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Wednesday, July 15, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Running commentary
By Charlie Kanzig
Correspondent
I returned to Sisters on
June 18, which has given
me just over three weeks to
begin to acclimate back to
this part of the world from
South Korea. The most com-
mon question people have
asked me is, “So, what’s it
like to be back?”
My most common
response is, “I feel a little bit
like Rip Van Winkle in that
change has certainly taken
place in two years, but so far
people seem to remember
me, unlike poor Rip.”
Of course Van Winkle
was gone in the mountains
20 years and everyone fig-
ured he would never be seen
again.
I have been working very
slowly to get some sem-
blance of physical fitness
back after slacking off for
many months with a calf
injury as a “lame” excuse.
Being back on the dirt trails
has been good for both body
and soul. My family is cur-
rently living at Black Butte
Ranch, so my dog Raven
and I have been able to dis-
cover some new dirt roads
and trails. Of course, while
I do my best to cover two
miles, Raven traverses about
10. Sunday’s rain took down
the dust and brought out that
wonderful smell of sage and
pine.
Despite moving slower
than a glacier, I felt the run
was my most satisfying and
successful since November.
Each time I am out on
the trail, struggling to get
any sort of mileage accumu-
lated, I think of my daughter
Erin and her local co-hiker
friends Lani Ulmer and
Blake Ehr who passed the
halfway mark of the Pacific
Crest Trail last week and cel-
ebrated three months on the
trail. I wonder what it feels
like to know you have gone
over 1,300 miles and not yet
be out of California!
Yesterday she covered 33
miles on the trail. I managed
about two. I have a long
way to go while she must
be at the peak of her fit-
ness so far in her lifetime. I
know it’s unfair to compare,
but I’m really impressed
with her, while I feel sort of
embarrassed about myself.
Regardless, I will be out
again tomorrow walking,
running or biking.
Speaking of biking,
I rode from Black Butte
Ranch to Sisters yesterday
afternoon to visit Rick and
Teresa Slavkovsky who
are hosting for a couple of
weeks their exchange stu-
dent, Laure Ciernik, who
lived with them in 2012
while attending Sisters High
School. Two Slavkovskys
ran crosscountry on my team
while in high school, as did
Laure while she lived here,
so it was great to reconnect.
As I rode back home
through Tollgate and onto
the “Powerline Road”
toward Black Butte Ranch I
couldn’t help but think about
all the letters to the editor I
have read over the past year
and a half in The Nugget
(even while overseas). As
I bumped along at twilight
on the washboardy cin-
der and gravel and pushed
through the flour-like dust
on the dirt sections, I sort of
dreamed about how nice a
paved path between the two
communities would be.
Sometimes our life his-
tories come full circle. My
first letter to the editor at age
16 promoted the construc-
tion of a bike path between
my hometown of Sublimity,
Oregon and Stayton,
Oregon, two miles away.
The much-needed path was
built about a year later and
still exists today.
Bikes are environmen-
tally friendly. The “One Less
Car” movement resonates
with me and it seems like a
winning idea for the popula-
tion of Sisters. Cities across
America are becoming more
bike-friendly in order to
decrease the use of automo-
biles and to promote fitness.
The reason I began writ-
ing this column a few years
ago was to promote running
in our area, but I have writ-
ten on the topics of walking,
hiking and biking as well. A
trail would serve all these
activities. Cycling is abso-
lutely booming in Central
Oregon right now, and it is
wise and prudent to provide
safe riding space. A paved
path connecting Sisters with
Black Butte Ranch is an idea
whose time has arrived.
So, I hope we (the greater
Sisters community) can
continue to turn the corner
toward truly constructive
conversation in the months
to come and refrain from
pushiness, hyperbole, fin-
ger-pointing, and distrust. A
transparent, thorough pro-
cess can accomplish that.
I am glad to be back, and,
like Rip Van Winkle eventu-
ally did, I look forward to
reconnecting with my com-
munity here in the days and
weeks ahead.
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541-549-DENT
— 541-549-3368 —
332 W. Barclay Dr., Sisters
A’Journe Spyker has a
question for folks in Sisters:
“If you knew you would
never again have to worry
about money — would you
still do the same job you’re
doing now? And if you had to
walk away from your life …
today … this evening, would
there be anything — some
project, or piece of work —
that you’d regret you hadn’t
done?”
Spyker is a seeker who
readily acknowledges, “I’m
not satisfied. I haven’t done
enough; haven’t done what I
came here to do.”
He is facilitating a series
of free “meet-ups” for folks
who are looking for a deeper
satisfaction in their work and
life, putting people amidst
other people who will buoy
their efforts to break free and
find more.
The Sisters-Redmond-
Bend Live Your Legend
monthly support group meets
on the third Monday of the
month (July 20). There is no
charge.
“Such meetings happen
in hundreds of cities around
the globe,” Spyker said. “A
year ago, when I lived within
reach of Portland, I attended
the LYL meet-ups there; and I
found them worthwhile. They
were always good … some-
times very good.
“If you share your
dream(s) with others who are
also working to bring their
dreams to reality — that’s a
good environment. It helps.”
If you knew you would
never again have to worry
about money — would
you still do the same job
you’re doing now?
— A’Journe Spyker
For more information visit
LiveYourLegend.net.
“It doesn’t matter what
stage you’re at,” Spyker says.
“Maybe you don’t yet know
what your passion is. Or
maybe you’d like to switch
careers; you know what you’d
like to do, but you can’t see
how to monetize it. Or per-
haps what you want to do does
not involve a career change. It
doesn’t matter. If you’d like
to be with people who want to
do better than they have been
… then show up (any third
Monday) at 7:30 p.m. at my
home (A’Journe Spyker, LYL
local host) 68105 Peterson
Burn Rd., Sisters.”
For more information call
360-216-6095 (cell) or email
ajourne.1111@gmail.com.
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