July 23, 1979 (Monday)

From running log:
Ran 3.5 miles at 6:40 per mile pace with Todd. Hot and muggy, 80F. Wore New Balance 305 shoes. Must start doing longer mileage per run. Feeling good, knees a little wobbly. Anxious for cross country season to begin.

30 years later:
Todd is referring to Todd Coolidge, a former teammate who had just graduated and was heading off to college at UW-Oshkosh later that summer. Todd liked to run fast in those days, so we usually did so. The day before I'd done an easy run with a few teammates (see Cast of Characters), including Todd, Mike, Stew, and Lane. I was looking forward to a road race 5k coming up the next weekend, which I thought would be a good test of my summer fitness. We were still several weeks before CC season officially began, so these were summer miles. On a lighter note: does anyone remember New Balance 305s? They had only a quarter of an inch of EVA for a midsole, and a tan, gum rubber outsole. Classics. I'll bet if you wander around SoHo here in NYC, you can still find a pair in one of the retro shoe stores.

We were pretty much on our own over the summers then. There were strict rules against having contact with your coach over the summer, but the fact is that we didn't even have a coach at that point (seriously). We just ran how we felt, following no plan other than to get out there and run. It was fun, but perhaps a little more structure would have been helpful.