Early in the pandemic, we canceled our membership to the YMCA and bought a treadmill. It was more than just a Dick’s Sporting Goods treadmill—we were told it was a grade just below a gym treadmill. For a year or so, it worked fine. But then it developed some curious traits. The deck seemed toContinue reading “Treadmill, Deadmill, Dreadmill”
Tag Archives: Running
Let Us Now Praise Track Athletes
Graham had a dual meet on Tuesday against nearby track rival Marshfield. His buddy Jack, a sophomore on his team, had been promising to beat him in the eight hundred, and finally they squared off. With three hundred meters to go, Graham passed Jack, but on the final curve, Jack ran Graham down. I wasContinue reading “Let Us Now Praise Track Athletes”
Is Graham a Psychopath? Nevermind
Lauren was on afternoon pickup duty Thursday, but Graham texted 3:20 that track hadn’t even started yet. The coaches had a department meeting and were supposed to arrive by 3. That was going to cause a conflict with a meeting Lauren had, so I wound up on driving duty. I imagine the coaches weren’t inContinue reading “Is Graham a Psychopath? Nevermind”
Dobby Wins a Race; So Does Graham
With Lauren still in Pennsylvania and just Graham home with me, you’d think we’d be in for a Saturday of sleeping in. And you would be wrong. The high school hosts an annual run for suicide prevention, and the expectation is that all the track athletes compete. I also signed up with little intention ofContinue reading “Dobby Wins a Race; So Does Graham”
That’s Not What He Wanted to Cook
Sunday was the statewide indoor relays—all relays, no individual events. Graham was assigned to the distance medley relay, as were three other freshmen. A team stacked with four freshmen is not likely to be a main contender, and indeed, they were seeded twenty-first in the field and put in the slow heat. The medley relayContinue reading “That’s Not What He Wanted to Cook”
Runner’s High
At my last job, one of our practices was sports analytics. We did cognitive and personality evaluations of athletes for professional and NCAA teams. At one point, I had done hundreds of semantic analyses that gave us Big Five reads of players, and I had seen a pretty consistent pattern emerge among wide receivers atContinue reading “Runner’s High”
Run, Run, Run As Fast You Can, said Satan
I picked up Graham from his track workout yesterday. Naturally, he kept me waiting because he had “to hit a cooldown.” Readers, his “cooldown” is two miles and this after running ten four-hundred-meter sprints. So to be clear, he sprinted for 2.5 miles then “hit a cooldown” of two miles. Sometimes, I too will doContinue reading “Run, Run, Run As Fast You Can, said Satan”
All the World is a Running Trail
Lauren went out with her mother and Lucia Wednesday night to get their nails done and to have dinner at the Mexican restaurant Cancun. Still battling my not-Micah-Parsons cold, I didn’t feel like making dinner, so I brought Graham to KFC/Taco Bell in the neighboring town of Bridgewater. The store used to have Pizza Hut,Continue reading “All the World is a Running Trail”
His Smile Lit Up a Room and Other Things to Say at My Funeral 