After 163 three mile runs in 2025, I started 2026 with a 5-miler on the trails at Shelby Bottoms, my favorite place to run when I am home. I haven't run five miles in, well, over a year. Still, I felt great, and I loved every step of the run. 8:18 pace, which is fast for the trails (grass and gravel, not paved).
The temperature was in the low 50's - beautiful for January 1 in Nashville. Cloudless blue skies. It would be hard for me to dream up a more perfect day to run five miles. What a way to start my running in 2026, the year I turn 60.
Over the years, I have unquestionably run long at Shelby Bottoms more than anywhere else. I know the trails like my own backyard. I miss the old Cornelia Fort Trail terribly but after the most recent tornado, the trail was never cleared and, now, it has disappeared from view. Still, I love running on the trails, which are off the beaten path, fairly deserted, and sequestered from the many cyclists flying up and down the greenway (paved trail).
It's peaceful on the trails at Shelby Bottoms. Beautiful, too, throughout the year. Now, with the leaves fallen from the trees, the Cumberland River is visible at various points along the trails. I'll take Shelby Park over Percy Warner Park or Edwin Warner Park any day. Less crowded, by far. More scenic. Plus, I love East Nashville.
If I can stay healthy, and I hope I can, I am going to try to pick up the mileage a bit this year by adding runs longer than three miles to my repertoire. I want to start running long again, too. It's time to return to the church of the long run.
I do not take any of this for granted. At 59, being able to run consistently is a blessing, especially for me. Being able to run three miles (and, I suspect, more) at an 8:00 pace, like I did yesterday on my run at Harlinsdale Farm, is a bonus. It was nice to feel strong and fast the last three months of 2025. My running peaked in November and December 2025, which was cool.
When I am locked in with running, like I am now, I find myself thinking about when, where, and how far I am going to run next. It's like an itch that I need to scratch. I think about my schedule - work and family - and how I can work in a run. I think about how many miles I have run in a week, for the month, and for the year, especially when I have a goal I am trying to meet. It drives me, this feeling that I need to run. That I have to run. I love it.
I hope to run more with JP in 2026 than I did in 2025. He runs at a different level than I do, obviously. I don't to interfere with his training by persuading him to run with the old man. Still, I think we can work a few runs in together.
Today, JP did a workout at MBA with Sam Trumble and two of his teammates from the Kansas University track team. It is nice for him to have the opportunity to work out with college runners.
I am also going to get Joe out to run with me more, like I did last weekend. Not because I want him to run competitively. It's not his thing, which is totally fine. However, I want him to enjoy running recreationally because it will give him self-confidence, fitness, and balance in his life. Running will help him relieve stress.
In the end, my goal for JP and Joe is the same. I want them to enjoy a lifetime of running recreationally. For themselves because running will make them more patient, more relaxed, more balanced, more self-confident and self-reliant, better friends, better sons, better husbands, and better fathers.
Running has given me so much. Everything, really. I want the boys to have that, too.
