I consider myself a capable trail runner — in California, that is. In Colorado, no way. I’ve been in Telluride, Colorado, a little over a week, adjusting to life away from home and acclimating in the high altitude for the September 12 Imogene Pass Run. (Our family travel blog away-together.com details why we’re here and […]
Archive | Blog
From Fast Times to Family Time
Starting later this month, I will be blogging more regularly at our family’s new site, away-together.com. We leave in two weeks for nearly a full year of travel to several destinations, to educate our kids (and ourselves) by seeing other parts of the world and to strengthen our bond as a family. I’m excited, nervous […]
Meet My Coach
Ten years ago, I began training with a coach who changed my life. I guess that’s what a good coach is supposed to do, but I like to believe this coach is different — extra special. The kind of coach found more often in movies than in real life. He actually was in a movie […]
The 40th Birthday Trip
Since I returned from a short trip over my 40th birthday, family and friends have been asking, What did you do? What did you get? Did you have fun? The answers take explaining — I ran through time. I got my life. I wouldn’t exactly call it fun, but I definitely had a good time […]
Boston: The World’s Most Overrated Marathon
I ran the Boston Marathon once before, in 2000, and remembered little about the actual run. I could recall being very, very cold while sitting on the ground for several hours at the starting area, a.k.a. the “Athletes Village,” and then hearing women at Wellesley scream at the halfway point, and then peeing in my […]
Falling for the Diablo Trail 50K
Rarely do races put me in a good, goofy mood from start to finish, but the inaugural Diablo Trail 50K last Sunday had that effect. Proof that I was having a great time came at around mile 28 in what turned out to be a 33.75-mile course. I was flying down the dirt and sandstone […]
Running in Rain and Freezing in Shorts: A Napa Valley Marathon to Remember
I woke up Sunday morning feeling I had a job to do: I had to run the 2009 Napa Valley Marathon at my goal pace or better. My brain, on some level of consciousness, must have known it was better to go on autopilot than to approach the race with any depth of thought or […]
Catching Up with Ultra Legend Ann Trason
“I just wish I could go out and run every day. I think I took it for granted. I knew I’d slow down and get older, but I didn’t know there’d be a cliff.” – Ann Trason Last fall, I interviewed Ann Trason for a Trail Runner article about the race she and husband Carl […]
Angels and the Rodeo Beach 50K
A widely reported study released last September showed that 55 percent of Americans believe in angels. I took that as another sign of our country’s slide toward anti-intellectual lunacy. Even as a churchgoer, I believe in angels as allegory, not as actual messengers of the divine. But I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking […]
Len Goldman’s Lessons for Running Strong No Matter What Your Age
When I’m 64 . . . When I look ahead to turning 40 in 2009 and wonder how much my speed and strength might decline with age, I take heart in the examples set by older runners such as Len Goldman, 64, a fixture in the Oakland and Piedmont running scene. One might never guess […]