Moriel is a Runner’s World+ member. Join him and thousands of others chasing their goals with day-by-day training plans, expert advice from editors and coaches, and unlimited digital access. We regularly feature members online and in print.
Distance running got me through a period of depression in my early 20s, and has kept most of my anxieties at bay for the last decade or so. It’s also been a method of marking time, of sorting through life questions, of mourning the deaths of friends and family members, of getting to know new places, and of celebrating events like my daughter’s birth or my brother’s recovery from a TBI.
I’ve really appreciated RW for years, as a reader and as an occasional contributor. It felt like a great way to support a magazine I respect and enjoy.
The answer to this question changes periodically. Sometimes it’s meditation, sometimes its medication, sometimes it’s competitiveness, sometimes it’s adventure. Often, though, it’s just that it’s something to do, a way to structure my days and weeks and years. It’s arbitrary, and also really beautiful. And it’s a privilege. I think about Ahmaud Arbery almost every time I cross the 2.23 mile mark, and am still shattered by the fact that he was murdered by three men poisoned by this country’s legacy of white supremacy. He should still be alive, and running.
Almost every Saturday morning, I run a 16-20 mile loop through a gentle, spectacular system of woods in southwestern Ohio that includes Yellow Springs’ Glen Helen, the John Bryan State Park and the Clifton Gorge, and segments of the Little Miami Bike Trail. I love the familiar trails, the expanses of trees on either side of the burbling river, the way the light collides with the green and dapples the trail below it, the small and medium sized animals I encounter along the way, and the humans, too: I’ve met all of my current running partners while running these trails. And the fact that each inch of trail is loaded with memories of previous runs, previous thoughts and pains and joys, previous versions of myself.
I wore a Nathan’s HPL 020 running vest while training for and racing my first ultra, seven years ago, and have worn the same model, with just one replacement, in most training runs and races since. I have periodically tried racing and training with just a handheld, but there is something super comforting for me about having a bunch of little pockets where I can store items including, but not limited to, phones, cash, snacks, dog leashes, portable chargers, toilet paper, trail maps, spare GUs, sandwiches, small bags of chips, gas station pouches of pickles, headlamps, waffles (both stroop and non), and onwards. I’ve even occasionally used my running vest as a small, not-so-comfortable shopping bag when I’m really in multitasking mode. You’d be surprised how many potatoes can fit into that 2 liter back section.
Once in California I ran by/through a pack of coyotes (or at least three of them).
2,000 miles in 2020 (or 2020, to round things out).
Meet More Midwesterners
Caroline’s enthusiasm for enriching the run community originates from engaging with her local run specialty store customers, where she still works part-time. As a professional hobby jogger, she loves exchanging training stories and hearing from RW+ members about their race victories.
