A jogging life - kurt abbott bestul

A jogging life#

Arvada-Blunn Reservoir jogging loop view --Late December view south from the high NW corner of Arvada Blunn Reservoir loop--

My jogging affinity began in eigth grade when an adventurous, happy-go-lucky schoolmate and friend, Tom, declared we should go jogging as a form of Saturday entertainment (this was, I believe, the most benign and danger-free activity Tom ever instigated). Having no athletes or fitness-minded role models in my immediate family, it was a new idea to me, but I had nothing better to do, and the price -- nothing -- was well aligned with my budget. Happily for me, I found I enjoyed it and suddenly noted there seemed to be a fraction of the population in all places who jogged about the town and countryside daily with the tacit approval of the public. And so it began for me: a daily activity that improved fitness, costed nothing, and gave me license to have some time alone.

With only occasional gaps over the decades, jogging has been a valued habit and refuge. Though I have taken reasonable precautions, I still count myself lucky to be carrying on -- injury free -- into my graying years. When life or travels take me anywhere, I almost always pack running shoes, and I like to think I connect in a novel way with a place by "jogging it", especially if I'm able to do so multiple days or to return there in later years for more.

At present, my home jogging turf is the city- and county-maintained trails near the west edge of Arvada, Colorado (west suburban Denver area), but below is the list of places I have enjoyed jogging multiple times over the decades. I'll include and maybe rotate some corresponding pictures below the list. The list is not chronological.