Editor’s Notes
Chinese Dogs
Letter to the Editor
By Scott Sullivan
T
here are lies, damned lies and people who tell you you’re “Looking good” as you finish marathons. I’ve found honesty now I run shorter and stress-free. “He’s cute! I like him!” I hear groups of girls say as I plod by them. At age 57, it’s been a while since I heard such comments. The last time was never. “Look at his cute tail! Can I pet him?”
Running with Lev is a revelation. First, he’s so crazy to go he stops me from getting dressed; he sticks his big, grinning head in my way as if to say. “Don’t forget me!”
I corralled him, apologized to the pug’s owners and we went on our merry way, while they chose to go the opposite. Lev, having saved the world for democracy, wasn’t finished; it was time to contribute to trailside greenery. With his deposits, you’d think the world was his ATM. My wife, who years ago ran through suburbs with an immense dogo argentino, was ticketed by police one time for “promiscuous defecation” — on the dog’s part, I’m assuming.
© Flannery Sullivan
It began to sink in: they were talking about my dog.
Once he slipped his collar as we passed a pug and did what he always does when he plays with small dogs: put its head in his mouth. The pug freaked, thinking Lev had mistaken her for another Chinese dog, say chow.
I’ve run more than I take Lev on the Lev, the scourge of Chinese dogs. 1,000 miles with this trails for the sake of tail-wagging idiot since chastity, plus knowing we adopted him. My only old men riding one run without him came when my wife took him bikes patrol them. “Sic him!” I’d say if one pulled us to obedience class, which occurred just once: he was over and Lev would lick him to death. either expelled or she realized it was hopeless. But he always thinks I’ll forget him. If these retirees in day-glow vests truly want to be useful as trail Gestapo, they would hone in on the real Then he never wants me to put on his choke collar, menace. They could even use Lev as their police dog. which I have to because, without it, he would pull my arm from its socket chasing down Chinese dogs. Girls would gasp at how cute they were as Lev bounded along with the latest Pekingese in his chopPeople fret about China taking over our econpers, restoring the sanctity of our land. omy when the real threat is from their dogs. I can’t run a trail that’s not full of Shih Tzus, Shar Peis and Looking good, indeed. so on. Levy, like some latter-day Cold Warrior, goes ballistic when he sees them. - MR -
Remembering Kermit: Setting the Record Straight To the editor, I enjoyed reading all the articles about Kermit Ambrose in the May/June Michigan Runner. To be a bit picky, I will point out some minor inaccuracies. First, the articles said he took a job at Seaholm High School. Actually, he took a job at Birminham High School, from which I graduated. At my graduation ceremony in 1959, they announced that because another high school in town was nearing completion, they were renaming our school to Seaholm. People hissed. I never learned who Seaholm was. Second, Kermit was not hired as a crosscountry coach. He was hired as a teacher. We had no full-time coaches. I owe my parallel parking skills to the driver training instruction I got from Kermit. Kermit was a big guy. I remember a time when two big brutes were having a fistfight in the school parking lot. Kermit ripped them apart. When one of them took a swing at him, he yanked him off the ground and shook him. Fight over. R. Bruce Laidlaw Ann Arbor
2012 Michigan Runner Race Series Corktown Race, 5K, Detroit - March 11 Martian Invasion Meteor 10K, Dearborn - April 14 Borgess Half Marathon, Kalamazoo - May 6
Plymouth YMCA Father's Day 1 Mile, Plymouth - June 17 National Cherry Festival 15K, Traverse City - July 14 Steve's Run 10K, Dowagiac - July 28
Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K, Grand Rapids - May 12 Dexter Ann Arbor 10K, Ann Arbor - June 3 Brian Diemer Amerikam 5K, Cutlerville - June 9
Crim Festival of Races, 10 Mile, Flint - August 25 Ringside Fitness Marquette Marathon - September 1 Mackinac Island 8 Mile Road Race - September 8 Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon - October 21
michiganrunner.net
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Michigan Runner - July / August 2012
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