first Christmas without her.

Now it is a new year with new plans and new goals and each day new, an unending series of uneven stairs.

Ben Franklin Junior High School

Run time: 57:48.5 + 1-lap kick

You get to the hotel after a long day of driving and sales visits, and you have just enough time for half a run before darkness falls, so you pull out the phone and look for a running track, and you find one, and you change into your running gear, and you drive to the junior high school, and you get the headphones on and the song started, and you hit the track, and it’s… cement.

I am picturing the advent of this junior high when it was new. They put Jed in charge of installing the track. He laid it out and dug out the oval and measured everything twice and graded it perfectly flat. Then he poured the cement. When it dried, he painted the lane lines. And all done, he proudly called over the Principal to view his work. And the Principal looked at it and said, “Jed, is that cement?”

Either that, or they figure middle schoolers have young knees and hips and recover quickly from scrapes and bruises. If you think that running is a 100% vertical activity, I have a sidewalk in Vegas to show you. Yes, track surfaces probably wear out quicker than cement, and they are easier to vandalize, but really? Are there no track meets held at this school? And does the school district not have standards for the surface on which the meets are held? Could it be gravel? That’s even less expensive.

I dealt with it. It was 28 degrees, with a 15 mph wind, so comfort had already departed. The lane lines are the mostly important feature for me for my winter running, though a springy surface is a close second. I am just thinking of those poor Wisconsin kids. They deserve better.

Sometimes you just have to roll with it.

Ashwaubenon High School

Run time: 57:46.5 + 1-lap kick

Another dusk track run, another upscale high school. This is only a few miles from historic Lambeau Field, where the Packers play. I was never a Packers fan, though I never rooted strongly against them either. I watch little football these days. The racism of the sport turned me off. I will start watching again if Kaepernick plays.

Whatever I might accomplish with a boycott is personal. That goes for any boycott, not just the NFL. If I intentionally avoid eating at Chick-Fil-A, or watching Fox News, or re-watching Woody Allen movies, it is for my own personal benefit. It helps to align my actions with my reasoned thoughts. I harbor no illusions that my personal activism will have a direct impact on people or institutions with which I disagree.

It might, however, have a small impact on another person. If I choose to boycott NFL football, and someone witnesses this, it might inspire them or give them permission to better align their actions with their reasoned thoughts. It is an added bonus if they learn that they can act with intention for this reason alone, not to be part of a group or a movement.

I have not thought sufficiently about this to make judgments, but grouping oneself in with others seems related to tribalism, which might have run its course as a valuable human trait. Even if you think the group is “right,” or on the right side of an issue, collective action seems to have the potential for corruption and misguidance. If you are part of a group that seeks growth in the pursuit of power and influence over an issue, have you given up on the idea of personal autonomy?

What if humans had never been tribal? What if no human had ever surrendered to the will of another, or sacrificed personal autonomy for inclusion in a group, or followed no internal compass but their own? What if complete uniqueness were the valued trait?

This reminds me of the scene in “Life of Brian” when the mob of followers is waiting outside of Brian’s home, and he tried to convince them that they don’t need to follow anybody, and they repeat back to him, “Yes, we’re all individuals. Yes, we’re all different.” Then one guy says, “I’m not.” I want to be that guy.

Actually, of course, I don’t want to be anyone other than who I am. I love being a part of my family, but other than that, I do not want to be a member of any group. I also love how this post started out with the Packers and found its way to Monty Python, as all posts should.

Pewaukee High School

Run time: 57:44.5 + 1-lap kick

Last trip of the year, first real winter trip. It got cold in Idaho last month, and there was snow, but it still felt like late fall. It is the early darkness that seems so stark this week.

The photos do not do it justice, because the i-phone camera really illuminates the murk. I got to the track around 4:30, and by 4:32 it felt like midnight. It was cold and windy, which did not help. I ran the bleacher stairs, which was fine because they were solid and dry.

This was a high-end school and a really nice facility. There was quite of bit of vehicle drop-off activity at the gym, but no one on the track. And no locked gates!

The drive around the horn from Grand Rapids to Chicago was quick and uneventful. Traffic was not too back through Chicago either. I got to the Milwaukee area by mid-day and made 7 sales visits before 4 pm. A very productive day, and some good quality conversations with prospects.

We lost our dog the week before the trip. Our family dog of 10.5 years passed away. She used to go with me on runs at the local junior high track back in Oregon on occasion, until she could no longer keep up for the whole time. She was always raring to go. She would do fine for the first couple laps, then I would let her off the leash and she would lag. Eventually, she would cut across the field to catch up. She never just gave up and laid down, though.

Mortality tends to lend perspective to one’s existence. Wasn’t that run with Ruby more meaningful than this day’s 7 sales visits? Not necessarily more important, but more meaningful? Couldn’t I have brought her along more often? Or walked part of the time when I did, like I do now?

The answer to all 3 questions is, of course, Yes. She was an amazing dog. She was happy with whatever she got to do, with any table scraps we partitioned out to her, with any attention given to her. She always wanted more, but she was as low-maintenance as a pet could be. And we miss her terribly.

Decker Lake Park

Run time – 57:31 + 2-minute kick

This pocket of Salt Lake City might be the Mormon Slums. The hotel was right next to I-215, tucked into a barely accessible mini-neighborhood with two sketchy apartment complexes and a facility with a very high cyclone fence, the kind that inverts in a large semi-circle at the top, which, as it turns out, is the Decker Lake Youth Center. Clearly they are more concerned with deterring anyone from the outside getting in than the other way around.

I could see on the map that there was a lake, with a path around it, so even though part of it was basically a highway sidewalk, it looked relatively promising. And I was pleasantly surprised. The path was paved about 40% of the circuit, and the rest was flat and finely graveled. The lake held waterfowl and had a lot of vegetation around it. It was also a long loop, which is nice, because a short loop gets monotonous.

I walked through the apartments to get to the lake, and they reminded me of some of the complexes we used to patrol for permit violations when I drove impound tow truck in Portland back in the 90s. Cars in various states of disrepair, oil and fluid stains on the asphalt, trash all over. In one place I walked past, there was a strong stench of human waste, like there was an open sewer nearby.

And then the park was idyllic and clean, even with the disconcerting minimum security youth center bordering the trail. There were a few local residents walking or running their dogs, a family that came down to the water to feed the geese, and a couple of random loners looking for a victim to stalk.

The thing is, this is Utah. There are few places in this country that I have visited that feel safer than even the worst places in Utah. There must be nefarious activity afoot somewhere in Utah, and West Valley City is likely one of those places, but the lack of local culture gives the region a superficiality that removes extremes.

It is the natural beauty of Utah that makes it special, and you will not find that in SLC, although Decker Lake Park comes close. It really is nice that they kept this greenspace in the quadrant between the freeways. It was breezy, and it got cold when the sun went down, but it was the right temperature for a fully-clothed run. I do like to run with sweats, long-sleeve shirt, hoodie, stocking cap, and gloves. It is comforting.

And, of course, the mountains are there to tower above us with complete ambivalence. They do not care about the activities of the puny humans in the valley.

Sandcreek Middle School

Run Time: 57:29.5 + 2-minute kick

First snow run and first night run on the year. The lady at the Hertz counter in SLC wisely recommended an upgrade from a compact to an AWD mini-SUV. Woke up in the morning to 27-degree weather but did not see snow till I got up into Idaho in the afternoon.

My hotel in Idaho Falls was in the sliver of urbanity, with strip malls all around. I found a school not too far away, so I was able to get away from the traffic and run on the relative safety of the track. Lane lines are easy to follow after dark, and the surface is consistent and forgiving, which would be a good personal disposition to which one might aspire.

There are always risks. No place is completely safe. The unfamiliar can be unpredictable. The key is to perceive the surroundings keenly and accurately, to see things for what they are. This all goes for the familiar as well. We should always scan with fresh eyes. There is no upside to being complacent or asleep at the wheel.

It was good to get back into the mountainous country. Moving to Michigan has been very low elevation. I made an appointment for my old dentist in Payson to have my teeth cleaned while I was there, and the sun came out as I drove south from SLC, and the snowy mountains were a welcome sight. I drove into Santaquin afterward to pick up prescriptions my wife had called in to the Macey’s pharmacy, and I bought a container of lactose-free Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream and ate it right there in the parking lot and appreciated the mountain scenery.

And I love the drive up I-15 to Idaho Falls. There was one stretch of thick fog for about five miles, in which the temperature dropped down to sub-freezing, so we all had to slow down from 80 to 50. Weather is good for keeping one alert, but I will admit that I like driving in the spring, summer, and fall about 83% more than driving in the winter.

Kiwanis Park

Run time 57:14.5 + 2-minute kick

It was windy in Galesburg. I know – surprise, surprise. We used to live in the Eastern suburbs of Portland, near the entrance to the Columbia Gorge, and we would get the east wind a lot, but it was intermittent. These Northern Central states – they seem to have sustained perpetual wind.

Kiwanis Park is an older well-kept park that sits next to a freeway, which is a drawback, but it was close to the hotel. I ran in the grass alongside a paved path and sidewalks. There was disc golf, which seems more popular than it warrants in the region. It is always encouraging to visit an urban park that, at first glance, looks like it might have passed its peak of popularity, but then you encounter dog walkers and disc golfers and couples holding hands, and you see it remains useful.

The adjacent freeway is the main drawback. Of course, no one wants to breathe carbon monoxide, but the noise is the real shame. Everywhere I travel I see houses, sometimes nice houses, placed right next to a freeway. When my wife and I looked for houses in Grand Rapids, proximity to busy roads was a primary factor, because of the road noise. Who wants to hear traffic? I cannot imagine the oppressiveness of living next to a freeway.

You would get used to it, you might say. Why would I want that? I do not want to get used to the oppressiveness of freeway noise. I wonder what would happen if we had no freeways, if the interstate system had never been built. I suppose it would slow down the movement of goods. Would that be a bad thing? If all the roads were two- or four-lane, would we drive less? I think we would.

Perhaps we would have regional markets, where the food we ate and the goods we bought were grown or produced locally. Perhaps we would travel by train to visit relatives or to make trips to the city or to recreate. The freeway system is an avenue (so to speak) of commerce and has helped us burn more fossil fuels, but has it made our lives richer?

I am just dreaming of a world where you walk through Kiwanis Park in Galesburg, Illinois, and all you hear is the wind in the trees, and the dogs at the white house across the street barking at you while they wag their tails, and, if it is a spring afternoon, maybe a baseball bat striking a baseball, followed by cheering.