Dax – Medium

Jun 7, 2021

The More Things Change

My favorite running route used to be a narrow, rutted, and rocky dirt path that led past a hidden pond on the way to winding singletrack that led up to a summit overlooking the Pacific Ocean to the west, the San Bernardino mountains to the north, and the Cuyamacas and…

Running

4 min read

Apr 15, 2020

Adventure in the Time of Covid

Yes, this is a hard, unprecedented, difficult, uncertain, scary, pick your darkly ambiguous adjective time. We’re stuck at home. The news is constant now. The constantly updated death toll. The constant reminder of how we failed to prepare. The constant decline of the stock market. The kids constantly on their…

Covid 19

6 min read

May 10, 2019

Riding the Wafer…The Worst Parade Ever

I wasn’t a cyclist before Sunday. There are some unwritten rules of biking, and I’m sure I’ve broken all of them in the last few months of training leading up to the Belgian Waffle Ride. I didn’t shave my legs, I rode with spandex on the mountain bike and loose…

Cycling

6 min read

Apr 30, 2019

Sunsets

Do not go gentle into that good night Old age should burn and rave at close of day Rage, rage against the dying of the light. -Dylan Thomas No, I’m not dying. I mean, we’re all dying, but I hope to live a good while longer. My running career, on…

Running

6 min read

Sep 17, 2018

You Can Fly

I haven’t seen Dumbo in years, but I still get sad thinking about it. It broke my heart when I was a kid. This elephant with the big ears, stolen from his mom, picked on and forced to perform. Disney used to be dark. …

Parenting

3 min read

May 2, 2018

Sharks and Minnows

When I pictured myself running the Boston Marathon, it was cruising downhill on a crisp, but sunny spring New England day, wind at my back, and thousands of drunk and cheering Bostonians celebrating Patriot’s Day and lining the course. A couple weeks before the race, the weather forecast called for…

Running

5 min read

Dec 1, 2017

Special Places

The house on Rios wasn’t much of a house at all. It was a brown duplex, a long rectangle built from two squares, and I lived in the back one. It smelled like old, cheap beer and stale cigarette smoke. Most of the smell was from us, but some of…

Hiking

6 min read

Published in Extra Newsfeed

·Feb 1, 2017

One Immigrant

I married an immigrant. She came to America when she was 9 years old. In Iran, before her family got out, she colored pictures of bombs falling on an American flag with the title, Death to America, in thick, blocky 9-year-old penmanship. I fell in love with her smile. She…

Immigration

3 min read

Sep 21, 2016

Crossing Paths

We all have a running trajectory. It can start at different times, and it may be a long, slow bell curve, or a steep, sharp climb and then a dramatic fall. Sometimes the curve stops suddenly and then starts again after 10 or 20 years. My line started as a…

Running

4 min read

Aug 2, 2016

Trail Running According to My 9-Year-Old Daughter

The conversation went something like this. Dad, want to go for a run? I don’t know, it’s almost dinner and I’m a little tired. You wrote on your blog that your kids never ask you to run. Did I? I didn’t know you read that. Umm, there’s probably some stuff…

Running

3 min read