Sunday August 25 of 2019 was hot and sunny as local celebrity Dave Chappelle told a diverse crowd of over 25,000 of us that our dreams were not stupid. He mentioned that when his LA friends asked him why he lived in Ohio, he said, “Why the F*ck Not!” (WTFN)

A number of celebrities gathered in an unlikely place: the scene of a grizzly mass murder via assault rifle that happened early Sunday morning, August 4th, in Dayton’s bustling, historic entertainment district. In about 30 seconds, a young man from a nearby suburb killed nine, including his only sibling, before the police stopped him. His death raised the toll to ten souls. It could have been much worse had our good guys not been so close, and well prepared. We’ll never know if the shooter meant to end his sister’s life. Dayton had also been hit by fifteen tornadoes the prior memorial day and the KKK spewed their hate, blocks from the Dayton Peace Museum and the Oregon District. The young man with the rifle took more human life than fifteen tornadoes. In response, Dayton’s Dave Chappelle held a massive rally, benefit, block party. WTFN.

 

August 25th was my 57th birthday. Dave’s was the day prior and sharp shooters were on the rooftops watching over us. The good guys had the rifles for the “Dayton Shines” mass shooting victims’ benefit concert. Dave wanted to create new, joyful memories for a community taking hit after hit after hit. My wife and I arrived so early we didn’t need to show our hard to get tickets and enjoyed a great vegan lunch on the patio at Lily’s Bistro. A rapper and his entourage were seated nearby as young ladies posed for selfies with him. Our waitress spoiled us with a free birthday dessert and mentioned she’d be serving for Dave’s private birthday party to be held there. Rumors were flying. Would Lady Gaga show up, maybe the Obamas who have local ties, or possibly Bradley Cooper? So many names were tossed around. We stayed till after Stevie Wonder closed the show. Stevie sang happy birthday to Dave, so I pretended he was singing to me, cuz WTFN.

Some of my dreams have been coming true, particularly for my family and in areas of my focus on wellbeing and running. Dreams I have for others include helping them find joy from healthy motion, optimal nutrition, “right” thinking, avoiding chronic diseases, etc. We can improve our mental health, heal the planet, and thrive cooperatively with a “less is more” mindset. Trying to figure out how to plant these ideas so they will grow is my ongoing process. Often it feels like pissing into the wind, but I try. WTFN?

On March 13, I was trained and rested as our old minivan was loaded to drive three hours for the Buzzard Day 50K. Cuz, the annual return of the buzzards is a thing!! Ohio is quirky like that. Minutes before departure, I got word the race permit was pulled. Covid-19 stopped the race, the first of several ultra marathons for me. The next morning, I caught a ride with my wife for what would be her last official group run from the Up And Running store. I decided to take my disappointed, tapered butt out to run my own point-to-point “Social Distancing 50K”. After running through a dark parking lot with the group, I broke off with a full pack to run under street lights to some of my favorite areas such Hills and Dales Park, Oakwood neighborhoods, Calvary Cemetery, Woodland Hills Cemetery, Downtown Dayton and the Oregon District. I’d missed running some of these areas, as I’d been doing so many ultra marathons, including fourteen months in a row of finishing at least one ultra per month, including six hundred milers during 2019. Temps were in the low thirties with rain and sleet for the final nine miles home. I was grateful for the free energy from the negative ions helping get me home for a hot shower. I ran through the area of the shootings, the candlelight vigil we attended the evening of August 4, and of course the standing-room-only area of the benefit concert. I thought on many topics, including more DIY 50K ideas. I would do one each week for awhile. The prior year, I wondered if I was fit enough to run a 50K every week, so, WTFN?

The following Saturday, March 21st, I ran my Beavercreek Backyard 50K. The “course” was a .6 mile loop I ran fifty two times! This included some single track trail in our wooded yard and the semi private lane off our driveway. Chilly and overcast, I didn’t mind the repetition and I beat my seven hour time goal by ten minutes while never leaving our yard or the lane. I enjoyed traveling light! Our nearly twelve year old Goldendoodle, Snickers, could join at will. No leash needed. She mostly seemed as baffled by this idea as most people. My wife, Meg, joined in a bit, as did a buddy. Two of our girls ran a few loops while our other daughter planned and prepared a post race vegan feast. I took some time to splice some long speaker cables to pipe music outside. Blasting tunes was nice as I never run with music attached. Van Morrison, U2, The Talking Heads, The Cure, The Gin Blossoms and The Counting Crows kept me company. It was nice to enjoy our private yard this way while I thought about the next weekend’s 50K concept.

 

The following Thursday I was barely able to pass the iron level score to donate platelets and plasma, so I waited until Sunday for a run I’d really looked forward to. The scenery would be enhanced with sunshine, warmer temps and heavy wind. I called it the Creek-to-Yellow Springs and Back 50K. The bike trail off our lane connects to hundreds of miles of paved bike trails. My trail for the day was a sixteen mile bike path to the train station replica in Yellow Springs. This happens to be the hometown for the Mark Twain 2019 Comedy Award Winner, Dave Chappelle. The last time I bumped into Dave in Yellow Springs was two summers ago and that was the first and only time we had a conversation. Outside The UnderDog Cafe as my wife, daughter and I were destroying a vegan ice cream treat, Dave was curious about my running so far in sandals. When I mentioned this was a nice training run, but my goal races include many 100 milers in sandals, he seemed surprised to hear than people could run that far. On this 50K run, I was thinking of the irony of me running to and from Yellow Springs, while the younger Dave is said to drive from there to the LA Fitness in Beavercreek.

 

Yellow Springs is home to the trails and parks of Glen Helen, John Bryan and Clifton Gorge, long a favorite close getaway within twenty minutes of home. It’s a scenic, quirky village with a laid back vibe that’s become more touristy over the years. On March 29th the village was a relative ghost town. While most shops were closed, I found a great cup of hot coffee at Dino’s Cappuccino’s and sipped it fast. Kenny, a buddy who’s home is literally next to the bike trail in Trebein, Ohio, spontaneously hopped on his bike and rode nearly 24 miles worth of my 32 mile trot. He chatted with a buddy outside the village’s grocery store briefly. Ken saw my Facebook post about this 50K and came out to say hi as I ran by. He’s no longer able to run, so I tried to give him ideas to get back after it and enjoyed the unexpected company. March’s weather varies but this day was warming my heart and bones. Headwind gusts running home were close to 40 miles per hour. I didn’t care a bit. Sometimes you just say WTFN.

 

 

Saturday April 4th was sunny and got hot for my “victory lap” BX50K”. I called this the Beavercreek-Xero 50. I had four different models of Xero Shoes to wear: racing flats, road shoes, trail shoes and a pair of sport sandals. This would be the fourth of four consecutive weekly 50K’s and the idea was to keep this one all in my hometown of Beavercreek while using our minivan as the aid station roughly a mile from home. The course included a nice mix of trails, road running, and paved bike trails. As the heat would be building, I decided to get into some “remote” wetland trails with a good amount of water and mud at the tail end. Those Xero sandals, sans socks, would be ideal. I felt sluggish all day, but splashing around was fun. This would be the slowest 50K, but still well under eight hours. My back was unhappy for the fourth 50K due to overworking on some landscaping projects, and I’d only had six days off from the prior 50K. Pollen levels were high. Deeper into the Covid-19 pandemic, more parks, including the soccer complex, were closed. I was hoping to mix in some pure barefoot miles, but Covid-19 reminds us to be flexible.

 

 

I definitely felt like I could keep going with the weekly 50K’s, but I wanted to get back to more frequent running. During the fourth 50K, the idea came for what should be next. I call this training block the Romero 10-10; ten days in a row running ten to eleven miles per day. The pace is moderate, to minimize injury risk, but I push enough that sometimes it’s tough to get started or to finish. This prepares a runner for completing hundred milers! Cuz, WTFN!

 

The C-19 pandemic has been an opportunity to test this idea of whether I could handle a 50K every weekend! I’d been wondering more about my potential after watching Walter Handloser run fifty one hundred mile races during 2019! 50 races of 100 miles! In a year. One year. Let that sink in. Having no entry fees eliminates a hurdle. For four 50K’s, I only spent a few dollars on coffee and juice! While disappointed to learn that several months worth of ultras are canceled or postponed, creating new adventures and getting back to some favorite local places has been awesome. Typically, I’d be running a first hundred miler about this time of the year. So, a DIY 100 miler is another idea stuck in my head. While there’s some logic and science to support the idea that my fitness level and long term all plant-based diet offer some level of defense against the novel virus, I’m not sure how far I really should push my immune system. 100 miles is still far and would leave me temporarily weaker. This is what good training does. It takes us out of balance, works us hard, and leaves us sore and temporarily weaker so we can recover and be stronger than before.

 

This pandemic has shaken us all, but has given me a deeper appreciation for our community. We are “Dayton Strong”. Our people, parks, trails, forests, rivers, and neighborhoods are great. Why not strive to not only survive, but thrive and shoot out the other end of the tunnel stronger and happier. This is a chance to dig deeper. It’s good enough here for Mr. Chappelle and his family. My dreams are not stupid. Neither are yours. Create some great memories. I may never get Dave’s attention again for thirty seconds to thank him for a memorable 57th birthday, so if you have a line to the brilliantly funny dude, send him my gratitude. And I’d love to show him how to run his local trails. Dave, there is a runner in you. Don’t overthink it.

We are living thru an historical time which will be talked about and studied for decades. How will you change? What memories will you create? Do some epic stuff. WTFN.

 

“Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.”   ― Rumi