Running in the redwoods

We arrived at the Redwood Forest Institute around dusk Friday, August 8, 12 miles into the woods off California 20 between Fort Bragg and Willits. My fiancée Susan and I and our friends Cyd and Paul Keser and their son Ethan would spend the weekend in the Garden Cottage, one of three guest houses run by Charles Bello, founder of the Institute. 


The outside of the cottage is unimpressive. And after the bumpy, winding drive from the highway, past half a dozen other homesteads, those of us versed in the horror film genre were certain Charles or others might show up wielding a chainsaw to greet and eat.

Of course that wasn’t the case at all. Charles is the most amazing man, and a charming soul whose outlook is infectious. As he noted, though, most of us, however moved and inspired by his story, will settle for living vicariously through him. 


Charles, an architect and engineer (UC-San Luis Obispo), is 82 and living his dream. He and his late wife bought 400 acres of California redwood forest in 1968 for $75,000. They raised their three children here and built everything around us — road (some was old logging road), trail, four homes, a workshop, a sawmill and an art gallery for Charles’s redwood sculptures. 

While rustic inside, and outwardly unappealing, the cottage is a treat. It was the first home Charles and Vanna built when they pioneered this land. Family helped erect the structure and completed it — barn-raising style — in a week. Later, a three-bedroom house with three decks (the Grove House) was built to accommodate the growing Bello family.

Ironically, everything is built from redwood. It is everywhere. And yet, Charles has dedicated his life to protecting the towering trees. Hundreds are tagged, registered and protected in perpetuity — for the couple thousand years of their natural lifetime. His sculptures and the coffee tables he has discovered in the stumps of redwoods cut by loggers are made from scrap — waste with a story to tell, a history lesson for the living room.

“Redwoods are a phenomenal tree,” he said, explaining how the colossi are born of seed that is but a speck on your fingernail.

After the children left, Charles built the Glass House, an amazing, curved, open space of wood and glass and stone. Of his retirement home he said, “You’re living in a piece of art. … We built this for $8,500.”

Charles’s inspiration is clear. The influence of the natural world on his work is apparent. The flow and form of the Glass House, the sculptures that emerge from within the wood he has harvested are reflective of the trees and rocks that cover the northern California terrain. 


“The magic words were, ‘wouldn’t it be nice.’ ‘Wouldn’t it be nice’ created a lifetime of work from a 20-minute walk,” he recalled of his woodland wanderings with Vanna.

The lack of privacy in the Glass House led him to build a neighboring guest house, which, with the passing of Vanna, is where Charles now lives. He creates art, saves trees and shares his dream.

“There are people who are wondering what they’re going to have for lunch tomorrow, and I’m doing this,” Charles said of his mission to ensure a legacy so much larger than himself or his art. 

Charles led us on a tour of the homes Saturday morning (minus the Grove House, which only Susan visited later on her own) and we finished our breakfast before taking a hike to the King’s Hole for a swim. Cyd stayed behind to relax at the cottage and enjoy a shower in the outdoor shower house, with water heated by solar energy.

After our icy dip, we walked in search of the Mountain Spring Trail. We somehow missed it on our first pass, though the error bestowed the gift of a lovely hike along the road. As we backtracked toward the cottage, we spotted the sign and split, Suze and I taking the Mountain Spring Trail and Paul and Ethan returning to our weekend abode. 

The trail climbed ever upward and we began to wonder if we would reach the spring. Had we missed another sign? Eventually we came upon a concrete culvert with a weathered wooden box in the ground in front of it. Having seen such arrangements before, I told Suze this could be the spring — rather than the burbling gush of water we expected. Unsure, however, we continued onward. We didn’t want to miss it.

We wound around the mountain higher and then began our descent. Again we considered returning along the path we had trod, but decided to venture ahead. It’s a good thing: The trail found the floor and we exited onto the road by King’s Hole. We later confirmed with Charles that the culvert was the spring in question. What an enjoyable afternoon with my beloved.

Suze decided it was time for a shower. I decided it was time for a run. I grabbed a pair of earbuds for my phone and headed back the way we’d gone earlier, across the foot bridge to the road to King’s Hole. I ran shirtless for the first time, protected from the sun by the reigning redwoods. It was invigorating and wonderful. I’ve not run in such a beautiful setting before. The paved trail at Lake Storey back home doesn’t compare. Truly I was surrounded by God’s splendor.

“You know, it’s been an exciting life,” Charles said.

I’m glad we received the opportunity to be a part of it.

Learn more about Charles Bello and the Redwood Forest Institute at savetrees.org.

Today’s Stats (Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014)
Temp: Unknown — comfortable
Distance: 3.5-4 miles (guesstimate based on elapsed time of 40:37 and typical pace of 10-11 minutes per mile)
Treasure: Intangible, yet priceless.

iPhone Playlist (Shuffle)
Everything I Want - Jace Everett 3:33
Tik Tok - Ke$ha 3:19
Something - Jim Sturgess 2:59
Revolution - Jim Sturgess 2:17
Wish You Were Here - Avril Lavigne 3:45
I Can See It In Your Eyes - Men at Work 3:32
4 Real - Avril Lavigne 3:28
Us and Them (Live at the Empire) - Pink Floyd 8:09
Catch My Disease - Ben Lee 4:13
Geraldine - The Avett Brothers 1:37
Black & White People - Matchbox Twenty 3:45

A Running Engagement

Yes. She said yes!

It still feels like a dream. It’s been more than two weeks since I proposed and more than a week since she said yes.

Truth be told, I asked her dozens of times. Sometimes more than once a day. But only once did I present a ring. She knew all along I was serious, but the ring took it to a new level. She wasn’t expecting that yet. “Bewildered” is how she described her feeling at the moment. Then she put off giving me an answer. But when she did, boy, was it memorable!

I had joked with my friend and co-worker Jay about Susan accepting my proposal at the finish of the Run Galesburg Run Half Marathon on June 1. I had no idea she’d do just that. She’s not a public person. So I was stunned when I finally saw the big white sign — held proudly by my smiling daughter Amanda — after I crossed the finish line. It took me a while to see it. As I crossed the line in PR time, I saw Susan smiling at me and I ran straight to her. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This all started with a run. My second half marathon. That adds up to a full marathon over two years, so I think I’m good on that count — no need to do a full 26.2 miles in one day. Right?

Well, as with last year’s RGR Half Marathon, I did not train properly for the effort. Oh, I did a couple longer runs than my usual 3-5 miles, but I’ve not been building my endurance and stamina nor working on my pace. For at least one stretch in recent memory I didn’t run for a whole month. Most of the rest of the time I would run once, maybe twice a week. Insufficient training for a 13.1-mile run in the heat and humidity of Illinois.

I was, however, determined. Two weeks before the run I did 9 miles one day and 4 the next. Thursday before the race I did 4 miles just to make sure my legs still worked. Oh, and I’ve mostly given up my patellar strap. I think it’s been a crutch and, while necessary at times, I think the more I run without it the stronger my patellar tendon becomes.

Saturday night found me more tense and nervous than usual before a race. In fact, I’m not usually too wound up before race day. I had trouble sleeping. I worried I would have to use the toilet along the route. I fretted about walking part of the distance.

Sunday morning, I couldn’t eat. We gathered our supplies — water, iPod, towel, race bib, sunscreen — and headed to town. As I fiddled with my accoutrements, pinning my bib to the front of my shirt and adjusting my iPod armband, Susan headed over to the volunteer signup to receive her assignment. She returned to the car with a big smile. 

“Guess where I’m gonna be?” she chimed. “I’m at the finish line!”

I was happy because I wanted to see her there at the end. I didn’t want to have to wave to her along the course as I slogged by. I wanted to collapse into her arms, if collapsing were to be my finish. She was happy because it worked right into her plan.

So we made our way back to race central and I hooked up with my teammates from Team Asha for a pre-race photo. I managed to eat half a banana. I contemplated hitting the porta-potties, but decided the line was too long. I’d have to risk a poo on the run. (I want to say “Turd on the Run” because it’s a Rolling Stones song, but that would be unseemly.)

I lined up with D2 and D3 — Amanda and a newly redheaded Molly — who were doing the 5K and we awaited the starting gun. At the crack of the pistol, I was off. Actually, though not the throng of runners crowded into the starting blocks of a huge race like the Bix 7, there were nearly 1,000 crammed into the block of Simmons Street between Kellogg and Prairie, so we started out walking. But as we approached the starting line, I hopped a couple of times and took off on my own. Moll says I elbowed her as I passed. Sorry, baby. It wasn’t personal. 

For me the run was mostly uneventful. In town the course is partially shaded and comfortable. Outside of town the roads open up and the sun beat down. It got hot. It was humid. My water belt was bouncing and became annoying, so I unbuckled it and tossed it aside at Aid Station 3. My too-large Team Asha shirt I had made more comfortable by cutting the sleeves out. That allowed my armband to rub my left side, leaving a nasty sore that is still healing.

I did walk at least half a dozen times for short stretches. It actually felt worse to walk, so I returned to my running pace in short order each time. As I crossed Main Street in mile 13, my right calf knotted like a fist and I thought I was done. Fortunately it cleared in a few steps and I continued. As I rounded the last corner from Seminary to Simmons Street, I turned on my afterburners and finished with a burst of speed, driven first by a girl running neck-and-neck with me, then by the sight of Susan at the finish line — the only ponytail I had an eye for that day (first time ever).

I beat the runner girl and got the finish girl. She was beaming as I approached, and shouting something. I staggered toward her and the words finally registered: “Look at your daughter.” I gazed around in a daze. Suze pointed to her right. There stood a smiling Amanda, holding a white posterboard with “SAYS YES” in big blue letters.

I was stunned. Elated. Incredulous. Overjoyed. I started shouting, “Yes! Yes!” I grabbed Suze and squeezed her tightly. “Really? Yes?” I asked. She assured me it was no joke. I kissed her — in the photo she is noticeably grossed out, given my sweaty condition — and nearly knocked her over as my legs wobbled wearily under me.

She helped me to a shady spot under a nearby tree and plied me with water, Gatorade and bananas. Amanda stood by, proudly displaying the sign, which I finally realized didn’t simply read, “SAYS YES,” but had a subject and an object, though it lacked a preposition. At the top was glued a box of Raisinets (representing Susan) and at the bottom, Goobers (me). Goober, Goob (from “Meet the Robinsons”) is her nickname for me. And as anyone of a certain age will recall, Goobers and Raisinets go together. Of course Raisinets are my favorite movie snack.

Everyone knew what was going on but me. As soon as the runners left the start, Suze spread the word and enlisted the aid of other race volunteers. They tracked my progress on the course. Sue Dickinson rounded up a Sharpie so Suze could write YES on the back of my finisher’s medal, on which she hung the ring I’d given her the week before. Photographers Steve Davis and Kent Kriegshauser and their cronies were informed and they swarmed us afterward, preserving the moment. Moll shot video with Susan’s iPhone. It was amazing.

As I basked in my glory and giddiness, Suze smiled down on me and asked, “Can I have my ring?” I hadn’t noticed it on the medal. And I was too shaky to unclasp the medal from the ribbon to extract the ring — she did that. I was able to slip it on her finger and she leaned down for another kiss, less grossed-out this time because my sweaty torso wasn’t pressed against her.

After a brutal but beneficial stretching on the trainer table by one Melissa Engebretson, I joined Suze for a few free brews at the beer tent. We were congratulated repeatedly. I called family to share the news. Facebook was blowing up with photos, comments and likes. Suze updated her profile with a life event: “Got engaged to Rob Buck.” That opened up the floodgates. And this is the woman who doesn’t post much on Facebook because, “I don’t want people to know my s***”?

Stunned indeed. 

Today's Stats (June 1, 2014)

Temp: 87 degrees F

Distance: 13.1 miles

Weekly Total: 16.95 miles

Treasure: Santa Claus decoration.

Race Results

Time: 2:29:38 (2013 time: 2:33:48)

Pace: 11:26

Split: 1:09:45

Split Pace: 10:39

Overall: 134

Men 40-49: 19/21

Sex: 69/81

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

The Ghost Song - The Doors

18 Wheeler - Pink

Put Your Lights On - Santana (Feat. Everlast)

Clarity - John Mayer

Bitch - Meredith Brooks

Drop Dead Legs - Van Halen

Trip Through Your Wires - U2

Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel

And It Stoned Me - Van Morrison

Wine Snacks (live banter) - Ryan Adams

Wouldn’t It Be Good - Nik Kershaw

Waitin’ On A Sunny Day - Bruce Springsteen

Push - Matchbox Twenty

The Woods - The Call

Happiness - The Fray

Valley Road - James McMurtry

Clarity - John Mayer

Here, There and Everywhere - The Beatles

Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears for Fears

Push (Acoustic Version) Avril Lavigne

I Just Want To See His Face - The Rolling Stones

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own - U2

Bad Woman Blues - Trampled Under Foot

We Will Not Be Lovers - The Waterboys

Back To You - John Mayer

First Cut Is The Deepest  (Country Version) - Sheryl Crow

Saint Mary Of The Woods - James McMurtry

The Stranger - Billy Joel

Stars Tonight - Lady Antebellum

God Trying To Get Your Attention - Keb’ Mo’

The Star Spangled Banner - U2

Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell

Empty Sky - Bruce Springsteen

Who Needs Sleep? - Barenaked Ladies

Wishing It Was - Santana (Feat. Eagle Eye Cherry)

Roll With The Changes - REO Speedwagon

The Shot Heard 'Round the Room

You’d think we would have known better. I’m not sure how old we were, but we were a couple of bright, but curious, boys. We really should have seen, er, heard what was coming.

My best friend, Chris Farrar, and I must have been in eighth grade, maybe ninth, when we found the 12-gauge shotgun shell. Maybe it was in the gutter along a street on our way home from Churchill Junior High — I don’t recall. But, unlike the spent shell I found on my run two weeks ago, this one was live ammo.

Lacking a shotgun to put the round to proper misuse, we decided to dismantle the shell to see just how it was made. We knew the basics, though I’m not sure if we’d already been through the hunter safety course taught by Vern Coates, one of our venerable Boy Scout leaders. But we wanted to see all the elements — powder, shot, wad, primer.

In the back room of my dad’s garage we used a sharp knife to slice through the plastic casing near the brass base of the shell. We dumped the shot — I don’t recall what size it was — extracted the wad and dumped the powder. I can’t imagine we didn’t burn the powder, but I have no recollection of doing so. Maybe we were chicken, fearful it would flash or flare and burn us or something. I don’t recall. But the primer seemed innocent enough…

Somehow we extracted the primer from the base of the shell and clamped it firmly in a pair of vice grips. One of us then held the vice grips and the other grabbed a punch and a hammer. Well, we had no idea that tiny primer would be so loud. I’m sure it was compounded by the confined space, and poor Chris managed to take the brunt in his left ear. I’m pretty sure his hearing was permanently, though not seriously, damaged.

Let that be a lesson to you, kids. Wear hearing protection when you do stupid stuff.

Today’s Stats (April 24, 2014)

Temp: 52 degrees F

Distance: 4.01 miles

Weekly Total: 8.92 miles

Treasure: 2 pennies, 1976 and 1981, both heads up (double good luck?)

iPhone Playlist (Matchbox Twenty Mix)

All Your Reasons

Black & White People

Angry

If You’re Gone

Someday

Snowblind

Bright Lights

Hand Me Down

Bent

Disease

Problem Girl

Streetcorner Symphony

Today’s Stats (April 22, 2014)

Temp: 55 degrees F

Distance: 4.82 miles

Weekly Total: 4.82 miles

Treasure: Nada. Didn’t look.

iPod Playlist (Shuffle)

Come Sail Away - Styx

Bed of Lies - Matchbox Twenty

Everybody Plays the Fool - The Main Ingredient

Bad Woman Blues - Trampled Under Foot

You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer

I Was In The House When The House Burned Down - Warren Zevon

Bron-Yr-Aur - Led Zeppelin

Too Many Tears - The Call

When I Get Home  - The Beatles

Hung Up On You - Cake

Glad Tidings - Van Morrison

Radio - Matchbox Twenty

More Than A Feeling - Boston

Something 'Bout A Woman - Lady Antebellum

American Honey - Lady Antebellum

Today's Stats (April 9, 2014)

Temp: 39 degrees F (41 at end)

Distance: 4.2 miles

Weekly Total: 8.9 miles

Treasure: Nada. Didn’t look.

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Bigger Than My Body - John Mayer

Drop Dead Legs - Van Halen

The Bird & The Worm - Owl City

Brick (Live) - Ben Folds

Catch My Disease - Ben Lee

Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry

Best of Times - Styx

Dig A Pony - The Beatles

She’s A Beauty - The Tubes

I Should Have Known Better - The Beatles

I’m Only Sleeping - The Beatles

Today's Stats (April 7, 2014)

Temp: 46 degrees F (55 at end)

Distance: 4.7 miles

Weekly Total: 4.7 miles

Treasure: 51 cans; 1 spent 12-gauge shotgun shell

iPod Playlist (Yourself Or Someone Like You):

Real World

Long Day

3 AM

Push

Girl Like That

Back 2 Good

Damn

Argue

Kody

Busted

Shame

Hang

(Mad Season)

Angry

Black and White People

Crutch

Running for a Reason

It’s time to start training. Of course, I never should have fallen out of training. But the sad fact is I got lazy this winter — and sometimes distracted. I haven’t been running regularly and now I’m paying for it. 

The founders of Asha for Life Community,
Tommy and Tom Colclasure and Harsha and
Shrikant Mehta, all of Galesburg.

Not only have I not run regularly, I have not run competitively (like I’m really a “competitor”) since the Bix last July. And now I’ve gone and committed to running the Run Galesburg Run Half Marathon Express again — yes, the whole half! I made the mistake of taking a poll on Facebook and none of my friends was kind enough to tell me the 5K was plenty. In their defense, they were all encouraging and supportive of my ability to complete the half.

Last year I ran my first half marathon and I survived. I was part of Team Acapulco, sponsored by Galesburg’s Acapulco Mexican restaurant. While I’d love to be a part of the team again, I’ve committed to a cause this year. I’m running for Team Asha. As the flyer says, “Join Team Asha and make a difference!”

Here’s the rest:

Help raise funds to aid in the battle against human trafficking and sexual slavery.

Sign up to participate June 1^st 2014, in “Run Galesburg,” at rungalesburgrun.com

Join TEAM ASHA and ask your friends to family to sponsor you for the half marathon, 5 “K”, or mile dash.  Proceeds will support direct assistance to survivors of sexual slavery as well as fund human trafficking prevention effort.  Slavery in the world today is real!

Be a champion for freedom from human trafficking and sexual slavery!

An alley in the Mumbai, India red light
district. Brothelsl are accessed from
alleyways such as these. It is estimated
that in Mumbai alone 20,000 minor girls
are held captive in the sex trade.

I first heard about Asha for Life Community two years ago when my friend Tom “Tommy” Colclasure — along with his father and two other Galesburg residents — founded the organization after a trip to Mumbai, India. Tom and his dad, Tom Sr., were moved by the living conditions — “the crushing poverty” — they witnessed in Mumbai. Friends of theirs, Drs. Harsha and Shrikant Mehta, natives of Mumbai, informed them the real horror of life in Mumbai is human trafficking.

“We found that 1.25 million people are trafficked each year … hundreds of those a trapped in the sex slave trade,” Tom told The Register-Mail in a March 2012 story.

You can read more about Asha for Life Community here.

Anyway, when Tom posted on Facebook some months back that he was putting together Team Asha to run for a cause, I chimed in my support. So here’s the deal: I need your support, too. I am seeking pledges — by the mile (13.1, round it to 13) or a flat sum — as a member of Team Asha. The money you give will go toward the fight against human trafficking. That’ll help assuage my inevitably aching knee and heaving lungs — who isn’t rejuvenated and inspired by a warm-fuzzy feeling?

To pledge, email me at rob.buck7@gmail.com or send me a private message on Facebook and I’ll add you to the list. I’ll update this with information on when pledges are due as soon as I know.

To paraphrase Bartles and Jaymes: I thank you for your support.

Today's Stats (April 2, 2014)

Temp: 39 degrees F

Distance: 3.54 miles

Weekly Total: 3.54 miles

Treasure: 26 cans.

iPod Playlist (Shuffle):

Piano Man - Billy Joel

The Long Run - The Eagles

I Will - Matchbox Twenty

Alone Again (Naturally) - Gilbert O’Sullivan

Get It Straight - Trampled Under Foot

Hold My Hand - Hootie & the Blowfish

Bitch - Meredith Brooks

Reconsider Me - Warren Zevon

One Week - Barenaked Ladies

King Tut - Steve Martin

When Will You Come Back Home (live) - Ryan Adams