Category Archives: competition

What athletes can teach the world about surviving a pandemic

Posted on July 13, 2020 by

Yesterday’s news was dominated by the fact that the State of Florida broke the record for the most cases of Coronavirus in a single day. That outcome was the result of hundreds of thousands of people flooding back to beaches … Continue reading →

Posted in bike accidents, bike crash, competition, cycling, healthy senior, religious liberty, riding, swimming, training, tri-bikes, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

No basket of regrets. Just buckets of fun.

Posted on June 29, 2020 by

The summer before my senior year in high school, I worked as a coach for the St. Charles Track Club, an organization originally managed by my coach cross country and track coach Trent Richards. When he stepped down a dedicated … Continue reading →

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Blasts from the past

Posted on June 22, 2020 by

Perhaps you’ve experienced a few encounters online the past year or so in which people openly defy practical truth in favor of their closely embraced ideology. Much of the world, it seems, is quite busy manufacturing their own version of … Continue reading →

Posted in 10K, Christopher Cudworth, competition, death, Depression, evangelical Christianity, running | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There’s always someone faster than you, and often it’s a woman

Posted on June 19, 2020 by

Yesterday afternoon was hot. Ninety-plus degrees hot. But my planned run on the Great Western Trail promised shade for much of the way. So I parked the car and wandered over to the trailhead and stretched a bit. A mother … Continue reading →

Posted in 5K, aging, Christopher Cudworth, college, competition, cross country, healthy aging, running | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Maybe fireworks aren’t what really matters

Posted on June 10, 2020 by

For several decades our family tradition was spending the 4th of July in my in-laws’ back yard. We’d light small fireworks all day until everyone smelled like smoke and gunpowder. My son grew to love the pyrotechnics and his uncle … Continue reading →

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How much do you value your college experience?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by

I’m leading off today’s original thoughts on running, riding and swimming by asking readers to consider a question: How much do you value your college experience? And then I’ll follow up with a confession. Perhaps I’m one of those people … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, Christopher Cudworth, college, competition, cross country, healthy aging | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

You never know what a little cheerleading can do

Posted on May 4, 2020 by

A cross country meet is not the place where one normally expects to see cheerleaders. That tradition is more closely associated with football and basketball games where crowds fill the bleachers. Yet there were cheerleaders assigned to our cross country … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, aging is not for the weak of heart, anxiety, Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, running, track and field | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I’ll only know on a Field of Dreams someday

Posted on April 22, 2020 by

I was twelve years old when our family moved from Pennsylvania to Illinois. That life back in Lancaster was left behind in more than one way. I’d grown up playing all kinds of sports with my brothers. One of the … Continue reading →

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The Ironman dilemma

Posted on April 7, 2020 by

As a Sherpa to a multiple Ironman and Half-Ironman wife, I’ve had tons of opportunity to study the Ironman dynamic from the inside out. And having done enough triathlons and duathlons to know the ins-and-outs of the sport in general, … Continue reading →

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Running recollections of a skinny young dad

Posted on March 31, 2020 by

My competitive career as a runner was coming to a close the time by the time I got married at the age of twenty-seven. We conceived our first child in December after a June wedding that year. By then, I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in 10K, 13.1, aging, aging is not for the weak of heart, anxiety, Christopher Cudworth, competition, healthy aging, healthy senior, marathon, marathon training, running | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment