Iowa

There’s nothing quite like the smell of manure in the morning.  It’s more effective than coffee at waking you from your slumber and nearly twice as strong!

These are some of the semi-lucid thoughts that bounce around my brain during a solo run down a country road in the middle of July.  It’s only 6:30am but the humidity is rising faster than the sun and adding to the acridity of my bovine bouquet.  As I near the farm house where the scent is originating, I catch a glimpse of the putrid perpetrators.  In their pen, a dozen cows stand motionless - save for the slow but synchronized turning of their heads as I run by.  The quizzical looks on their cowy faces only serve to reinforce the growing sense that I’m a stranger in a strange land.

Baystate

My goal for this year’s Baystate Marathon was simple.  Finish in less than 3 hours.  That’s it!  One last shot for me to break this ever elusive time barrier before diving headlong into Ultras.  Unfortunately, as the year played itself out, it turned out to be one goal too many.

Heroes

As a child of the 70’s, the only war movies that could be found on television were ones about World War II.  That changed, of course, in 1978 with The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now.  But, those were Rated R.  So, as a kid, I watched PG war movies like To Hell and Back – with Audie Murphy.  Or Westerns (the other “safe” war movie genre) like Outlaw Josie Wales – with Clint Eastwood.  Both stars were heroes of my Dad’s and, by extension, heroes of mine.

Substance Abuse

Hi. I’m Michael and I have a running problem ...

Well, it’s not so much a problem, as it is an obsession - really. It all started when I was an out-of-shape 28-year old who desperately needed a lifestyle change. “Why not start running again?” I thought. “It couldn’t possibly be any worse then when I was in High School, right?” Come to find out it takes significantly more effort to propel a 240lb. body than it does a 140lb. one!

When I started running, I decided I needed a goal to take my mind off the pain that my body was feeling. So, once I could go a mile without stopping, I started training for the Boston Marathon. For some reason this seemed like a very logical progression to me. Little did I know that my decision would mark the beginning of an odyssey filled with stunning disappointment and profound joy. The likes of which can only be found in the world of long distance running.