“Life is action and passion. It is required that you share the action and passion of your time, lest you be judged not to have lived.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Civil War Hero and Chief Justice of Supreme Court.

Clearly life is both. Passion without action is wasted. Action without passion is aimless wandering.

We don’t run because it is the passion of our time. We run because we find joy in using our bodies, we find solitude on the road and we get the benefits of more fitness and less fatness.

In my 20’s my friends and I spent as much time as possible at the beach. Lake Calhoun, in Minneapolis, is about 3 miles around. An elderly gentleman in great shape used to run around the lake. He was tan and healthy, but so old. Now, I estimate he was in his fifties. Back in those days, there were few recreational runners. If there were running events available to the general population, they were not publicized.

I began by thinking if that old man could run, so could I. Then, every fall I went into a hell bent program to get in shape for the downhill ski season. And if I wanted to be hired as a city firefighter I would have to pass an agility test. So my first runs, off and on, were around the beautiful city lakes in Minneapolis.

The hook was set a few years later in a citizen’s cross-country ski race. A local girl, about 14 years old, kicked snow in my face. That spring I started a running habit that I’ve never regretted.