ORS: Happy Little Trees 5k

A run for the trees

On runs, sentences...

Half an hour was not a winning time in last week’s Happy Little Trees 5k race but it was good enough to place in the top 15% of finishers who had reported results as of Monday morning. Late reports are likely to be added—28% more results were submitted in 2024.

The nearest meet-up for the event was on Earth Day in Bay City State Park. Unfortunately, Earth Day fell on a production day at the newspaper this year. Fortunately, the race could be completed anywhere outdoors between Earth Day and the weekend of Arbor Day, which fell on a Friday.

Registration fees support invasive forest pest control as well as tree planting, care and maintenance. Presumably they also support the purchase of race kit contents, which comprised a racing bib, tee shirt, sticker and finish medal.

Friday afternoon the weather was close to ideal for a run, after a bitterly cold start to April that made training more challenging.

Some runners in humid-continental climate zones persist in running year-round, while others (e.g., me) prefer to cross-train when cold weather dominates. Or maybe that’s a cheap excuse to hang up the trainers for the winter. I wouldn’t put it past me.

The shorter, easier route heading south from the Ogemaw Hills Pathway trailhead on North Fairview Street is nearly 5 kilometers. A lap around the parking lot took care of the rest.

This summer, I will set landmarks in the forest to mark start and finish points for 5k and 10k segments. Next winter, I will submit Ogemaw Hills Pathway as a meet-up point for the 2026 Happy Little 5k.

If all goes well, perhaps a running club will form. Research has shown that Americans’ participation in each other’s meatspace lives have been in significant decline since the 1970s.

Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam revealed this with research that garnered much attention in the 1990s. A 2024 movie called “Join or Die,” directed and produced by one of Putnam’s students, Pete Davis, provides updates indicating the advent of internet-based social media applications has only deepened these trends.

Some of Putnam’s key findings showed a 35% decline in religious congregation membership, 40% in public meeting attendance, 50% in club meeting attendance and 66% in union membership. The implications of this are many and varied but practically none of them are encouraging.

Social media may help us keep up with one another between corporeal gatherings but it quite simply no substitute.

Hope to meet you on the trails.