Category Archives: Depression

50 Years of Running: Detachments

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

Once the optometrist found the retinal detachment in my left eye, all the other stuff that occupied my mind fell away. I pushed him for information about how the condition came about. Was it trauma? I’d recently gotten hit in … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: The Hardest Thing in the World

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

During the month of November, when traveling for admissions wore me down to a nub of a human being, I ceased trying to keep track of daily runs because it meant nothing. If you’ve ever run a race where you … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: Graduation Blues

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

With nothing left but nationals in the 1979 track season, I walked across the stage to pick up my degree with my parents present during graduation. I’d earned a precious “D” in that horrifically dry and accounting-based marketing class that … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: A Few Jokers and Wild Cards

Posted on November 24, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

The interesting thing about cross country as a sport is that teammates tend to spend enormous amounts of time together. Whereas athletes in track and field tend to split into training groups for mid-distance and long-distance training, in cross country … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: Olympic Aspirations

Posted on November 22, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

The summer before my junior year in college, my parents decided to move from a tiny split-level house in a suburban St. Charles neighborhood to a farmhouse six miles out of town. They were both raised on farms in Upstate … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: First, a flight. Then I woke up dead.

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

Following a successful conference meet, our team earned a trip to Nationals out in Boston, Massachusetts. We’d swept the top five spots at the IIAC race and our coach Kent Finanger followed through on getting us an entry to the … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: the anger factor

Posted on September 7, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

As fifteen-year-old kid during the summer of 1972, I was frustrated by the fact that I’d sustained a chipped bone in my elbow that erased the summer baseball season. Neither could I go out and run with the cast on. … Continue reading →

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Olympic-sized pressures

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

A week ago the Linkedin group The Female Lead that I follow posted an image of three ‘women of color’ athletes who won’t be competing at the Olympics due to “rules” they supposedly broke in the past few months. The … Continue reading →

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Wear patterns say plenty about us

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

While walking the dog this morning I looked down to see my footprints in the fresh layer of snow that fell overnight. The shoes I was wearing are Timberland boots that I’ve owned for five years. They’re still in solid … Continue reading →

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“Am I smart?” is the hardest question in life to answer

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

Recently while filling out paperwork for some potential teaching assignments, I requested college and high school transcripts to send in with the applications. Looking through my academic record was a bit humbling in many respects. Those Algebra II grades my … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, college, cross country, Depression, healthy aging, running, swimming, Tarsnakes | 3 Comments