This essay hasn’t come easily, but after 4 hours of writing tonight I’ve finally finished 2,000 words of Act 1. Here’s the stunning conclusion (Crossing the Threshold one might even say): I’d run the Percy Warner Park trail nearly 7 minutes faster than I’d done the day before, girded by a knowledge of the trail […]
Tonight’s essay wasn’t written. I stared at the screen for 90 minutes, trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to say. Or, more accurately, trying to figure out what the essay wanted to say. By the time I figured it out, I’d been here nearly three hours. However, the outline is complete, which […]
I just finished the draft of my second essay for The Summer of Run: An Addict’s Journey. “Within the Deluge” tells the story of my very first moments at my very first campground, as the skies opened up and I was forced to pitch in some pretty terrible conditions. This is from Act 3 of that […]
A man in Cincinnati jumped out of a hotel window. As he passed each floor, people could hear him say: “So far, so good.” – butchered joke told by Steve McQueen’s character in The Magnificent Seven I’m taking this week to settle into my routine at the house. Tomorrow I’ll run, and begin work on […]
I’ve promised myself that I shall write on The Summer of Run project every day for the next two months until I’ve finished. I’ll post bits and pieces of it as I go. Here’s what you get today, from a draft of the introduction. This describes a hike I took along the Palo Duro Canyon […]
I’ve been contemplating this for several weeks, but I wasn’t sure where I stood until last night. As I hiked through Palo Duro Canyon, it struck me that I wanted to turn this summer’s adventure into something more than just a blog. As I first thought about what this might be, I struggled to wrap […]
After my first run, I decided to end the day with a 2 1/2 mile hike around one of the edges of the Canyon. I’ll spare you the narrative. However, I have two more answers for why I would willingly camp in a place with temperatures that hit 109 during the day:
Running or other strenuous activity done in temperatures greater than 90 degrees can lead to heat stroke, brain damage, or death. That’s the sign at the Palo Doro trail head. Next to that: a huge thermometer that read 110 degrees when I arrived on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. I made the decision right then if […]
I’m set up for tomorrow’s training run: an 5.5 mile out-and-back along a trail I’m told is amazingly beautiful, ending out the “Lighthouse” rock. I expect to bring back pictures. The Givens, Spicer, and Lowery Trail is 1/2 of the Palo Duro Trail Run ultra-marathon that takes place here in October. I’m planning on coming […]
Editor’s Note: I wrote this piece before my 9-mile run this morning, a quick out-and-back over most of the trail I was supposed to run yesterday. *** After Monday’s brutality, there’s little chance my body will allow anything like that to happen today. Instead, I’ve made the executive decision to push as close to Canyon, […]
Don’t improvise. I’ve read this advice repeatedly as I prepared for this trip. I’m not a trail runner, at least not yet. I’m not a camper, at least not yet. I’ve tried to take each learning experience in small steps, reading and learning as much as I could before proceeding. Recently I have been […]
I’ll have more about this 19-mile after I recover a bit more. It was not a good day on the trail mostly because I decided to add 9 miles to the run after I’d started. I was ill-prepared – a first on this trip. Fortunately, I had some mountain bikers watching over me. A great […]