Running Time: 51:37.5 + 1-Lap Kick

Just finding a place to run on the way back to my daughter’s house, after a day of visiting account in the SLC area. We are moving here in a month, and my road trip has multiple purposes. 1 – I am on a full week sales trip through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. 2 – I am driving my wife’s car, and I will leave it at my daughter’s and fly home at the end of the week. 3 – I transported most of my wife’s houseplants, along with most of my vinyl, and a few other boxes that would fit into the Accord.

On the way from Oregon to Utah, through Idaho, I came up behind a tractor/trailer that had an open roof trailer with tall sides. I could see the hooves of a dead cow handing over the top edge of one of the sides. The trailer, which was probably 30′ long, was full of dead cows, and it smelled like it. That can’t be an acceptable way to transport cow corpses, even in Idaho.

Jake at Rocky Mountain Wrecker Sales in SLC had some blunt but fair criticism for us. He is not happy with the way our company has been operating, but that is one of the reasons I was brought on in May – to help turn the ship around. It’s a big ship, though. The turn will be long, wide, and slow.

When we move here next month, we are moving in with our daughter, her husband, and their 10-month old daughter. They have a full basement with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, so that will be our new home. I’m looking forward to the change, and to the adventure, and to spending time with my daughter and my granddaughter. And flying out of SLC for sales trips will be easier than flying out of Portland.

Running Time: 50:53 + 2:00 kick.

I drove over to Simley High School before checking in to the hotel, to see if the track had public access. It did, so I drove back later for my run, only to find that the band was practicing on the track. An appalling misuse of resources, but it is their track, and I suppose the band should practice on it if it helps somehow.

They had a of green space at Simley High Schools – fields, ponds, trails, woods. I settled into a perimeter run that gave me some elevation changes, some terrain challenges, and solitude. When I move to Utah next month, I might have to venture into more trail running, so this was valuable experience for that potential.

I actually thought the town was Inner Grove Heights earlier in the day’s travels. My daughter had suggested the day before that if I broadcast my travel plan, family members might be able to scout out dinner options for me. She found B52 Burgers and Brew for me, which happened to share a parking lot with the hotel I was staying at. I recommend the B52 burger – it was spicy and a good value.

Had a nice visit with Joe at Star Equipment in Roberts, WI, earlier in the day. They are an NRC dealer just finishing up a major remodel/addition project that looks spectacular. They are ready to fill a product showroom, so I sent him some recommendations that night.

To offset the nice visit with Joe, I called one of our larger distributors to help assuage their anguish over our recent price increase. For some reason, they thought their old “hot list” pricing was still good, and they claimed they had not seen the price list. I walked them through the product rationalization we went through, the underlying objectives of that and the new pricing, and how our new custom special quote procedure worked. He told me some of the things he had told the Inside Sales Rep for his region – my team member – during a phone rage incident the week before. It reminded me again of how nice the All-Lift Randys (God-Family-Work) of the world are, and how shitty others can be.

Running Time: 50:50 + 1-Lap Kick.

Happy to be back on the track after the road/trail run in Oconomowoc. I drove from the hotel in Chippewa Falls to North High School in Eau Claire. The track was empty and shaded – a perfect combination. It also had some unique features, like vegetation and slope. Lane 9 had an outward slope to it, especially at the south end, which felt significant enough to call it an elevation change.

Earlier in the day, I listened to Alan Alda interview Beronda Montgomery on his podcast Science Clear & Vivid, during which she talked about “pioneer plants,” which are the first plants to grow in an abandoned urban landscape, coming up through cracks in pavement or asphalt or… a rubber track. And then I found some examples a few hours later in a place I had never been.

The day started outside of Milwaukee, with a visit to L & M Cargo Control in rural Hortonville, where I met Linda, a 30-year veteran of the industry, who gave me several leads to follow up on. From there I circled around the Green Bay area for a few hours. I had a very pleasant visit with Randy at All-Lift Systems. A genuinely nice person – a delight to visit with. Later I replied to one of his emails and saw his email tagline was, “God Family Work.” I am not a religious person – I am an atheist. But I very much appreciate the gentle kindness of a Christian who truly emulates Jesus.

Headed west across the state, I hit a rainstorm so violent I almost had to pull over and stop. As I emerged into back into the sunlight, I received a tornado warning alert on my phone. Seek shelter, it said. I kept driving. I had to get to Neillsville to see DuWayne and Paul at Irish Iron Wrecker.

The run was a little late – almost 7:00 – but solid and replenishing. I thought about another podcast episode I listened to earlier in the day – How’s Work with Esther Perel, in which she talked about “ambiguous loss.” I run, which I consider “ambiguous gain.”

Running Time: 50:47 + 2:00 in hotel stairwell

Drove over to the Oconomowoc High School track, and there was some kind of athletic event or practice going on, so I settled for a rectangular loop near the hotel, Blue Ribbon Circle. I would not say it was circular. Traffic was minimal, and the route was surrounded by fields, so running one day on pavement was not going to kill me.

I cut through a parking lot and down a new dead-end access road, where I saw a deer, and then I found a wood-chip trail around a company called Sentry, and I settled there for most of the run. That is, until the storm hit.

I was about 2/3 of the way into the run when I got a phone notification that violent thunderstorms were in the vicinity. I could see dark clouds, but they did not look menacing.

Earlier in the day, one of my sales stops was a place called DD Sling & Supply. It looked like just a big old house with a small house across the driveway. I tried the small house first, and there was a crew sewing slings inside. Then I solved the labyrinthe of passageways in the big house to find the office, where I talked to Andy, one of the owners.

He showed me around the building. We went through a closet door in the basement, and it opened into a giant room where they made cable slings. Turns out the property was an old fox farm, which is why they could run a business in a rural residential area. There were rooms and stairways and hallways and chutes all through this old house.

About five minutes before the run was scheduled to end, the winds hit. It was strong enough to prompt me to get off the trail and back onto the loop headed back to the hotel. Then the thunder and lightning started. I was a little concerned with a quarter-mile to go. I finished the base time in the parking lot and then did my kick on the stairwell inside.

When the rain hit, it was impressive. And it lasted almost an hour.

Inconsistent run, but it was nice to be outside and feel the wind in my hair, even if there was a danger of being electrocuted.