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TRIVIA: Can you name the site of the Michigan high school cross country meet from its inception in 1949 until 1971?

IN MEMORY. The picture that accompanies this column was taken by Jennifer Becker. In the early '90s, she was active pursuing her running dreams, capably directing a state-championship 5K in Howell and writing terrific stories for Michigan Runner. My path crossed hers in 2000 and we became good friends.

Jennifer loved running the eight miles around Kensington Lake and I enjoyed riding my bicycle beside with her. She was a wonderful mother - passionate and concerned, fun and smart - who relished measuring herself against herself and matching wits with others.

Jennifer passed away May 24. Surviving are three sisters, a brother and two daughters, Natasha and Suzanne.

WIDE WORLD OF RUNNING. Michigan has a number of familiar and amusing place names such as Moscow, Climax, Yale and Colon.

Climax is 20 miles north of Colon. I knew you wanted to know that. We also have Hell, Christmas and Paradise located in settings relevant to their surroundings; one is best known for a hot, slowish race on sandy roads, and the others are set a long way from everything amid miles of pines along Lake Superior.

My mind was drifting while driving near Paradise on one of those miles and miles of Upper Peninsula highways in late June. I was thinking about how big Michigan is, places I've been and have yet to visit, city names fun, unique and historic. I've always enjoyed traveling and studying maps, taking in the sights and imagining others. I have my favorites along the way and got to thinking how easy and comforting it is to return to them.

Weber Lake campground, seven miles west of Wolverine, surrounded by tall pines and miles of dirt trails, has long been a prize destination. As content as I am at Weber Lake, I know there are plenty of other great state campgrounds and wonder what they have to offer. I feel the same things about favorite running routes, yet wonder what I'm missing on unexplored roads.

I did little running outside my first couple seasons of cross country and track in high school. The first I recall doing extra was in winter of my senior year, when the runs got longer and I had to look at maps to find my way. It was fun plotting courses, trying to remember where they went and not be gone longer than I'd planned. I branched out from my home, on the near north side of Ann Arbor, in all directions, and grew stronger on the longer runs, buoyed by a budding sense of curiosity and adventure.

About the only runners on the roads in the late 1960s and early '70s were school athletes and a handful sparked by Ken Cooper's book, "Aerobics." Because there were so few, I felt a little like a pioneer, but more fulfilling was the satisfaction of covering all that ground with my own feet. Technically, the miles were just a means to an end, but to a boy looking for slivers of confidence, the miles made me feel like I was really doing something. Runs are more routine now, but I still feel like I'm getting something done.

All of this has been prelude to encourage runners to add some spice and variety to their mileage "grind." I'm also speaking to those who chase numbers, time everything, are slaves to their miles, can't be coaxed "outside the box." Get silly, run loops the other way, leave your watch at home, drive somewhere to run, run faster, run slower. Treadmill and indoor track runners, get outside. If you see a trail, follow it to see where it goes, or seek other trails. Try new places, expand your horizons, step outside your comfort zone.

HIGH SKIES. This is about doing what you love, loving what you do, and the title to a Dierks Bentley song, "What Was I Thinkin'?" In recent years I've gotten into some semi-serious cycling, raced a bit, toured some and happily adopted it as my running complement. The tours I speak of are noncompetitive rides over prescribed routes, all abilities welcome.

One of my favorites is the Charx, a 100K ride starting in Boyne City and going counterclockwise around Lake Charlevoix. It's the hilliest "metric century" tour in the Lower Peninsula, an honest test, a serpentine roller- coaster.

One of my top-three favorite races is the Pictured Rocks 11-mile in Munising, the U.P. equivalent to the Charx for runners. Two major hills demand respect, the second an improbable ascent of 300 feet on a sandy road between 8.5 and 9.5 miles. Both events require a little extra effort with matching rewards. They're the most arduous of their kind in each peninsula, occurring the last weekend in June. I entered both. What was I thinkin'?

My last 11-mile PR was in '98, which is also the last time I ran that far. Arthritis in a foot has limited me to a max of six miles since then and has preempted summer running until this year. Running has been unspectacular but steady in'04, while cycle fitness is improved and encouraging. So, you know, the decision was made for me. The what, where and when of the tour and race were far too appealing to allow worries about pain to override.

The morning of the tour June 26 was cool, blue and breezy. I rode with Wolverine Sports Club mates as we wove up and down the aggressive geography. Going in, the ride, although mildly intimidating, was also energizing. I visualized handling the route with relative ease, and, for the most part, didn't wear myself out too much. One steep climb - outside East Jordan at 55 miles - was tough but doable, and I finished feeling fine.

After a nice event-sponsored lunch, I said goodbye to my friends and headed for Munising. One hundred kilometers down, 11 miles to go.

Running friends were as surprised to see me at Pictured Rocks, on a bright-blue and cool morn, as I was pleased to be there. I trotted around and could tell my legs were OK but bike-tired. It helped that I knew what lay ahead and I started cautiously, trying to run even effort. I'd started with more abandon in '85, my first PR race. The difference was "back in the day" I was interested in place and time, and now I was just trying to survive. Most of the time was spent monitoring how I felt, and most of the rest of the time I wondered how I was going to feel.

About once a mile I'd think how I used to race with less concern at a pace 61 percent faster. Ha-ha. That faster guy was better prepared, I knew, and then I'd refocus on the task and think how happy I was doing what I was doing. By mile 10 and after that second awful, wonderful, unforgiving hill, I was near the end of my running tether. The final mile passed uneventfully and slowly. At the end, I knew I'd stretched my tether on fatigue a lot. It was good to stop and savor a moment of relief.

It wasn't exactly "Scott's Excellent Aerobic Weekend" and I wouldn't want to repeat it regularly. But it was a couple days of small victories, and I'll take those when I can.

ANSWER: The meet was held by Eastern Michigan University at the Washtenaw Country Club in Ypsilanti. MR