Category Archives: cross country

Reeling in the years

Posted on October 7, 2019 by

“You been tellin’ me you’re a geniusSince you were seventeenIn all the time I’ve known youI still don’t know what you meanThe weekend at the collegeDidn’t turn out like you plannedThe things that pass for knowledgeI can’t understand…” Steely Dan–Reeling … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, aging is not for the weak of heart, Christopher Cudworth, cross country | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The thighs don’t have it easy these days

Posted on September 6, 2019 by

Walking through our local Dick’s Sporting Goods store, I noticed a display for running gear featuring shorts with three different inseam lengths: 5″, 7″ and 9″. That might not mean much to most runners. But having emerged from the era … Continue reading →

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The high value of red meat and bones

Posted on August 27, 2019 by

We adopted a dog from Safe Haven, the rescue group that brings abandoned pups from Tennessee and Kentucky up to Illinois to find homes for them. We named her Lucy, in part after triathlete Lucy Charles-Barclay, a person we both … Continue reading →

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There has to be a cure for the current state of things

Posted on August 12, 2019 by

Coming off a week of taking powerful antibiotics to combat sub-lingual infection from a compromised tooth, I knew there was a risk that the balance of my good gut bacteria might be equally compromised. And sure enough, about six days … Continue reading →

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Not every race is a blessing, but every race holds a lesson

Posted on August 9, 2019 by

The photo above is as old as it looks. It is a snapshot taken by my father with one of his jury-rigged cameras in the late 1970s. My folks had come up to Kenosha, Wisconsin from our home back in … Continue reading →

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Learning to live with pain

Posted on July 31, 2019 by

Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin’The weather was hot, a-nearly ninety degreesThe man standin’ next to me, his head was explodingWell, I was prayin’ the pieces wouldn’t fall on me ––Bob Dylan, Day of the Locusts The after … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, cycling, PEAK EXPERIENCES, running, swimming | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Reunion of Champions

Posted on July 10, 2019 by

Last evening I received a call from Paul Mullen, a college roommate and teammate from both cross country and track. He works in Development for my alma mater Luther College. He wanted to reach out because he is super excited … Continue reading →

Posted in 400 meter intervals, 400 workouts, 5K, aging, Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, track and field | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

On actually seeing a woman

Posted on April 18, 2019 by

This morning on the way to the train station for her weekly once-weekly commute, my wife pulled an item out of her purse and opened it up. “I have new lipstick,” she told me. She applied it by memory, checked … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, cycling, track and field, training, tri-bikes, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons, we run and ride, We Run and Ride Every Day, women | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Positive takeaways

Posted on March 20, 2019 by

Over the years I’ve read that journaling your emotions is a positive way to get a grip on your feelings. Way back in high school I kept a running journal that recorded results and thoughts about the races in which … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, cross country, death, running, track and field, We Run and Ride Every Day | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

We should all be so smart as millennials

Posted on March 6, 2019 by

I was once a millennial. The year was 1980. I’d just graduated from college and was working my first job as an Admissions counselor for my alma mater. The job involved driving more than 1500 miles a week to recruit … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, cross country, cycling, life and death, running, track and field, tri-bikes, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons | Tagged , | 2 Comments