Category Archives: love

Baselines, heart rates, and heartfelt feelings

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Christopher Cudworth

We ran our local Fox And Turkey Trot in Batavia, IL. The Fox River Trail Runners (FRTRs) put this race on every year, and it’s well done. As in managed, not cooked. We reprised a photo from ten years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, aging is not for the weak of heart, Christopher Cudworth, competition, healthy aging, healthy senior, love, race pace, racing peak, running, training, we run and ride, When the other man is an Ironman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wear and tear and ‘wouldn’t change a thing’

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Christopher Cudworth

While attending a Luther College reunion, I was walking next to my cross-country coach Kent Finanger, who was bent over and limping due to back issues likely related to his years of playing football and basketball during his college career. … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, aging is not for the weak of heart, alcohol, coaching, college, competition, cross country, death, Depression, foregiveness, friendship, healthy aging, healthy senior, injury, life and death, love, mental health, mental illness, running, training | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ironman, humanity, and humility

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Christopher Cudworth

Things didn’t go that well for my wife at Ironman Chattanooga last weekend. While she finished the race last year minus the swim, the hurricane that made landfall and traveled north from the Gulf of Mexico through the eastern United … Continue reading →

Posted in death, IRONMAN, life and death, love, mental health, mental illness, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The year I damn near died in a toothy fashion

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

Somewhere in the middle part of my 60s a tooth went bad in the back of my jaw. I’d gone to some sketchy dentists right after my wife died and the first dentist I visited didn’t explain clearly that my … Continue reading →

Posted in 10K, Christopher Cudworth, cycling, death, Depression, half marathon, life and death, love, mental health, race pace, racing peak, running, swimming, Tarsnakes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A flight toward home

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

Over fifty-plus years of running and riding, I’ve seen and heard many species of birds along the way. Early in life, it was hawks that captivated me most. I traced their silhouettes in the Peterson’s Field Guide, drew them on … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cross country, healthy aging, healthy senior, love | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Life in context

Posted on June 3, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

Sue and I rode together consistently in the summer of 2013. I recall it as a warm year, and every time she showed up in her little black cycling shorts and sleeveless kit jersey, I admired her arms and overall … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, alcohol, anxiety, Christopher Cudworth, Depression, fear, foregiveness, healthy aging, life and death, love, triathlete | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Carry on

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

After several years straight of focusing all efforts on maintaining my late wife’s health through cancer treatments, and stumbling through financially, I had some catching up to do on my own health in 2013. The previous year ended with a … Continue reading →

Posted in anxiety, Christopher Cudworth, death, foregiveness, God, healthy aging, love, running, sex, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beyond the Avatar

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

Perusing the profiles on the FitnessSingles dating app in the early summer of 2013, I observed that there were plenty of active women out there in the world, but not so many close to home in Batavia, Illinois. I signed … Continue reading →

Posted in competition, cycling, cycling the midwest, friendship, healthy aging, healthy senior, love | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dating as a widower

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

The term “widower” seems so loaded with tradition and history, it deserves a definition right here and now. I looked it up and this is what it says: If anything I was a garden widower before my late wife Linda … Continue reading →

Posted in Christopher Cudworth, competition, cycling, death, Depression, foregiveness, life and death, love, track and field, triathlete, triathlon, triathlons | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Grief and choices

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Christopher Cudworth

At times I’ve considered whether I’m “missing a chip” when it comes to grieving lost loved ones. Over the years I’ve met people, both men and women, that can’t recover after losing a spouse. Time magazine dealt with the subject … Continue reading →

Posted in aging, Christopher Cudworth, competition, death, Depression, friendship, life and death, love | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment