Small-town running

I'm home in Tracy, Minn., for a few days before I leave for Italy.

I've been trying to pack in runs every day since I've been here. It's been a busy past few weeks -- between moving out of our duplex in Minneapolis, getting my sister hitched and quitting work -- and I've had little time to exercise and eat healthy.

When I go out for a job, I encounter maybe one or two bicyclists -- and they're usually kids riding downtown for candy or heading to the pool. Never a runner. And I think I've figured out why it's so rare to see a runner lapping town.

Running stinks here.

And here's why:

-The only running path is about 1.5-mile long. It takes you out to Swift Lake, a man-made lake just outside of town.

-My "long" run is a 4.4-mile loop around town. It takes me out to the Dairy Queen and the Tracy High School. I have to spend more than a mile of this route going head-to-head with semis on U.S. Highway 14.

-This is a small town, so when you're out running, everyone tends to find out about it. Not that it's a bad thing. But not a lot of people run here. So when you do, it seems either strange or heroic to the townsfolk.

-Did I mention the wind? I darn near flew into the ditch running this morning.

-You have to worry about sharing the road with huge tractors.

-There's no one to run with.

Enough said.