Category Archives: nature

50 Years of Running: Dark nights and glimpses of light

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Christopher Cudworth

As October days grew shorter the days at work started and ended in darkness. Fortunately, Van Kampen Merritt uprooted from its Chicago office and moved out to a newly constructed building at the corner of Naper Boulevard and I-88. It … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: The running rube factor

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

All through college, one of the keys to my self-esteem was running. A large chunk of personal identity was wrapped up on the sport and its year-round commitment to training and racing. Like many runners in those days, when I … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: Sorting through a box of slides

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

One of the most challenging aspects of life on the road doing admissions work was feeling disconnected from the core mission of Luther College. It all seemed abstract out there in the field; showing photos ins a binder, talking with … 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: Go West Young Man

Posted on November 15, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

Heading into the cross country season of 1976, I elected to join the team training trip out west to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. The previous year’s trip to South Dakota provided compelling accounts of runs in the mountains. It … Continue reading →

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50 Years of Running: A Bird’s Eye View of Life

Posted on November 12, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

As college cross country season ended in the fall of 1976, I started thinking about what to do during January interim. The previous year I drew nudes for six hours a day. That was enlightening. But my other keen interest … 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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50 Years of Running: Hilltop Encounters

Posted on August 26, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

Perhaps a couple weeks into that first cross country season in 1971 at Kaneland High School, our team piled into a yellow school bus and traveled east for ten miles to a park known as Johnson’s Mound Forest Preserve. That … Continue reading →

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My longtime friend the red-tailed hawk

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

Heading into my senior year at Luther College, my fitness was good and I’d used the summer to clean up my act. I cut off the long, thick hair that shrouded my face. Dumped the thick glasses and got a … Continue reading →

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Changing management practices spell the end of hosting country meets at county forest preserves

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Christopher Cudworth

A friend and former cross country coach named Jeff Leavey noted on Facebook that the Kane County Forest Preserve district board voted to boot all cross country programs out of the parks starting in 2021. The board may have an … Continue reading →

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