Patricia The Biltmore Kiwanis 15k road race seemed the perfect opportunity for someone who doesn’t really like races: run through the Biltmore Estate here in Asheville, North Carolina, parts of which are not typically open to guests. The start only five miles from our house. The 15k distance new to me. Early May, the estate grounds …
What does a dedicated runner do when she cannot run, felled by injuries, inclement weather, or travel? Or perhaps she wants to cultivate cross training activities, to enhance her running but also to work other muscles and strengthen connective tissue? Maybe she wants to shake up her daily routine while maintaining aerobic capacity, muscle strength, …
On Saturday, I ran the Cooper River Bridge Run, a 10k run from Mt. Pleasant, SC, to downtown Charleston, SC, over the Arthur Ravenel, Jr. bridge. It’s been almost two years since I’ve run a formal 10k race. Yearly, my speed declines, my endurance falters, my recovery takes longer. I love running, though. I try …
The backdrop: For the past several years, we’ve visited warm spots in early March with our older son and his family: San Diego, California, in 2019. Bermuda in 2020 (days before the COVID-19 pandemic in March closed most of the world). Sanibel Island, Florida, in 2022 (only months before Hurricane Ian destroyed access to the …
The winter sun in Lisbon in mid-January is piercing, still low in the sky, lighting the white marble and pastel-colored buildings with a golden glow at the end of the day. The sky is intensely blue, not quite Mediterranean, as Lisbon is on the Atlantic Ocean, but deep and solid. The trees were not yet …
This year’s list of books stretched from the cell and its impact on medicine, to reconsidering history, to a deeper understanding of human nature. Books written by favorite authors (Louise Erdrich, Ian McEwan, Anthony Doerr, Isabel Allende, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Ali Smith) and non-American authors (Valerie Perrin, Giuseppe Di Lampedusa, Werner Herzog, Maggie O’Farrell). Science, nature, …
“We’re only here for a minute. We’re here for a little window. And to use that time to catch and share shards of light and laughter and grace seems to me the great story.” “A Long River of Song,” by Brian Doyle. One advantage of moving so many times over the years is the number …
NON-FICTION Caste, The Origins of our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson (The Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Warmth of Other Suns.” In many ways it’s an uncomfortable read as she equates the caste systems in India and Nazi Germany with a broader systemic consideration of “race” in America. Her examples of a half millennium of discrimination, …
Lake Estes, Colorado, before COVID-19 Running is so many things to me: a measure of my mood, my physical health, my self-worth, my community. My running journey is a marker of passing through this life. It began during the summer of my studying for the California bar exam, as I slowly and gingerly walked, then …
Library of Congress, best seller? This year should have been ideal for reading. We stayed at home. We were isolated. Books were readily delivered by independent books stores and Amazon. Most in-person events were shuttered. My never-ending pile of books provided a visual, daily reminder of possible selections. I had time, at least theoretically, compared …