Flatlanding

Here's something I never thought I'd say: I've been running a lot.

Please note I said I've been running. I am not a runner. There's a big distinction in that.

Runners love running. They get off on the pain, trucking along roads, monitoring their heart rate.

I hate running. Even though I've logged 75 miles in the past six weeks, I still hate it. I dread putting on the Asics I bought on sale for $30. I have trouble breathing at the start. My stomach cramps up often. My legs get tired. I rely heavily on Sufjan Stevens, Ben Gibbard and Britt Daniel to sing me through.

But I keep doing it. Why? A few reasons.

Mostly, I want to be in good shape when I move to Colorado this summer. I want to be able to better climb 14ers and more easily haul backpacks into remote sections of the Rockies.

Also, my family has a pretty wicked history of heart disease. I'd like to beat that.

And -- who am I kidding? -- as a guy recently separated from his wife, I'd like to be more appealing to women. I'd like to make my gut recede as quickly as my hairline.

After hiking a whole lot on my West Coast swing, I was in pretty good shape. I didn't want it to waste away, so when I came back to Nebraska, I began running. It started with a 3-mile run on my 30th birthday in March. It's advanced to an 8-mile run today. I clipped it off in 74 minutes. That's 9:15 pace, which won't win any races but isn't shameful either.

Aside from the physical benefits, running has made me appreciate and connect with the flat land surrounding the home where I grew up. I run along mostly gravel and minimum-maintenance roads. Part of my usual trek along U Road south of Kearney runs along the Oregon Trail. Earlier this spring, I ran near Sandhill Cranes that majestically migrate to south-central Nebraska every year.

Don't get me wrong, I love mountains. I'll take a drastic, dramatic landscape over Nebraska's every time. But when it comes to running, flat rules. Plus the rigidly gridded road system makes measuring miles really easy. The dirt roads are laid out exactly a mile from each other.

A note on the picture: It was taken by my son. When he's with me, he and my dad usually jump in Papa's pickup and come hassle me.

I love that picture -- the weathered pick-up bed, the sentinel telephone poles, the startlingly flat fields and me actually doing something I never thought I'd regularly do.


The details:
Kearney County gravel road gallop
Location: About 5 miles south of Kearney, Nebr., on Hwy 44
Length: 8 miles
Beginning elevation: 2,150 feet
Peak elevation: 2,150 feet
Difficulty (out of 5): 1, depending on the wind