I could have stayed home for my 60th birthday last week, eating pizza and chocolate cake like a sensible person. But if you’re an ultramarathon runner, your mindset has diverged from what other people call sensible. You think a milestone birthday should be celebrated with a challenge, preferably one with lots of pointless suffering in …
Continue reading Swamps, Werewolves, and 60 Miles: My Loup Garou birthday run recap
Last week I was getting my ass kicked at Body Specs (or, more accurately, I was kicking my own ass), when Pink Floyd’s “Time” came through the speakers. Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain You are young and life is long, and there is time to kill today And …
I was at a recycling station earlier this week, dropping off stuff from working Zero Waste at the Ann Arbor Marathon. A woman there noticed the stickers on my Jeep’s hatch and beckoned to me. “Excuse me,” she said. “Did you really run a hundred miles?” I confirmed I had – several, in fact – …
Continue reading Ten Years of Distance Running: A Brief Reflection
Today at my club’s usual Wednesday “6@6” run – 6 miles at 6 a.m. – it was just me and one other runner. The other Wednesday regulars were either preparing for a marathon, or recovering from one, or nursing various injuries. Along the way my companion, an instructor at the University of Michigan, told me …
