Even good runners have bad runs:  July 2002 We all have them. Runs when what we want and what we get are so different that we can’t hold it together. Runs when nothing goes right, nothing feels good, and there isn’t a thing we can do about it. I should have known not to expect too much from this one. I hadn’t been able to run on the weekend, so this was a mid-day, mid-week, 12-mile, solo make-up run. To make things worse, it was two loops, never the best solution for me. What made it so ugly? It wasn’t…

The joy of movement can’t come if you’re standing still. I was sitting in a restaurant in Seward, Alaska, trying to decide between a bowl of fish [large or small] and something that looked vaguely like a steak sandwich when it hit me. Maybe it was the tufted and pleated naugeyde booths, maybe it was the yellow tinted water glasses, maybe it was the cast of characters sitting at the bar, I don’t know. But it hit me that I was in a place that had no forward momentum. Not that there should be. After all, at that time of…

When being who you are is all there is to be. Fat Boy, Soft Tail, Road King: No, those aren’t the nicknames of some of my old motorcycling buddies, although they could be. They are actually the model designations of Harley-Davidsons and they represent more than just a piece of equipment, they are characteristics of the image each hopes to project. Ever since Marlon Brando burst into the cultural consciousness in “The Wild One”, motorcycles in general, and Harley’s in particular, have been about image. From the outlaw persona of the Hell’s Angels to the inveterate free spirit of Peter…

Penguin Chronicle :: October 1996 As I have met and corresponded with new runners, I’ve become convinced that the leading cause of running dropouts is not injury, time constraints, families, or jobs. I believe the reason most folks give up running is because their expectations are completely out of line with reality. Starting a running program is easy. Almost anyone can do it. You don’t need any special skills or talent. All you need is a pair of shoes and a place to run. This simplicity is one of running’s major attractions. The physical benefits are well documented. Even neglected…

WIPING THE SLATE CLEAN January 2002 I never expected to have glory days as a runner. I certainly never expected that if I had glory days they would all be behind me. As I enter my second decade as a runner, it’s time to wipe the expectation slate clean and start from scratch. This year I’m going to retrace my steps as a runner. From 5K to Marathon, I’m going to have a brand new set of glory days. I actually have a plan—to start with the 5K and work my way up the distance ladder as the year goes…

Through the Open Door October 2005 My grandfather had a favorite expression. Actually, my grandfather had many favorite expressions, nearly all of which can’t be printed in a family magazine. The one he used often as a means of defusing disappointment over some failure or missed opportunity was: “When one door closes, another door opens”. In the years since his death, in my own moments of despair and disappoint, I have often changed the expression to reflect my own uniquely pessimistic outlook. I would say that: “When one door closes, another door closes.” There were time, I can assure you,…

The Mechanics of Running I spent a number of years working as a professional motorcycle mechanic. Like so many other jobs I had when I was younger I knew just enough to get the job but not nearly enough to do the job. One of the first lessons I learned from Stuart, a crusty older mechanic, was that there are a few immutable principles. These are the incontrovertible truths that all mechanics live by. They are: 1] if it can be lubricated, it needs to be lubricated 2] if it can be adjusted, it needs to be adjusted, 3] if…

Running to the Truth The German philosopher Fredrick Nietzsche really got a bad rap. Either that or he needed a better publicist. There was that whole “God is dead” business that upset so many people and then there’s the “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” quote that’s attributed to him even though it was around in one form or another with the early Vikings. One of my favorite Nietzsche quotes I actually read in an Outward Bound handbook. In writing about mountain climbing our boy Fred writes that “ effort is the great equalizer….” I’ve never climbed a…

When all you are is all you can be One of my favorite books is a little tome by Jess Laire entitled “I ain’t much, baby, but I’m all I’ve got” (Doubleday: New York: 1972) I happened to read it at an earlier time in my life where being what I was wasn’t all I wanted to be. The shortest synopsis of the book is that you are what you are and you can choose to spend your life frustrated by what you aren’t or learn to be grateful for what you are. In those days my goal was to…

Doing it over until you get it right. I doubt that there’s a person alive who hasn’t, at one time or another, said to themselves that they needed to a, lose weight and b, get in better shape. It is the curse of our age, our zeitgeist, that none among seems content with who we are and what we look like. Women may have specific body parts that they think are too big or too small, but for men fitness comes down to ripped abs. I don’t know why. To be honest, I don’t even know what ripped abs have…