Writing Reality

After arriving home yesterday, I continued the clean-up from my drive shy of 6,000 miles in twelve days, I dragged my body out for an afternoon hot humid five-mile run. Soon, after showering I continued to do laundry. I put on the television in hopes some sport would be on. Yet, to no avail of tennis, figure skating or anything I’d particularly like to glance at as I did paperwork, cleaned and so forth was showing. I then turned on PBS-kids, “Arthur” was on. I sat down on the living room couch for a minute or two; then stared away from the low-volume of the show I’d put on. I realized as I stared at the now pristine empty spaces that our pets would reside outside some hidden cages. Or the eventual requests they’d look to me for a snack. Or the look of ‘You’re late with our organic kale and apple mom’. It’d began to sink in evermore so that those requests were no longer there. I pondered as to how our oldest would deal with the emptiness. She’d been here early last January 2025, whe...

  Once again it was predicted that the heat would increase. Our youngest had put the air conditioning on June 11 th before she’d flown to L.A. for our oldest daughter’s graduation. Since we had no more pets, my only concern was our youngest daughter’s comfort in the ability to sleep on those hot humid New Jersey nights. Knowing this would be a 553-mile drive, I decided to get in a 10-mile run before I headed towards home. Too, I didn’t have to be at work till June 24 th , laundry, unpacking and food shopping would be my priorities. More relaxed now that we didn’t have heat-sensitive pets to care for. I got up just after five in the morning, did my exercises, put down a quart of water, and sipped coffee while watching the weather channel. I knew that most likely I wouldn’t be heading into a hailstorm or a torrential rainstorm as well. I was grateful for that. So, I took my time on my run, then got checked out after chowing down another two free yogurts before heading home. ...

  I’d had a good solid sleep of at least seven hours as I’d finally awakened that morning. What woke me was the sound of the rain pelting my hotel room window, which sounded more like a hailstorm. I laid in bed and did my morning stretches, as I listened to the rain and prayed. After I’d exited the bathroom, the rain still fell yet something changed, it no longer sounded like hail, just a heavy downpour. I don’t mind running in the rain, especially a summer rain. But this seemed unpredictable—as I’d known the Midwest could have flash flooding and I was only slightly familiar with the terrain. I chose to watch the news till the heaviest rain appeared to slow. Viewing the local weather channel could give me some idea of not only how the run could be, yet also the nearly 600-mile drive to Ohio that day. Soon, I was out for a short 5-mile run. I wanted to run much further,—however, due to the unpredictable weather and the drive ahead I cut the run shorter by 7 miles. The rain had...

Another lighter day of travel was ahead of me. The sky remained cloudless. I went out for a nice morning run through the neighborhood and beyond into the farmland of Hastings before leaving. I was amazed at how busy the dirt, farm road I’d happened upon was. The dirt and gravel flew in the air as vehicles passed me by. I truly wanted to run up to the area I’d seen that had a tree that neared the crest of the hill ahead. Yet, the dirt that’d flown through the air with the few passing vehicles, was a bit much for me at the time. I was soon back cleaning up at the hotel and off to find a coffee shop for a fancy coffee that I’d rarely bought over the past number of years. I had decided not to for a few reasons. One was the sugar content would usually be too high. The other was, I didn’t want to develop a disease most would want to avoid—MYFUNDSRLOW. After getting gas, ice and a specialty coffee I was on US-34E/US-281N; soon onto I-80E for about 270 miles till I connected with I-235E,...

  It was now Wednesday I’d run one last time in Thornton, before heading to Hastings. I decided to run through the areas of the park that Brendan had enjoyed so much. I realized the other times I’d run in Thornton I’d not run through the whole park and around the pond in its entirety. I’d been running on the outskirts of the northwest side of the park, onto the paved bike trail and then into a quiet residential area. This time I took a different route. As I was ready to exit off the park’s bike trail and maintain running on the bike path that went into a residential area, I double backed towards the park. I then ran multiple loops in and around the park and the park’s pond in the center of the park. It was calm, birds chirping were heard. People were already out walking, and a child was seen here and there playing in the playground areas. Afterwards, I had plenty of time to retrieve more ice for my cooler and gas up the car before heading to Hastings, since this drive was not a...

As I awoke I knew I had nearly 600 miles to drive to Thornton. This morning would be my last run in Utah until I’d make this drive again in a year or two.  Too, I may decide to travel through another area of Utah next time for the scenery and the new running environment. Yet on this day I would run on the mountain bike and hiking trails I hadn’t yet ventured to. I got out onto the trail head after six in the morning. Parts were lumpy from the mountain bike tires that had previously been there after a short rainfall. I knew I’d only have time for an hour run at most. I did loops in the areas of the trail areas mostly in the open areas, since I hadn’t put any bug spray on. The bugs seemed quiet on this entire trip. No complaints there. Once I’d finished my run, and cleaned up I knew to check the car’s oil. Although everything seemed fine, I wanted no surprises. Too, I’d gas up, get ice and potable water after parking my car 300 meters down the road from the hotel at a service sta...

  I awoke with the thoughts, ‘Yesterday was the 42 nd Anniversary of hubby proposing to me, among other things. I can’t believe I forgot that.’ Fatigue was still present, yet my personal running journey said to pay no mind to it. It comes with the territory of me being me. When I feel tired, especially dragging on a run the following thought arrives—‘Remember, this is a test of your mind. Tell your body what to do and it will obey. Do not give in. Because once you do, you’ll never be the runner you’d dreamed of being again. It’s all about the mind. Pushing the physical envelope in running is all about the mind. I need a stronger mind to be in constant forward motion every day and some days longer than others. Some days are all interconnected with multiple days with barely any sleep. I have to get back to five-minute naps. You know at times there will be no rest. Accept that and keep moving forward. Any other direction at this point of your limited time on this earth is a waste. Us...

After the fourteen miles or so I put in between running/hiking and walking the day before, I felt tired and wondered why. I figured it was the stress about safety for our youngest flying out, with all the problems with Newark Airport recently. She’d be flying west to meet me in two days. My fatigue was perhaps from driving before taking a day to just be —could factor in as well. Last year at about this time I’d had a day of rest with Nina and her husband just prior to hitting the 700-mile mark in the trip then. This time, I’d driven 2,400 miles or so before taking a day off of driving. So, there was that. Too, the political air weighed on me, even though I knew people were basically safe for now—the anxiety still hung in the balance. I slowly rose that morning, eventually getting out for an eight-mile run. I didn’t drag as much. Aside from praying that all personal events would go off smoothly, I’d constantly digressed into our country’s shattered schematic. This was a time, a deba...

Cross-country Race Garret Mountain 1977 Today marks my entering the 50th year of distance running... I've Raced over 500 events... Was told multiple times I shouldn't run long distance or at all... Birth defects: missing disc in my lower back was not discovered till age 30. I was told it was bad for my feet, especially my left foot. Left fibula was twisted on my talus. Doctor told my mother when I was nearing age 15, that if I stopped running by age 18 my heart would be okay.  I was told a couple times that because of heart murmur, an enlarged heart, defect in left ventricle I'd be dead if I ran a marathon in 1985 just after my 23rd birthday... I ran it anyway. I was told at age 21 after severe knee pains I'd never run again.8 months later I was back running. Both ankles had issues. My left constantly was sprained(20x),  I ran through most of that. They wanted to surgically remove the sesamoid bones in both big toes... I avoided what I felt was the problem causing the p...