I went to Whipple Hill in the rain. The rest of the world was prepping a turkey or a tofurky or a large drink with which to fend off the evil spirits of their families. I didn't need to go to Whipple Hill. I just needed to walk the dog, which can be done by... Continue Reading →
Trail running isn't always poetry written in dirt and stone. Sometimes it sucks. Sometimes it feels like your legs are made of wood or glass or some beguiling mix of the two. Sometimes your heart heaves on every climb and refuses to settle. Sometimes it hurts. My watch said I was nearly 7 miles in,... Continue Reading →
1 “I’m not faster. I can just hurt more than you can,” she said, the former pro, dropping me on the last climb, my mind warping against the task of making my muscles do what they would not. I pull over to the verge and try not to vomit, drool running off my lower lip,... Continue Reading →
As we jogged our warmup for this morning's Suffer Club we talked about how it feels, as we plunge deeper into the cold and darkness of winter, to heed the call of the Suffer Club alarm. It sucks. There's no two ways about it. Even if you're already awake, as many of us are by... Continue Reading →
Here's another banger from my friend Caitlin, who is a better runner than I am, in so many ways. John is a big fan of trail running. “Road running kills the soul” he says, or at least I imagine that he would say that. It sounds like him, no? The roots and rocks and twists... Continue Reading →
When writing a first draft, I use commas the way some people mumble ‘uh’ when speaking. I type a comma every time I come to the end of a thought. This may or may not signal the beginning/end of a dependent clause as Strunk and White prescribe, but rather the skittering way I work through ideas with... Continue Reading →
Django trots down the trail in front of me. To him, it's a smellscape, and something deep in his dog brain compels him to contribute. I can see that he's out of ammunition. The leg goes up, nothing comes out, but he's persistent. The urge to leave his mark overrides reality. I sometimes get frustrated... Continue Reading →
My local trail is the Western Greenway. I've run it enough to know where the rocks are, sometimes without thinking about where they are. And I still love it. The Greenway is, to me, four or five different trails in one. It offers up some technical climbing, some open, buffed out flats, landmarks, loops, different... Continue Reading →
I got the finger twice this morning, which means I nailed the workout. It warms the cockles of my heart to be told to 'fuck off' multiple times before 7am. And then of course, when the workout is over, the Suffer Clubbers say 'thank you' and go home. It's emotional. What we have today is... Continue Reading →
Imagine you've just stepped out of a time machine into a copse of trees you've never seen before, with a trail snaking away through the woods in front of you and behind you. You don't know where the beginning or end are, which way is which, but you start to run. How do you choose... Continue Reading →
