Mid-Sole

The other day my buddy Caleb and I had what I am calling a wet wheelbarrow walk.

Wet because it was pouring rain out.

Wheelbarrow because I held Caleb’s rear legs up from behind him so that he could walk with his front ones.

I’ve been doing that for a few months now. Ever since Caleb’s rear legs became paralyzed from a condition called degenerative myelopathy (DM).

It’s a genetic disease that some breeds including corgis are susceptible to.

While it’s been difficult to see my buddy lose the use of his rear legs, I am grateful that it didn’t affect him until he was 14. That’s a pretty good long time for any dog to enjoy full mobility, especially a dog with DM.

But as most anyone who has had a dog will tell you, our time with them always seems too short. Caleb is 14 and ½ now—over 100 in dog years—and I’m still having a very hard time accepting that we probably don’t have too many more walks together.

I got Caleb when he was two and for the past 12 years he’s been one of the greatest gifts to come into my life. One of the things that I tell him most every day is that he’s the “best bud ever.”

One of our favorite things to do is to go for a morning and evening walk. After Caleb first lost the use of his rear legs, I thought those days were behind us.

But then I discovered that if I hold up his rear he will march out with his front ones for a walk.

We don’t go far. Maybe a block or so. But it gives Caleb a chance to do two things that he loves—eat grass and drink out of puddles.

There were plenty of puddles the other morning when Caleb and I did our wheelbarrow walk in a pouring rain.

When we got back inside I dried him off in the entryway and decided to take some photos of him. Partly because he was sitting below a wall-hanging that I bought several years ago.

“Things We Learn from a Dog,” it says.

*Love Unconditionally;

*Take a Nap;

*Have a Happy Attitude;

*Play is Good;

*Show Affection;

*Learn New Tricks No Matter Your Age;

*Delight in the Simple;

*Always Be Faithful;

*Protect Those You Love.”

Caleb has taught me all of those things and more. Whatever time we have left together, I am going to do my best to cherish it and look forward to meeting up with him in heaven.

During my spring planting this season I found myself thinking about one of my favorite Bible verses.

For the second spring in a row I planted cosmos and morning glories. Some of the things that I like about these two annual flowers is that they come in a variety of colors, grow big and tall, and bloom throughout the summer and well into the fall.

All of that is a great big bonus here in my neck of the woods—western Wisconsin—because fall always seems to come all too early. Before we know it, the leaves are falling, the flowers are wilting, and summer is over. That is why flowers that bloom late into the season get bonus points in my book.

 By providing color into the fall when much of the landscape here in the northern climes is starting to go drab and dormant, cosmos and morning glories are a vivid reminder of how miraculous it is that so much beauty can come from something that starts out so small. Every spring when I plant them, I’m amazed at how flower seeds that are not much bigger than a grain of sand can break through the soil and grow into such big, tall, beautiful blooms.

Just as how I am amazed at what an awesome God we have every time I think about what Jesus tells us in Matthew 17:20-21:

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

I love this verse for a number of reasons.

I love it because it reminds me of how welcoming our God is. He gives his almighty love even to beginners whose faith is still as small as a mustard seed.

I love it because it reminds me of how forgiving our God is. He gives his almighty love even to long-time believers who are struggling with fear, doubt, setbacks, or sin that have reduced their faith to mere seeds.

I love it because it reminds me of how empowering our God is. Even if all we have is faith as small as a mustard seed, he helps us to do amazing things.

I love it because it reminds me that we have a God who speaks in a language that we can understand. Anyone who has planted flower or vegetable seeds knows how amazingly true it is that great things can grow from the tiniest of beginnings.

Just as anyone who has planted flower or vegetable seeds knows that these great things usually don’t grow on their own. While God does all of the heavy lifting by turning a tiny lifeless seed into a tall, growing, flowering plant, we have to do our part as well.

In the case of vegetable and flower gardens, that means weeding, watering, and pruning. In gardening as in life, when we do our part and let God do his, the results can be amazing.  

Something about cold, clear conditions seems to bring out the beauty of the morning sky.

At least that was the case during my morning run several weeks ago.

I headed out the door just as it was starting to get light out and was treated to a number of beautiful sights.

The first thing that caught my eye was the moon. It was a full moon that glowed a brilliant fluorescent white against the backdrop of a clear blue sky.

As I turned a corner to the east, I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise. Pretty much all sunrises are beautiful but this one was an especially spectacular glow of yellow, orange and purple.

As I gazed at the sunrise, something else in the morning sky caught my eye—jet trails. There were a handful of them being made by jets flying high up in the eastern sky.

There are a few military bases about 40 miles east of where I live and my guess is that a number of pilots were doing test flights.

I’ve always enjoyed the sight of jet trails. So seeing a handful of them against the backdrop of a colorful sunrise was especially captivating.

Having so many awesome things to look at in the sky also helped to get my mind off the cold. The temperature when I headed out the door for my morning run was a chilly 4 degrees above zero. But the sight of the moon, sunrise, and jet trails all helped to warm me up.

A few days later the beautiful orange/yellow/purple morning sky came up in conversation when a co-worker was sharing how he doesn’t particularly care for winter. About the only thing he likes about it, he said, is that it has beautiful sunrises and sunsets, many of which have purple in them.

I told him how I had been wowed by a purple sunrise a few days earlier and asked if he knew why winter produced such beautiful skies. He said he wasn’t sure so I decided to do a little research.

From what I gathered from a quick internet search, the extra beautiful winter sunrises and sunsets are due largely to the cleaner, less-humid air and the earth’s relative position to the sun during the cold months.

Whatever the cause of colorful winter skies may be, they are an especially welcome sight that help to warm things up during the cold months.

One of the many things to be thankful for at Thanksgiving time—and all of the time—is volunteer service.

Volunteering, I have learned, is a gift not just to others but to ourselves as well. 

I was reminded of this both during a recent church service and run/walk event that I have helped to organize for the past 14 years.

During the church service, one of the pastors announced that the congregation was looking for volunteers to help in various areas.

During the run/walk event, I made my annual ask for the same.

While making his ask, the pastor shared something that confirmed what I have experienced through volunteer service and that I just may use next time I have to make my pitch for volunteers. He mentioned how studies have shown that one of the many benefits of volunteering is that it boosts our overall wellness.

One of the main ways it does so, he said, is by helping us to build connections with others in our community.

I wasn’t surprised to hear this because that is exactly what volunteering to organize the Carson Park 5 & 10 for the past 14 years has done for me. It has helped me to meet and build relationships with people from a wide range of groups, businesses, and organizations.

Some of these groups include the ITC running and walking club, On The Rivet Bike Club, Moms on the Run, Girls on the Run, Chippewa Valley Museum, City of Eau Claire, Scheels, Festival Foods, MTEC Timing, Career Development Center, Eau Claire Memorial High School, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Chippewa Valley Technical College, The Trophy House, French Press, Fantastic Sams, Paul Bunyan Logging Camp Museum, and more.

While participating in running events is a great way to meet people, I’d have to say that organizing them is an even better one. Especially when it comes to meeting non-runners.

My main reason for volunteering at run/walk events is that I am looking to promote an activity—physical exercise through walking and running—that has much to offer in the way of health benefits. I am 100 percent convinced that running and walking are two of the best things that we can for our overall wellness.

But it’s definitely a nice bonus that volunteering to support these activities also helps us to make friends and boost our wellness.

Shown here are some of the many volunteers who have helped to keep the Carson Park 5 & 10 going for the past 55 years. A big thank you to them and all of the others who generously give their time throughout the year.

Seeing a morning glory growing in one of my tomato pots reminded me of a farmer friend named George.

George was a kind, friendly man who farmed the land behind the rural home that I lived in for the first 10 years or so after I moved to Eau Claire.

I’d often chat with George when he was coming out of the field and I was heading into it to walk the dogs.

One time I asked him why there were some random corn stalks growing in the soy bean field.

“That’s volunteer corn,” he replied, explaining that it wasn’t planted there intentionally but wound up growing there by an act of nature.

I’m not sure what act of nature got a morning glory to grow in my tomato pot. But my guess is that it may have had something to do with rabbits, which are especially plentiful in my neighborhood this summer.

They ate one of my morning glory plants down to nothing and have done similar damage to my next-door-neighbor’s garden. I’m thinking that maybe after they were done munching on my morning glories they somehow dropped some seeds into the tomato pot.

Fortunately my two tomato plants were spared from the voracious rabbits. And one of my two morning glories was spared.

The volunteer morning glory is a bonus. It’s a nice reminder of George and how nature often finds a way.

During a recent run around Half Moon Lake in Eau Claire my training buddy Dave suddenly stopped and turned around to pick something up off the trail.

“Did you find some money?” I asked him, as he bent down.

“No,” he replied, as he stood back up holding a tiny turtle.

“Holy cow, is it a baby snapper?” I asked him, as he carried it over to the grass by the lake.

“No, a sun (painted) turtle,” he replied, as he set it down in what was a much safer location than the busy running, walking, and biking trail that it had been on.

“What a good guy,” I said to Dave, as we started back on what turned out to be a 9-mile run. “You did your good deed for the day.”

The whole thing reminded me of two things in particular–what a good guy Dave is and how running often gives us a chance to do good deeds for wild critters like turtles.

Several times, for example, I’ve stopped traffic for a mother duck leading her flock of little ones across the road.

At my family’s lake place in northern Minnesota, I’ve also picked up turtles off the road so that they don’t get squashed by a car.

On a darker note, it’s long been my practice to move road kill off the street whenever I see it during a walk or run. Seeing a road-killed animal is sad enough. Seeing it continually get run over is something that I try to prevent whenever possible.

The chance to enjoy nature and see wild critters is one of the many things that I enjoy about walking and running outdoors. The chance to help them out from time to time only adds to the enjoyment.

During a recent dog walk with my buddy Caleb I was reminded of a running argument that my sister and I had when we were kids.

Our family feud was based on the following burning question: What is there more of in the world: green or blue?

The argument got pretty heated at times because green and blue were our favorite colors.

Not surprisingly to those who know how stubborn I can sometimes be with some of my opinions, I was on the wrong side of the argument but refused to back down. I was convinced that there was more green in the world.

In my defense, there are times of the year when it does seem as though that’s the case. During the spring and summer it feels as though we are surrounded by a sea of green trees, grass, plants, and flowers.

Come to think of it, I wonder if anyone has done the math. How many square miles of green are there in the world compared to how many square miles of blue?

And another thing—are all of the lakes, rivers, and oceans in the world really blue? Aren’t quite a few of them green?

OK, I’m kidding. I long ago conceded that there is way more blue in the world.

It’s just that I’ll probably always have a pretty strong stubborn streak in me. I’m pretty sure it’s a trait that I got from my mother and in many ways I’m thankful to her for it.

But the older I get the more I have learned that there are many times when it doesn’t pay—and when it’s not even necessary– to argue.

Now I am just happy to see all of the green and blue in the world and to thank God for them.

There are many things to enjoy about running, walking, and biking on the Chippewa River Trail here in western Wisconsin.

One of the main things that I enjoy are the sights, sounds, and smells of nature that if offers.

This time of year is especially enjoyable as a number of trees, plants and flowers are in bloom, such as the tree shown here near the trailhead in Eau Claire’s Phoenix Park.

After a long, cold, snowy winter, the sight of it and the other things blooming along the trail is especially uplifting.

Probably my favorite bloom to pass while out on a spring walk or run is lilac bushes. Not only do I like their purple color, they smell great too.

Today the lilacs appeared to be in full bloom and I had the good fortune to pass a number of them on the portion of the trail that I run most every Saturday morning.  Without even having to “stop and smell the roses” I was treated to the sweet smell of lilacs a number of times during my 10-mile run.

It’s mornings like today—blue sky, sun shining, trees and flowers blooming, shorts and T-shirt temperature—that remind me just how lucky we are in Eau Claire to have such an extensive trail system to run, bike, and walk on. And what a great time spring is to be out enjoying it.

There are times when I love to run by myself.

Just as there are times when I love to run with others.

Like most everything, both have their pros and cons.

One of the good things about running with others this past Saturday morning is that it helped to get me out the door when otherwise it would have been very easy to turn off the alarm and stay in bed.

That is because there were 2 or 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground.

No big deal during the winter, as here in Wisconsin we are more than used to running, walking, biking, and driving through the snow.

But this was April 1–April Fools Day– 11 days after the official start of spring. So the 2 or 3 inches of wet heavy snow did little to motivate me to lace up my running shoes and head out the door for my weekly Saturday morning long run.

If I hadn’t have known that my running friends would be waiting for me at our Saturday morning starting point, in fact, I most likely would have run later in the day.  By that time the warming temperatures would have melted off most of the snow.

As it turned out, I joined my friends Dave and Jerri in trudging through the fresh white stuff.

One of the many topics of conversation during our 12-mile jaunt—yes, we run and talk at the same time!—was running with others vs. running alone.

Our conclusion was that there are good things about both.

Sometimes running alone is the best way to clear your head and think things through. 

Other times running with friends is the best way to do this as it gives you a chance to talk things out.

With friends or alone, getting out for some fresh air and exercise is almost always a good idea. Even when it’s supposed to be spring and there are a couples inches of fresh snow on the ground.

It’s fitting that my last run this winter was a cold one.

It’s also fitting that it had a St. Patrick’s Day theme.

Together, these two things reminded me of one of my favorite quotes about training. It has to do with training in adverse conditions and came from one of the famous “Irish Milers.”

 I don’t recall if it was Eammon Coghlan or Marcus O’Sullivan but one of them said that (and I’m paraphrasing):  “It’s easy to get out and train when the weather is nice. But it’s those who also get out and train when the weather is crappy who more often meet their goals.”

The weather during our St. Patty’s Day run a few Saturdays ago was pretty darn crappy in that it was super cold—about 10 degrees at the start—and super windy. It was especially nasty when crossing a couple of bridges over the Chippewa River. The wind and cold made it feel more like a run in mid-January than mid-March, which made the miles extra challenging.

This was especially true for one of my running partners for the day. As we made our way across one of the cold, windy bridges on our route, she shared that she was feeling tired and having a bit of a rough run.

I tried to encourage her by sharing the above-mentioned quote from the Irish miler.  I don’t know if it helped to encourage her but it did remind me that even the tough days have their gifts. Pictured with this post are a couple of ones that came my way on recent runs.

One is the shamrock necklace that was given to me by a running friend on the recent St. Patty’s Day run. The other is a flowery looking bulb that I came across while walking with my four-legged fitness friend Caleb the other day.

Neither one of them has any monetary value nor are they much to look at.  But they were nice reminders that getting out for some daily exercise has its perks, even if they are small ones.