RUNNING NEBRASKA

It’s hot.  Did I mention that already?  Unbearably hot.  I’m in Oklahoma dealing with my niece’s suicide.  I spent last night at dinner with her nine year daughter at a Chinese Restaurant.  I even let the nine year old pick out all the awful food she wanted to watch me eat.  We laughed and in between laughing the nine year would sob and tell me her mommy was dead and she would never see her again.    And what do you say to a nine year whose mother just killed herself?  Nothing in life can prepare you for such moments.  Nothing.

So the next morning I woke up and needed to find the peacefulness of the lonesome miles of running.  I had no idea what state I would run for the day.  My friend, Steve, was along with me on the trip with his plane and I said over coffee I’d never been to Nebraska before so we said, “Let’s run Nebraska and Kansas.”   I called my Okie friend, Karla.  I asked her to hop on the plane with us and fly to Nebraska and Kansas to run and just like that we were heading to the vast cornfields of the land of Cornhuskers and mighty Jayhawks.    We ran Kansas first.   It was early afternoon and grueling hot in the July sun.  But we made our three miles.   Oh, yeah, did I mention I’m nursing a foot injury?  But the stillness of the Kansas air and the quietness of the open road was good for me.   I ran.  I prayed for peace of mind.

We loaded up in the car after Kansas and headed across to Nebraska.   We find a park in a small town to run through.  Looked like a perfect setting.  And my crazy friend Karla is known for rescuing any and every dog in the world.  Her house is full of strays.   Within minutes of our arrival in Nebraska she finds the one stray dog in the state.    The poor dog is dazed and confused from being lost and from the heat.   I’m running and flag down a police officer.  My friend Karla is convinced she needs to take the dog home on the plane.  I know Karla’s husband will kill me if I let her bring one more stray home.   I finally convince her to let the police officer take the stray to the humane society.

After our run in Nebraska, Karla insists we go to the humane society and check on the dog and give them a donation.   And so it is in Nebraska that a seed was planted.  From that day on, all the states I run, I will leave a donation to the local humane society of a hundred dollars.  I gave the small town in Nebraska where we left that dog, a thousand dollars.   Good karma, my friends.  I could use some.

Right now life is hurting far too much.

I”M ALIVE AND KICKING

Yes.  I’m alive and kicking.   I’ve officially ran 25 states now.  25 done and 25 more to go.     Along the way, I lost my niece to suicide, a shot to the head,  and my sister died suddenly last week from a bleeding brain tumor.   I flew to Oklahoma and watched my oldest sister who had been like a mother to me die and the next day I ran in Wichita Falls, Texas at 4 pm in 104 degree weather.  It was unbearable.  I had a friend drive by every few minutes with a bottle of water for me.   I felt as if I were going to pass out.  It’s as if the ground was wavering beneath me.   But I finished my three miles.  It’s the hard runs like Texas that make a runner.   I will not be defeated.  I will not be undone.    25 States run.  25 more to go.    I am devastated especially by my sister’s death.   Where will this journey lead me?  Where has it already lead me?   I’ll tell you more tomorrow about the states I’ve ran along the way.

I’M IN A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

Took the ferry over across Lake Champlain and had a friend dump me off four miles outside of a small town deep in the Adirondacks.  Time to color in New York on my RUN AMERICA OCD map.   Beautiful run.  By far my favorite of all.  I ran through hilly valley along the Champlain shore where velvety green ancient mountains disappear into puffy white clouds and I ran past golden fields of tall grass and wild flowers and made my way back into the small village where my friend waited at a cafe and had lunch.  This was a day I will cherish forever.   Never have I felt so alive.

14 STATES IN 15 DAYS

My brain is a little fuzzy this morning, due to coffee deprivation, but if my math is correct, I’ve ran 14 states over a period of 15 days.    No wonder I’m exhausted.   I’m looking at my “RUNNING AMERICA OCD COLORED MAP” and I’m thinking “Holy Wal Mart!  I did that?”

North Dakota.   This was my first and possibly last visit ever to the Roughrider State.  We landed and the wind was howling over 40 mph and as I was walking off the plane, I just about peed my pants.   It was fricking cold and I was wearing short shorts the kind that you would expect to see Mister Mouth run in–tacky, tacky, tacky but so me.   And it was raining and the icy rain drops were lashing me at a 40 mph speed.   Let’s just say the Sci Fi channel can use North Dakota for their next inhospitable planet movie background.  I ran my three miles and I was the only person outdoors.   By the way, everyone in North Dakota is super obese.  And they were all wearing parkas at the end of May.   I ran my three miles and jumped in the car and back on the plane and chickened out on running in Minnesota.  It will have to wait for another day.