Blog

Becoming a Runner*? Second Arrow Definitions Runner*: a person who moves at a slightly faster pace than a brisk walk By May 2020 we were all experiencing both quarantine and working from home as we watched the world begin to suffer from a devastating pandemic. Living in a sunny Arizona suburb proved helpful to stay active and occupied as I could still wander freely through my neighborhood without terrible fear as compared to the life of my brother at the same time living in New York City who on his jogs masked up navigating carefully to avoid others on the...

A Simple Time Many years ago, when I was 21 and a recent college graduate, I chose to live for six months with my elderly grandfather at his farmhouse in central Illinois. As an education major and a December graduate, finding a good teaching job was not in the cards until the hiring season of summer were to roll around. I was also unsure of my career choice and was busily applying for and being denied entry into journalism programs in my grandiose hopes to be an ESPN commentator. So, I spent my spring semester in 2002 substitute teaching in...

Chicken On a normal weekend on a beautiful spring day in Kalamazoo, Michigan I ate a lunch and prepared for a normal jog I would take from the sorority house to campus for a little individual workout at the WMU recreation center. OK, maybe there were cute boys at the gym too, but no matter the intent, I was on my way on foot for the short 1 mile run from Fraternity Village Drive down Michigan Avenue to the rec. Cell phones in 1999 were the kind with coiled cords that would unfold but still were the size of a...

Say I Can’t, I Dare You PE is a required course in Illinois, where I grew up, for all students in every grade kindergarten through twelfth and held each school day. In my opinion it’s really a great outlook on health. I not only was physically active in PE, but we were required to learn anatomy taking tests on bones, organs and muscles. I learned how to use weight training machines as well as free weights all in a safe setting. We even learned about nutrition taking tests on calories and figuring out our BMI. We also took many physical tests....

Running Ihate running. Sorry Running…no offense. I was on a soccer team for one season as a five year old. Man it was a lot of running. And for what outcome? Just to run from one side of the field to the other. I never understood it. I’d play a whole game, doing absolutely nothing but run from here to there. My parents tell the story that when I was on this team I would shout over to them on the sidelines, “The ball hit me Ma! Did you see it?” I was no Brandi Chastain. Needless to say, that...