August 14, 1979 (Tuesday)

From running log:

Ran about 3 miles at 7:30 pace, party on BHS CC trails. Cross country practice begins on August 20, 5:00pm. Maybe it's time for 3-4 days off. Need rest.

Clip from Baraboo New Republic:

30 years later:

As I recall now, the start of cross country season had been announced, and we still did not have a boy's coach. I was obsessing about that, and about my sore knee, and having trouble sleeping at night. It's amazing how much we can make ourselves into a wreck if we put in the effort, isn't it?

The BHS CC trails no longer exist. Even in 1979, there was housing beginning to infringe on the natural area just up the hill from the high school. Only a few years earlier, the new Junior High School had been built up that hill, wiping out about one half mile of woods trails. Now, if you go to Baraboo and gaze up the hill from the back of the High School (which itself has been significantly enlarged), you will see nothing but streets and houses where once we ran our hearts out on dirt trails amid scruffy forests and meadows, which even included a couple of apple trees. Progress ... I guess. At least that's what we seem to call it when we eradicate nature to pave it over and build our new houses. Those hills had some tough trails and hold a lot of memories, not just for me but for every runner who strode upon them for many, many years. It makes me more than a little sad to know that those trails are gone, forever.