running

  • Frozen

    I went for a run on a freezing day and I was surrounded by ghosts. Surprisingly, I can run longer when the air is cold and the sun is bright, and it was a day just like that, so I took myself down the road past my kids’ old elementary school. The school is closed…

  • Hero’s Journey

    This fall, my daughter took a half-year course called “A Hero’s Journey”, which delved into the theory of Joseph Campbell that all of our favorite stories resonate with us because they follow the same narrative pattern. A hero is separated from what she knows, is tested, receives help, battles and wins, and returns home, not…

  • Long Run

    It’s no new revelation that running mirrors life, but I am learning that long-distance running mirrors it even more clearly. Here are some reasons why. You can’t do it alone. There is just no way I could finish my weekly long run without support. Friends and family who leave and bring water, friends who advise…

  • Process

    I am running so super slowly all over town, and even though it’s mortifying, it’s by design. All of the best advice I’ve heard about increasing mileage is to extend your longest run of the week by time, not distance, and to run it as slowly as you can bear it. As I meander through…

  • Morning

    apple green kitchen walls pinecones that smell of cinnamon bare feet walking on smooth floors   tangy greek yogurt and icy blackberries lungs that fill and empty sun shining through windows   mushy dog who holds my gaze flannel and fleece quiet and calm   hot coffee and cold milk honey yellow pillow, sky blue…

  • Court

    I was making my way round and round the eighth-mile indoor track when a couple of people walked into the empty gym. It was a Dad and his probably not quite two-year-old son, and they grabbed a couple of basketballs and started to play. They were adorable to watch. Dad would dribble, and his son…

  • Girl

    When I was a teenager, on summer days when I wasn’t working, my mother sometimes encouraged me to “call a friend and go somewhere”. Maybe she thought I was being difficult, or maybe she was hopeful that something had shifted in the landscape, but she certainly knew the truth that I couldn’t make myself say:…

  • Track

    Hot and sweaty while running, I rolled up my tank top and tucked it in under my sports bra. Now, that is a strange sentence to type, but it also was a weird thing for me to do. Not since I was nine or so have I cared so little of what people thought of…

  • Coach

    It was a perfect Fall morning with bright blue skies, and our team’s cross country coach was zipping back and forth on the course, covering checkpoint after checkpoint. We’ve seen him do this many times before in our years as xc parents. He darts from one part of the course to the next, and offers…

  • Unlikely Holy Ground

    I know what I will see in the moments before I die. I may not be in that place physically, or maybe I will, but I am absolutely certain about the image that will come before me at that time. Strange as it may seem, I know I will see one particular metal exit door…