The Penguin Chronicles :: May 1995 :: Running the Bases On my way to the pool one evening, I noticed a young boy, maybe 10 or 11 years old, standing alone at home plate in an empty baseball field. His actions struck me as curious and I found myself so fascinated that I just sat in my car and watched. He was standing at home plate swinging his arms around wildly. Suddenly, without warning, he bolted towards first base. As he rounded first base, he threw his arms up and ran around the bases waving his fists above his head….

I am living proof that your life can change with a single phone call. We all know that our life can change for the worse with a single phone call, but we don’t often think that the most dramatic, and positive, change in your life can start by saying “Hello”. It did for me. In the Fall of 1995, then editor of Runner’s World Magazine, Amby Burfoot called me in my office as Chair of the Department of Music at Middle Tennessee State University. Marlene Cimons had sent him a few emails that I had sent to the then secret…

Here is an early Penguin Chronicle that may help to put the whole “Penguin phenomenon” into perspective. As you can tell from the tone of the column, no one was more surprised by how this started than me. From time to time I get insights into how my life is changing – and how running has become the change agent. Those of you who, by nature or by training, are better tuned to your own psyches may scoff at the density of my awareness. Be reminded that I have been no more inclined to be open with myself than I…

I grew up in a home shared by my parents and my grandparents. We didn’t know it was an extended family. It was just the way it was. My grandparents were in their 50’s when I was born and, growing up, I thought that they were very, VERY old. And they were. My grandfather shared his wisdom in short, pithy, statements of fact. His three favorites, and these three covered nearly every imaginable situation were; “things happen”, “people are funny”, and “what’s done is done.” Examples: Plane crash? Things happen. Man wants to marry his dog? People are funny. I…

As a musician, well, a bass trombone player, I never imagined that my career would be over when I was in my early 30’s. But it was. A condition called thoracic outlet syndrome changed everything. I began playing when I was in the 3rd grade and expected to play forever. It didn’t happen that way. I can’t remember my last performance. I certainly can’t remember my last great performance. I often wonder if I had known then that it was the last time I would play great music with great musicians if I would have experienced it differently. Probably. When…