Author Archive
Sarah Herrington, the stellar 1500-meter specialist from the Twin Cities has transplanted to St. Louis in an attempt to change her luck. The winner of countless Invitational and Relays titles, the 5’11” track star is most famous for what she has not achieved, namely, a berth on the U.S. Olympic Team. Chapter Two SARAH HERRINGTON Their love…
Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there’s little fun to be had in explanations; they’re antithetical to the poetry of fear. ― Stephen King Nighttime can be a fright time. Let me tell you a true story. Happened just a few days ago. Make of it what you will. It’s late at night. I’m alone. I’m…
Another amazing tale you won’t believe, where your superannuated reporter drives through THE STORM FROM HELL, keeps pace with three 2:20ish marathoners and a three-time Conference Mile Champion and meets a future marathon star and gets a medicinal chocolate milk shake. There was also a big brown dog. WEDNESDAY, I walked Ragnar, cleaned up and…
This book is dedicated to every person who has ever pursued a difficult goal and followed that quest to its conclusion. – Jay Birmingham, Raleigh, North Carolina 2024 Chapter One BILL SZYMCZAK At this distance, details are lost: all I can see is a terrible crush of bodies. The panicked mob pushes, everyone mindless…
Writing is hard. Personally, I’d rather read. So, I will be offering Throwback Thursdays as needed. It’s Thursday in Europe.2015, still trying to convince myself there was still a chance I could run. And ‘still’ it was. “Old age is very demanding somehow,” author Kay Boyle once wrote a much younger friend. “One knows what…
I thought about how many preconceived notions would crumble when I trotted along for 26 miles. – Bobbi Gibb, first woman to finish the Boston Marathon, 1966 Where To Watch This year’s Boston Marathon will be aired live in its entirely throughout New England on WCVB-Channel 5 (coverage from 4:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.), and nationally on…
I was in the machine. My whole life. Then the machine coughed and spat me out. So I thought, OK, if I’m out, I’m out. All the way out. I was a little angry and it was probably an immature reaction. But I got used to it. – Lee Child, One Shot I recently came across…
Nostalgia in reverse, the longing for yet another strange land, grew especially strong in spring. – Vladimir Nabokov The Boston Marathon is sacred to many of us. You know who you are. Bob Hodge, for example. And me, too. Forty-five years ago, Bob Hodge, bib No. 1066, finished third in the Boston Marathon. Right behind Bill…
In the cookie of life, friends are the chocolate chips. – Salman Rushdie Cerberus is a vicious three-headed dog. Basically, my spirit animal. In Greek mythology, Cerberus (/ˈsɜːrbərəs/; Greek: Κέρβερος Kerberos [ˈkerberos]), often called the “hound of Hades”, is the monstrous multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from…
This piece is dedicated to Joe Henderson, the legendary running writer and editor. The guy who made Dr. George Sheehan sound coherent. Joe once told me – we became friends because I wanted to be just like him, only taller and faster – ‘you can reuse a piece every four years because your readership will…