Not too long ago one of the trends in fitness events was color runs.

They were 5K run/walks in which participants had colored powder thrown onto them at various points along the course, so that by the end of the event they looked like a human rainbow.

These color runs drew big crowds but I never felt the urge to participate in one. Getting covered with colored powder has never appealed to me. Neither has—as a like-minded running friend of mine once said as the reason she never did a color run—having to spend the rest of the day blowing red, green, and blue snot out of my nose.

But perhaps the main reason that I never had the urge to do a color run is that I have been doing them on a near-daily basis for more than 25 years now. In one way or another, just about run or dog-walk that I go on is a color run.

There is the beautiful sky during the daytime and the stars at night. The bright leaves during autumn and bright flowers during spring and summer. The red cardinals, brown deer, green turtles, and countless other critters seen year-round while I am out getting some fresh air and exercise.

I recently read a post in which the author said that going for a run or walk outdoors is to be witness to a thousand miracles. Miracles that, I might add, come in all kinds of colors.

For a decade or so during the late 1990s/early 2000s, the first Saturday in May meant a couple of running-related things to me—the Run for the Roses and the Run for the Pie.

Run for the Roses as in the Kentucky Derby. Run for the Pie as in the Norske Nook 2 mile/15K .

Norske Nook was a small run in the small town of Osseo, Wisconsin, which was a big part of its charm.

Registration and packet pickup was at the local high school. The course went out onto the rural roads that wound and rolled their way through the green, hilly countryside.

One year a group of runners had to stop to let a hay wagon pass in front of them.

Another year there was a bit of a detour caused by a big road-kill raccoon.

All finishers received a piece of pie courtesy of the local Norske Nook Bakery and Restaurant.

Proceeds benefitted the local library.

The race was organized by the late Don Gilbertson, a retired University of Minnesota professor who lived on a nearby farm in Osseo. Not only was Don an excellent runner himself—having run a number of sub 3-hour marathons well into his 50s—he did much to support local running as well.

Prior to starting the Norske Nook Run, Don provided many years of volunteer service to the Indianhead Track Club both as an officer and event coordinator. For a number of years, he and his wife Nancy put on a New Year’s Day fun run that was always a great way to kick off the new year.

As we finally come out of the pandemic, here’s hoping that community-minded volunteers such as the Gilbertsons continue to come forward to help keep fun community events such as the Norske Nook Run going.

Seeing as it was just Easter time and Boston Marathon time, it makes sense that I have been thinking a little more than usual lately about walls and crosses.

Not so much about the proverbial wall that a runner is said to hit at mile 20 or so of a marathon or the cross that Jesus was crucified on, but the gift of each. Specifically, the gift of perseverance that comes through building our faith and fitness.

The subject came up the other Saturday when I was doing my weekly long run with my long-time running buddy Dave, who was training for the Boston Marathon that was held this past Monday, April 18^th. Dave was doing his second of three 20-mile training runs to get ready for Boston, which prompted me to get up on my soapbox and sing the praises of long runs.

I don’t remember my exact words but they were something like this: Pushing ourselves through discomfort by running on a regular basis builds an endurance that helps us to push through discomfort in our lives.

A few days later, the subject came up again when I was having lunch with a friend who also is a runner. He asked me how things were going at work and I told him that our department was going through some challenges.

“Nothing like going through mile 18 of a marathon though right,” he laughed.

I have to say that I agree with him. Having run on a near-daily basis for over 30 years now, I am 100 percent convinced that the endurance built up through running makes one better able to face life’s challenges.

Just as I believe that exercising our faith on a regular basis builds an endurance that makes one better able to face life’s challenges as well.

The arrival of daylight savings time a few weeks ago had me back putting on an extra layer of clothing for my morning run.

That extra layer is a super bright, reflective safety vest, which helps me to “be safe, be seen” in the pre-dawn darkness that was “sprung forward” by the changing of the clocks.

While putting on the safety vest the other morning, I was reminded of the Bible verse that says: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…But above all these things put on love, which binds them together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12, 14).

Part of the reason I made the connection between the safety vest and the Bible verse, I am sure, is because of the “layer” that they had in common.  Just as a safety vest is put on over everything else, so too the Bible verse tells us to put on love over everything else.

But I also see another connection between the two. Just as putting on love over everything else is a way to show others that we care about them, so too does putting on a safety vest when we go out for a run.

 By making ourselves more visible to motorists when we’re working out in the dark, we help to spare them the trauma of coming close to or actually hitting us. In that way, wearing a bright reflective safety vest can be an act of kindness.

I’ve never felt a big need to put on a safety vest when running in the dark because most of my running shoes and clothes have reflective strips on them. But lately I’ve been thinking that the extra visibility offered by putting on a safety vest is a good idea.

Just as lately I’ve been thinking more often that putting on love over everything else is a good idea as well.  

After many long months it finally happened. Caleb finally used his new dog bed.

Seeing him do so not only made me happy, it got me thinking about rest.

Rest is something that dogs are very good at and that we humans often struggle with.

I learned this the hard way a little over a decade ago when a lack of rest led to some major health issues.

I was fortunate to get the help I needed. One of the big lessons I learned from the ordeal is the importance of rest. Now sleep is a top priority for me.

Perhaps even more importantly, so is finding rest from the things that can get me tied up into knots, such as excessive worry, fear, doubt, obsession, etc.

Some of the main things that give me rest from these issues are running, music, books, friends, fresh air, faith, and last but far from least…dogs!

I’m sure that is partly why it made happy to see Caleb using his new dog bed. It was a nice reminder of the importance of rest and of how dogs provide it to us. Research shows that the blood pressure of many of us goes down when we’re around dogs.

That’s why I do my best every day to give thanks for dogs and the other things that give me rest. And especially for having a God who tells me to “Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Watching the Winter Olympics recently had me thinking a little more than usual about the hazards of running on the ice and snow.

So did the fact that I recently took a spill while doing so.

It was a spill that reminded me that in running, as in life, it is often the little things that trip us up.

In my case, it was a relatively small golf-ball-sized chunk of ice that caused me to take a spill during a recent Saturday morning long run. Fortunately I did not suffer any injuries, as my fall was cushioned by a snow bank and the numerous layers of clothing that I was wearing to ward off the cold. But I did get a powerful reminder that “ice balls” are something to watch out for when running or walking outdoors in the winter.

Cold, snow, and ice are most often seen as the biggest hazards of winter running. But I have found that unassuming ice balls often can be every bit as dangerous.

Part of the reason for this is that their small size makes them easy to overlook. With our eyes peeled for the bigger sheets of ice and banks of snow to avoid, it can be easy to miss an ice ball.

Another reason that ice balls can be so dangerous is because of the stride that we often have to shift into when running outdoors in the winter. It is a stride that I recently heard referred to as the Wisconsin Shuffle. It involves shortening our stride and lowering our leg-lift as a way of maintaining better traction.

While the Wisconsin Shuffle helps to prevent us from slipping on the ice and snow, it makes us more vulnerable to the dangers of ice balls. Instead of running over them we bump into them. This becomes a problem when ice balls are frozen onto the road or sidewalk–as they often are–because that way they can easily trip us up.

So I have learned that it’s best to avoid ice balls when running outdoors in the winter. They often look harmless but actually are like little land mines just waiting to trip us up.

Just as I have learned that in life it’s best to avoid the little temptations that can often trip us up. Things such as the little taste of something that we best not eat or drink; the little look at something that best not get our attention; the little bit of gossip or negativity that best not come out of our mouth; and so on.

Sometimes evil does its work through knockout punches. But oftentimes it’s through sneaky little “love taps” that feel good at the time but eventually wear us down.

That is why I do my best to keep an eye out for the little things that can trip me up, such as ice balls.

Super Bowl Sunday seems like a good time to share about one of my all-time-favorite commercials.

I love it not so much for its humor or creativity but for the kind of dog that it features–corgis.

The commercial I am referring to aired several weeks ago and features Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers as a dog-walker with a bunch of corgis. When Jake from State Farm asks him “Why corgis?” Aaron replies: “Spirit animal.”

I am not a big enough fan of Aaron Rodgers to know if he actually has corgis. And I am not “new-agey” enough to ever call them my spirit animal.

But I am a big enough of a corgi-lover to know that they do make a wonderful companion.

One of the best ways I’ve heard them described is by a friend who works at an animal shelter. She is not a corgi owner herself. But as someone who has been around them and many other types of dogs, she says that they have a certain “corg-atude.”

Which in my experience is to say that they are a nice mix of fun, friendly, and feisty. They are small in stature but big in heart and toughness.

On our morning walk today, for example, Caleb’s response to the icy conditions and 10-below-zero cold was to roll on his back in it.

In this photo, he was playing some football just minutes after a morning walk when the air temperature was 20 below zero.

Aaron Rodgers’ “spirit animal” may not be getting any air time or playing time during today’s Super Bowl, but that will never stop them from having a good time regardless of the conditions!

Watching the Winter Olympics has me thinking a little more than usual about the challenges of winter running.

By that I mean running outdoors in a cold climate such as here in west-central Wisconsin.

In a number of ways, the cold, ice, and snow that come with winter in a northern climate add even more challenge to an already challenging activity. I have a friend who is a 2:28 marathoner and former college running coach who likes to say that running through a cold, snowy winter is “poor man’s altitude training.” Meaning that the challenge of it whips us into shape the way that training in mountainous high altitudes can build our cardiovascular fitness.

Based on my experience this makes total sense. I have had some of my best races over the years in early spring after building a strong base by running through the snow and cold.

Similarly, there also are a number of running observers who believe that training through challenging winter conditions is why northern climates have historically produced so many good distance runners.

So sometimes if I catch myself complaining about having to run through the ice, snow, and cold, I remind myself that rather than suffering I am building my fitness through “poor man’s altitude training.”

While most of us here in the Northland will never participate in the Winter Olympics, we can get ourselves into “Olympic” shape by running through a cold, snowy winter!

Starting with the first winter I spent with him–as shown in the photo with this post–my buddy Caleb has always enjoyed walking up snow mountains.

When I say snow mountains I mean the big piles formed when snow is plowed to the ends of driveways and parking lots.

Pretty much every morning and evening on our walks during the winter Caleb makes a beeline to the top of these piles.

I’m not exactly sure what he enjoys about walking along the top of them and, being a dog, he’s not talkin’.

Sometimes I think the attraction is that being up high on a snow mountain is a welcome vantage point to a dog such as a Corgi that is built so low to the ground.

I’m not so sure that’s it, though, because Caleb does much more sniffing than looking when he’s on top of a snow mountain.

My guess is that his attraction to them is not so much that they offer him a better view of the world but rather that they offer him a new place to look for “treats.” Treats meaning anything that is “edible”—oftentimes rabbit poop—that is buried in the snow.

While I will always find it quite repulsive to see Caleb rooting for such disgusting “food” sources, I have to say that this winter it fills me with joy to see him doing so.

That is because for several months during this past summer and fall Caleb was having quite a bit of trouble walking, let alone climbing hills. During a week-long visit in late August to the family lake place he threw his back out by going up and down too many stairs.

Stairs can be hard on short-legged corgis so I have always done my best to carry Caleb up and down them. But during this particular visit I let him get out of my sight one too many times and he wound up going up and down too many stairs.

Caleb strained his back bad enough that for several long weeks he had quite a bit of trouble walking. There were more than a few times when I had my doubts that he’d ever regain his mobility.

Well, I am happy to report that after several anxious months and visits to the vet, Caleb is back climbing snow mountains again. I said many prayers during the ordeal, doing my best to ask not just for Caleb’s recovery but for God’s guidance on how to best navigate the challenge.

One of the challenges that I faced the past few weeks—along with many other folks, I am sure—is holiday stress. As joyful as the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season can be, it has a way of stressing us out as well.

At least the commercial side of it, anyway. When I get too wrapped up in trying to find the perfect gift, the perfect ornament, the perfect treat, the perfect companions, or the perfect whatever else I think will make my holidays bright, I start to lose sight of the true gift of Christmas and get stressed out.

I was feeling a pretty big wave of this holiday-induced stress one particular evening as I wrapped gifts, packed my bags, and made a trip to the grocery store.

Which is why I found special comfort in the Bible verse I read the following morning during my daily prayer and meditation time:

“I am content with weaknesses…for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”—2 Corinthians 12:10

Reading that verse was a timely, wonderful reminder of the true gift of Christmas: A Savior who came into this world and comes into our lives most freely and fully when we are in the midst of struggles.

What a wonderful gift it is to have a God who is there for us when we are feeling stressed out, down and out, or otherwise faced with adversity, strengthening us to climb those mountains and other mountains placed in our path.

One recent morning on my daily run I wore a safety vest for the first time in a long time.

It’s a reflective, neon-green vest that I won several years ago as a door prize at a running club banquet and that until recently I had never worn before.

So what prompted me to wear the safety vest on this particular run after going on hundreds of runs without it? A couple of things, I guess.

One is that I headed out the door for my run a little earlier than usual, when it was still dark. Even though I run almost entirely on sidewalks, I do cross a few busy roads so I figured that a little extra visibility couldn’t hurt.

The other main reason that I donned a bright green reflective safety vest for the first time in a long time on my run is that I had safety on my mind, thanks in large part to a Menards TV commercial airing in recent weeks that I have a special affinity for.

The main reason that I have a soft spot for this commercial is that my dog Caleb is in it. He is part of the “family” being protected by smoke and fire detectors available at Menards.

Another reason that I have a special affinity for this particular spot is that parts of it were shot in my home by none other than me. If I don’t say so myself, the footage looks pretty darn good.

But enough with the humble (or not so humble) bragging. The main reason that I mention all of this is that it relates to safety. The first mention of which here involved safety on the run.

While I have not worn my bright green safety vest on a run since the aforementioned morning, I do believe that I make a solid effort to stay safe while working out and in all other areas of my life.

Which reminds me…I probably should check the battery in my bedroom hallway smoke alarm!