Fifty Years of Running • The Ramble

50 years later, with a lot of miles down the road. January 31, 2024

This post takes me back to the spring semester of 1974 with my buddy and long-time part-time running mate, Paul Hobbs. Actually, I'll let Paul kick this thing off with several thoughts I asked him to jot down.

Doug and I first crossed paths at the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department Junior Olympics. We were pitted against one another in the standing broad jump event. Though I was a 4th grader and Doug was a year behind, he kicked my ass and I’ve never forgiven him, end of story.

No, just kidding. Doug’s family, as mine had done, moved from the west side of town to the east side, and wound up living next door to my friend Ron Zieman. We became dear friends and spent a lot of time together.

We ended up, eventually, attending Hancock College and signing up for a jogging class. It was very loose. We met in the morning and ran for an hour or so, showered up and moved on to our next class. Our only responsibility was to map out a course, measure the distance, and submit it for a book of courses to be provided to future classes, as ours was the maiden voyage of Jogging 101. Great idea.

The class instilled a running discipline in Doug and I that we’ve somehow maintained for about 50 years. We were running buddies for that brief time but over the years rarely ran together. We have remained friends and running enthusiasts and have shared information regarding treatment of injuries, running shoes, events, and love of the sport. Now, we get together a few times a year for a glorious run on the beach, lunch, and a couple of beers. What a grand way for a pair of old friends to spend some time. –Paul Hobbs

Up until that point in 1974, I would do what many people do in having that start-stop inconsistency with running. Running is not pleasurable for a large part of the population, so I imagine even reading about it here might be annoying at best. If so, just skip to the playlist below as I've been tweaking it for several years now into a nice upbeat rock 'n' roll listen. However, I am going to press on, even start sprinkling in a few running quotes.

“Most of us have enough areas of our lives where we have to meet others’ expectations. Let your running be about your own hopes and dreams.” 
– Meb Keflezighi

My first running partner was my early childhood friend, Bill DeVoe. In high school, Bill would put his German Shepherd, Leroy on a leash, and we would all run together from his house to the very same Allan Hancock Jr. College. We'd would run around the exterior of the school and then head back to his house without Leroy missing a beat.

Beach walk on Vashon Island, 2021

50 Years later, Bill is still running, and runs with a small group of guys on Vashon Island in Washington. Recently, Bill told me that the group of 60+ year old guys had to insert a new rule into their run routine overlooking the beautiful Puget Sound. New Rule - If anyone brings up their current aches and pains, they have to 1), quickly explain their ailment, and then 2), cannot talk about it the rest of the run. Sounds like a plan. Like Paul, Bill has been a long-time part-time running and walking partner based on our distance from one another.

“I always loved running… it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.” – Jesse Owens

For most runners who are consistent with it over the years, it's a solitary event, where your mind goes inward while your body gets expressive.

“Running is alone time that lets my brain unspool the tangles
that build up over days.” – Rob Hanisen

After two years of Hancock, I moved into the dorms at San Diego State in 1975. There, I met another dear friend, Mark Hunter. Mark and I would move out a year later and become roommates for a couple years after that. Mark being a Health Science major was into running and we would often hook-up for a run in the streets of San Diego. We would also run the trails together at Palomar Mountain as camp counselors for a couple of summers. I don't think I was ever in better shape in my life running those dusty trails in our shorts and hiking boots.

A tired Mark and Doug after leading campers with disabilities
on a two day hike and camp @ Camp-A-Lot, Palomar Mountain 1977
(a shout out to my trusty Wolverine boots)

“There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.” – Kristin Armstrong

After college, I started teaching in 1980 and after several years in the special education program in San Diego Unified School District, I met a wonderful guy named Bob Morris. Both of us were married with two kids each, and one day, we just started running together after work. We'd solve all of our work problems mostly running the San Diego Bay. 

Eventually we started running half-marathons together and then ran the San Diego Marathon sometime in the early 90's. Bob was also a street bicyclist where a 50 mile ride was nothing to him. I called him, "The Mountain Goat' because he came from Montana and told me about riding the freezing roads with the wind and prairie in his face. Bob and I would go up a steep hill and he'd just leave me in the dust. 

Although, I do remember running our first half-marathon together from the Del Mar Fair to La Jolla Cove. On the way, there is a very long stretch climb from the coast up to the UCSD campus. We're in our late 30's, and this grey-haired woman in her 60's just comes up gliding next to the two of us, and then just passes moving at her pace. We both look at each other as she's already 20 yards ahead of us. Yes the sport is humbling, but as one learns, always at your own pace. Thank you Bob for your friendship and all those running years together!

“Running allows me to set my mind free. Nothing seems impossible.
Nothing unattainable.” – Kara Goucher

In the list of running partners in my life, I must include - 

My daughter Katie. 

We ran together after her high school years while she was in college and mostly before she had children. Katie is the closest running partner I've ever had. It's like running with myself next to me- same gait, same pace. I miss our runs, maybe one day after her boys grow older we will run again.

Pictured left to right -
Susan's husband Rick, Susan, Stephanie and me.

My sisters Stephanie and Susan. 

Stephanie and I started running together sometime in the early 2000's. At some point, we invited our sister Susan to a couple of half-marathons and a couple of Thanksgiving Turkey Trots that we all really enjoyed together. I started this idea of calling my running and anybody who ran with me, "Team Tortoise." I created a logo, and Susan printed up some t-shirts. Here we are on a very blustery Thanksgiving day at Pismo Beach in 2019, at the annual Turkey Trot walk or run. 

“We run to undo the damage we’ve done to body and spirit. We run to find some part of ourselves yet undiscovered.” – John Bingham

At some point in my 40's, I began to really enjoy running by myself again. Maybe at heart, runners are loners. Speaking for myself, it's free therapy where my mind and body stays connected. Young people don't even think of this, but as you get older you physically have to be moving, or else...

“Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must;
just never give up.” – Dean Karnazes

This past Saturday (February 17), I celebrated 22 years of life after my heart attack. In retrospect, it was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. In my mid-40's, I still hadn't learned to let things go. My heart attack although mostly rooted in heredity was more than a family trait, it was about me owning my place at the table. I could create, contribute, and care with confidence, without the baggage of what anybody or everybody thought. I didn't have to metaphorically run from my life, rather I could choose to mentally and physically run to my life. My heart attack experience helped me actualize my self value.

“I breathe in strength and breathe out weakness.” – Amy Hastings Cragg

You may have noticed (other than the group poses above), there's not a single picture of running here. In fifty years, I don't think I have an actual picture of me running, because I don't think I have any pictures of me brushing my teeth either. Good habits are practiced on a weekly basis without any fanfare. In whatever form of exercise you choose, your habits of mind will determine how you move your body. Perseverance is characteristic of the practice one puts into one area, that can transcend into the wholeness of a person. Running has provided me an organizational foundation to be confident and task-oriented in both my personal and professional life.

I guess it's time so show some running. If someone were to ask me, What is the most inspirational clip you've ever seen on running? It would be Dave Wottle's 800 meter gold metal run in the 1972 Olympics. I think it's the single most reason I dedicated myself to running. Here's also the excellent sports commentary by Jim McKay and Marty Liquori that may have also simultaneously inspired thousands of young people's journalism careers.

   

"Taking a walk, most everyday is one of the foundational cornerstones of an engaged life." – Doug McIntosh  

In the 1970's running and tennis were big sports and thus began popular exercise with the average person. Today, the everyday exercise is walking and pickleball. Let's stick to walking here.

Solving the world's problems
on a walk in Santa Monica with
Ken Forman, Paul Hobbs, & Ron Zieman

Taking a walk is liberation from buildings. Back in the 20th century, it just used to be the old lady out for
a walk around the neighborhood, while her soon to be dead husband was home on the couch. Today, millions of people have reserved that walk as that "me time" to stay healthy. Doesn't matter if you're solo or with a friend, or dog or two, walking will save your life. Taking a walk is the most accessible aerobic activity that is going to keep a person young in spirit, because if you give up on your body, that spirit will follow. 

I'm most inspired by friend Ron Zieman's semi-retirement 7 and 10 mile walks, or what he calls "The trail of tears" up and down the steps leading to his local Santa Monica Beach, and then some more steps in and around the beautiful coast and canyons. You rock Ron!

For runners, most of us have the simple rule that we are going to run... until we can't. And when we can't, we're already walking... until we can't. The thing is, if you take a walk everyday, the time that you have on this earth will probably be a lot longer than the short time you can't walk at all. 

Walking is problem-solving. You can be walking with someone, or by yourself, as forward movement stimulates the brain, and a stimulated brain is an active agent for change. 

“I run because it’s so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can’t. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you’re capable of so much more than you thought.” 
– Arthur Blank

This past year, I made the choice to transition from running on my favorite hilly and sometimes rocky trail to the flat back of a middle's school baseball fields and large dirt field, about .6 of a mile round. Over the course of time on my trail runs, I had begun to trip and fall every couple of months on the little rocks jutting up from the ground (snipers), and decided that was enough of that. Besides, I had become so slow on the trail for fear of falling, that I was missing the joy of running.

Over Christmas break, I pulled a groin muscle playing tennis with my twin grandsons. I waited a month or so, and then finally ran with Paul on the same day the Hancock picture was taken. Later that same morning we ran at Grover Beach, and I pulled that same muscle, again.

The past two weeks, I've been sick with a pretty strong cough and chest cold and have not been able to run. It's been almost two months. I'm not really a patient person like when I was younger, but what running has helped me understand is the process of adaptation. Life throws stuff at you, and it's how we adapt to situations and events that allows us to cope and problem-solve our way through. So, right now I'm just walking everyday with my beautiful wife, just like we always do.

They are moments in time when running allows you to see

how wonderful your life is.” – Kara Goucher

It's a morning last November, about 8am at the baseball fields and the back 40 dirt lot behind De Portola Middle School. I'm about half way through my 5 mile run. As I recall, I'm on a good clip running 4.7 mph and the sun just coming up over the east side line of trees. Several people are walking their dogs and chatting in the right field grass at the largest ball field. Got my phone strapped on my arm with my music library of 30,000 or so songs, set to "Random." Tom Petty's Running Down a Dream comes on, I pick up the pace, just looking at my feet hit and return, hit and return. I'm movin' I'm alive, and another day on this earth to feel it, love it and later, get some stuff done.

TeamTortoise.org

Hey my editor did find one of me running!
Crystal Pier Pacific Beach, California

Enjoy the playlist my friends, 

it's enough to keep picking them up and putting them down!