Two painted turtles wait, still as the log beneath them, alert as the sun overhead, watching with one eye. Across the water rises a steady striking, a single snare drum, loud enough to move freshly fallen leaves. Sound takes form and glides above the ground, as if searching for a home. Holding steady then, braving percussion and [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Trail running’
In the balance
Posted in Running, tagged Indiana, Nature, running, Trail running, Westwood Park on October 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Miles apart
Posted in Running, tagged running, Trail running, Westwood Park on September 1, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A great blue heron rises to the right, just off a corner of Bridge 2. My peripheral vision catches the motion, a blur of gray, but I don’t turn to look. Every bit of energy goes into what’s left of this run, less than 600 meters to the end, but with two final climbs. I [...]
A proper medicine
Posted in Running, tagged Indiana, Nature, running, Trail running, Westwood Park on January 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The geese talk, conversations like popcorn. Five hundred kernels. Maybe a thousand. I’ve covered more than eight miles of trails, running in snow marked by half a dozen hikers and a single set of mountain bike tracks. The wind is calm, yet the chill deepens slightly as silhouetted treetops begin to dissect the sun. In [...]
Winter’s mark
Posted in Running, tagged Indiana, Nature, running, Trail running, Westwood Park on January 2, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The lake speaks, the language of early January. Extraterrestrial chatter rises beyond the trees to my left. It’s a voice seldom heard, and today I am not in a hurry. Working my way through the brush, I duck under branches and past spindly arms that snag my jacket with sharp, triangular-shaped claws. Once out of [...]
HUFF 50K 2010
Posted in Running, tagged HUFF 50K, running, Trail running on December 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The beagle rips past as if shot from a cannon — a shin-high blur of brown and white. Against a chorus of incessant baying somewhere through the trees, the four-legged projectile misses me by maybe a foot, running the edge of the trail, streaking toward the 4-mile marker deeper in the woods. I’m on the [...]
Uncertainties
Posted in Running, tagged HUFF 50K, running, Trail running on December 15, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Days later, the dream stays with me. I’m walking down a gravel road just after dark, woods rising to my left and right. There’s no ditch here, just dirt and trees. It’s December and cold. And, I’m alone. Knowing I can get to where I’m going sooner if I run, I begin an easy stride. [...]
Tecumseh Trail Marathon 2010
Posted in Running, tagged Indiana, Marathon, running, Tecumseh Trail Marathon, Trail running on December 4, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
She runs. We return to the woods one final time, five kilometers from the finish. By now the trail through nearly half a foot of snow is worn into a trough, packed hard in some places, precarious mud in others. Regardless, the terrain keeps rolling. The path we follow scampers a rampant course, like a [...]
Sleepless
Posted in Running, tagged Indiana, running, Trail running, Westwood Park on November 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Just past midnight. Time shrinks. In bed, I set down The Coolest Race on Earth, John Hanc’s book about the Antarctic Marathon. The story both inspires and frightens me. Already I’m running Saturday’s Tecumseh Trail Marathon in my mind. In the cold. Possibly through falling snow. I can envision the woods, with beech trees, the [...]
No better place
Posted in Running, tagged Indiana, Marathon, running, Trail running, Westwood Park on November 5, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The snow has stopped, but a biting wind continues to blow across Westwood Lake. The trails are empty, except for two mountain bikers I meet at the Big Dig. We exchange greetings and continue our separate ways. It’s good to be here, running alone in the woods. I stood in the cold earlier today, but [...]
Coach
Posted in Running, tagged Marathon, Relationships, running, Trail running, Westwood Park on October 21, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The quote on my wall serves as a reminder. It comes from Barry Magee, bronze medalist in the marathon during the 1960 Olympics. “Anyone can run 20 miles. It’s the next six that count.” On today’s long run I’m re-learning the truth of that statement. Leaves have held my concentration all day. Maple leaves, mostly, [...]
