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The Week in Between
Last night my wife turned to me, “Today was Tuesday, right?” We talked about this weird week between Christmas and New Year. The frenzy of choir concerts and family gatherings is over, nearly all the Christmas baking has mysteriously disappeared. But the next thing has yet to begin. I’m not sure what day it is.…
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Molting
“Don’t talk to me now, I’m molting” – Andrew Bird, Inside Problems I spent six weeks without running. As a self-proclaimed “Runner”, and writer of daily running poems, this time off, forced by a minor foot injury, represented a shift in identity. If a runner doesn’t run, are they still a “runner”? Can I write…
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Pocket Poetry
The workshop (uh, dining room table) has been busy lately, as I’ve been bringing some of my poetry to life by way of handmade zines featuring the RunHaiku poetry I’ve been producing over the past few years. Hand-drawn, -cut, and -bound, these little books were a lot of fun to put together, and are available…
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Longest Night Run 2022
The Longest Night Run 2022 is now ready for sign-up. Register here. Get all the info on our website here. As I wrote to past participants today, even as the days shorten, an anticipation grows as we approach Dec 21, and the longest night of the year. The longest night of the year has now…
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Bashō
In my view a good poem is one in which the form of the verse, and the joining of its two parts, seem light as a shallow river flowing over its sandy bed. – Matsuo Bashō When my book Morning Rounds was coming into shape, I was introduced to the form of poetry known as…
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Nocturnal Songs
So [hope] makes a homeIn the deep shadowsWhere it waits to be foundBy those who need it most – David Gate # Lately I’ve taken note of the melancholy songs who, in Wendell Berry’s words, “don’t disturb the stillness from where they came.” Maybe they’re nocturnal songs, who hide out in the shadows. Spencer LaJoye‘s…
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The Grizzly
While I’ve identified as an “ultrarunner” (mostly because it sounds cool) for several years, I realized, with all the cancellations over the past years, it had been nearly three years since I last ran an actual ultra marathon! Who am I anymore? But last week I finally had the chance to slap on a 50K…
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Looking out the window
Churches and trainsThey all look the same to me nowThey shoot you some placeWhile we ache to come home somehow – Gregory Alan Isakov, Amsterdam Linford of Over the Rhine said, “Letters are good for discussing the weather. Almost anything that can be glimpsed out a window fits well into a letter.” I think this…
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Digging Holes
Gotta dig a lot of holes to get into something deep – Nathaniel Rateliff I read Gabe’s 2000th blog post (thanks to Seth for sharing) and was again inspired to show up at this blog and write more often. Because big things often happen not all at once but drip by drip. It’s always possible…
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Mennonite Marathon: The Peace Trail
Not everything automatically becomes a tradition. You can do a thing once, have a good time (or not), then never do it ever again. There’s no such thing as a “first annual”, you need a second to make it an annual affair. Back in 2020, when we were all going stir-crazy and making up our…