It was the summer of 1986 that I had the thought to join my dad for a run. That first run was around a park, Harvard Gulch, I believe. I also believe that I ran in Keds, probably a large cotton tee and pink hair, and definitely not a bra (because feminism? non-conformist? shortage of female role models?) And then I kept running with him and he gently suggested I might want some running shoes and running clothes (even a sports bra) if I was going to stick with it. Which I did. For the remainder of high school, at least in my memory, we ran 5ish miles, 6 days a week—though we must have taken breaks in winter. We always ran with Robbie, the 8-pound wonder dog, and mostly on dirt.
