As some of you may know, in my younger and wilder days I spent a year in Eugene Oregon.  Eugene is a runner's town.

Of course what makes it a runner's town is that there are a lot of active runners there.  Or maybe I should say hyper-active hyper-runners there.  But that is not what I want to write about today.

Despite the fact that it is filled with these hyper-runners, the city it self really is a good place to run and offers some nice venues for striding along. It is the home of Hayward Field, the track where numerous Olympic Trials have been held.  It is also the home to the "Pre-trails" in Alton Baker Park, named after the favorite son of Oregon, Steve Prefontaine.  But one of my favorite trails was the "Amazon Trail" in Amazon Field.

The Amazon Trail was a wood chipped path, a loop near Amazon creek.  It was a mile long and every 400 meters there was a marker.  One of my hardest workouts ever was originally designed as a light run, but Bob Mackenzie goaded me into repeat miles. Very fast repeat miles.  But the best thing about this trail was that I could almost see it from my apartment.

That was then, long long ago in a city far away.

I now live in a town not quite as hyper, but still full of a lot of good runners.  We have three excellent tracks within a few miles.  But what we need is a running park.

Or maybe we already have it?

The Dartmouth Cross-Country Field (sometimes called "The old golf course") is a wonderful place to stretch the legs.  Every time I run on it, especially in the fall when the air is filled with the smell of wet falling leaves, takes me back to all the great cross-country races of my youth.  The McQuaid Invitational in Genesee Valley Park, the Eastern Invitational in Van Cortland Park, Bear Mountain, Alfred-Almond, Malone, The "Hearts", Letchworth, Mendon Ponds, Hamilton College, Delaware Park and many more.  

But what the field is missing is for us to recognize it as a running facility and not just as an abandon piece of land.  So I am encouraging us to use the name, "The Cross-Country Field", (or you could talk me into calling it "The Cross-Country Park"). And then we need to figure out exactly where we are doing intervals.

I know local coaches; Barry, Cara and now Ben, have gone out there and measured 800 meters, or 1000 meters, or a mile, and marked it with orange cones.  Only to do it again the next week.

So, under the cover of darkness (okay, it was a sunny Sunday morning), I borrowed a distance wheel from the Dartmouth team, and walked around the course, measured from the starting line for the Dartmouth Invitational.  There are now white stakes located every 200 meters around the loop.  The stakes are just into the long grass so they wouldn't be mowed over.

So now what?

Go out there are enjoy some fast miles, or kilometers, or 800's, or . . .