Category Archives: cross country

Rock solid values, allowing for sandstone

This weekend I drove up to Decorah, Iowa to visit friends and conduct some business on art and writing with former professors at Luther College. The weather was pleasantly gray in that Decorah way, often threatening rain. That only gave … Continue reading

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Life tectonics in a sweet season

This is the fifth in a series of articles about the Sweet Season of 1978, my college senior year when our Luther College team placed second in the nation in NCAA Division III cross country. To follow the chronological narrative … Continue reading

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A sweet season heats up

This is the fourth in a series of articles about the Sweet Season of 1978, my college senior year when our Luther College team placed second in the nation in NCAA Division III cross country. Volume one •  Volume two •  Volume … Continue reading

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A taste of bittersweet early in the sweet season

This is the second installment of eight blogs about a cross country season forty years ago. On Thursdays, I will recount a most significant period in life, a senior year in college. That’s when hard work paid off, self-belief took hold … Continue reading

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One Sweet Season: Volume One

This will be the first in an installment of eight blogs about a cross country season forty years ago. Over the next eight Thursdays, I will recount a most significant period in life,  entering a senior year in college. That’s … Continue reading

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Wish you were here

This morning as I ran my typical 8:30-9:00 pace for four miles in the early September humidity, I thought back to the training I was doing 40 years ago, in 1978. That was the year our college team took second … Continue reading

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Run right past the junkyard

I have a social media fetish just like millions of people around the world. I wake up in the middle of the night and think, “That was stupid what you posted yesterday. Why even engage with that stuff?” Even my … Continue reading

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August light

For many people it is the light of autumn that seems romantic. As the sun courses lower in a September sky, shadows grow longer and trees take on a tinge of color. Come October, the light grows clear without the … Continue reading

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On Wisconsin

There are places in this world we can claim for ourselves despite the fact that we are not legally a resident. For me, one of those is Wisconsin. I know that people who live there refer to Illinoisians as Flatlanders. … Continue reading

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Summer lovin’ 1972

Those formative years of distance running remain special to me because everything was still so new. The sensations wrought from running farther than I ever imagined possible were both stimulating and daunting. Coming off a freshman year cross country season … Continue reading

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