RICHMOND HAS ONE MEAN TRAIL. My daughter graduated from VCU today (summa cum laude, criminal justice major, psychology minor). Before the ceremony, I ran with her friend Sarah on the Buttermilk Trail by the James River. We did only about 10.5 miles, but the elevation changes and the humidity made it feel a lot longer. According to my Garmin, we were running for nearly two hours.

As we ran one section along the river, I couldn’t help but think that a scant 400 years ago, Europeans were just starting to settle here, and everything was wilderness. Now with all our modern civilization, this area is set aside so we can “get back to nature” for a while. The founders of Jamestown saw this area far differently than we do. Every day was a struggle for survival for them. I wondered out loud to Sarah what the settlers would have said if they’d been told that someday people would go running along this same river in order to keep from getting too fat. I don’t suppose it would have been very complimentary.

After the ceremony we went to California Pizza Kitchen. Not exactly Le Bernardin, but we’re not that formal a family. And a fancy place would have just stuffed us full of protein and fat. Pizza had the carbs Sarah and I needed after the morning’s effort. Yeah, that’s it.