Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Corn Field Loop


I’m spending a week in Orono, taking a course called Seminar in Non-Fiction Writing at the University of Maine and making sure I take the opportunity to schedule at least a couple runs on the beautiful network of trails around and about campus.  Today, I ran from Shibles Hall over to the athletic stadium, did a mile on the crazy- blue synthetic track and then headed in the direction of the Corn Field Loop.  It’s pretty much the same course we ran in my only cross country meet here as an undergraduate.   That was fall of 1971 and I remember it well.

It was our annual Bates vs UMaine dual meet, which rotated each year between Orono and Lewiston.  I’d missed it as a freshman, but made the trip as a junior.  It was early in the season, and we weren’t expected to be too strong, having lost 3 key team members through graduation, one who dropped the sport and another who flunked out of school.  Still, a new crop of 4 freshman offered promise.  Walt (our coach) had high hopes for a few of the younger guys, but didn’t seem to expect much from me.  I did not excel as a freshman and was injured most of my sophomore season.  I have to say I didn’t think he liked me, either, but it was hard to know with him. Nothing he ever said inspired any confidence in me.

The race started with a lap on the track and then headed in the general direction of the Corn Field Loop.  Much of the area was in agricultural use in those days, where a relatively new recreation center now stands, just south of the cornfield itself.  The Maine team outnumbered us and seemed intent on overwhelming us with a brisk early pace.  After about a mile I could count three of our guys—Emma, Joe and Bill—out front, and at least 12 of the opposition strung out ahead of me.  It was not looking good for the visiting team.  Walt called out from the sidelines to a couple of my teammates near me, “get goin’Norm!” and “move up, Wayne,” but no exhortation for me.   


We veered right through a wooded section where—10 or 15 meters to the right, in the undergrowth, but plainly evident—an undergrad and his girlfriend were studying the “birds and bees.”  (Does anyone use that expression anymore, besides people like my wife who ACTUALLY DO study ‘birds’ and ‘bees?’)    We kept running of course, Woodstock was two years earlier and we’d all seen the movie, if we hadn’t been there personally.  (Overheard, after the race: “Did you see those two in the woods?”)

Back in ’69, my best friend on our high school track team offered me a ticket to Woodstock, but I opted to stay and work extra shifts at my summer job in the dining room of the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY—it turned out to be more than I bargained for when my coworkers were stuck in the traffic jam coming home from the festival and I had to cover a couple more days of their shifts.  All turned out well, as I saw B. B. King, The Who, and Jefferson Airplane a week or so later at Tanglewood in Western Massachusetts—still the best concert I’ve ever seen, but more on that later.

So, back to the race:  as we began to circle the Corn Field and passed Walt one more time, he was now yelling at Norm and Wayne behind me to catch me and pass the UMainers in front of us.   (Thanks for the vote of confidence, Coach!)   Whether it was my reaction to his lack of support or just the summer’s weeks of conditioning finally kicking in, I was the one who began moving up through the field, picking off one Maine runner after another.   By the time we returned to the final lap on the track and the finish line, I was on the heels of Daley and Warner, the top two Maine runners, and not far behind Emma, Joe and Bill—1-2-3—at the front.  Two teammates followed close behind me and we easily outscored the host team.   My sixth place finish was, by far, the best ever in my running career and even earned a mumbled “Good job, Charlie” from Walt.

Today’s run had none of the excitement.  It was pretty idyllic actually—clear skies for the most part, except for a few puffy clouds, the humidity of the past few days gone, a couple of young white-tail deer—a doe and a buck—grazing in the field where crops used to grow.  A mile or so from the finish, I met Rich Kent, my writing instructor, heading out for his evening run.   (Good job, Rich!)

This reminiscence doesn’t exactly qualify as the glory days of my college career.  I was never a great collegiate athlete, although I competed all four years in cross country and Nordic skiing.   I even had a few better performances—a 9:56 two mile indoors on our 10 and ½ lap to a mile, 4 turns per lap, clay/cinder track stands out, we beat Maine again in dual track meet, by one point, maybe my third-place point?—and certainly some worse performances.   And I always considered myself a skier who ran cross country, anyway.   Still, this dual cross country meet was the first time that I knew I could be competitive and it made all the difference.  I’ll never forget it.

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On the drive home, I plug a CD into the deck, and it’s just like on the lawn seating at Tanglewood in 1969, as I wake up from the second half of The Who’s set:

Sounds of airplanes buzzing overhead, crowds cheer, then ohhhhh, then ahhhhhh.  Melodramatic organ music fades in and out.   More airplanes overhead... Then we hear the final lines of the 1933 production of “King Kong” —

“Well Denham, the airplanes got him.”

“Oh, no.  It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.”

A pause, followed by the master of ceremonies:  “Ladies and Gentlemen—The Jefferson Airplane!!”

Cue Spencer Dryden on the drums—Ratta-tat.  Ratta-tat-tat-tat.  Ratta-tat.   Ratta-tat-tat-tat-tat…etc

Cue the Great Jack Casady on bass.   Dum dum… dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.  Dum dum…. Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum 

Enter Grace Slick and Marty Balin singing at times in unison, at times trading lines back and forth, as the rest of the instruments join in:

do away with people blowing my mind
do away with people wasting my precious time
take me to a simple place
where I can easily see my face
baby, baby I can see that you're fine
know I love you baby, yes I do
know I love you baby, yes I do

Marty:   “3/5’s of a Mile in 10 Seconds!!” *


It’s frenetic and electric and the crowd is going wild!  Then Jorma Kaukonen rips off a fantastic lead with Casady churning away on bass—Jorma is great but true rock aficionados know that Jack carries the day.  What a great opening number!   

But wait!  There’s more—Paul Kantner, Casady, Dryden and Kaukonen begin an extended intro, jazz-tinged and quiet at first, but gradually building up to Grace Slick’s riveting performance of “Somebody to Love.”*

“Don’t you want somebody to love…”


Check out “Bless Its Pointed Little Head”*—Jefferson Airplane’s best live CD—for the full experience. 

Or better yet, load it on your iPod and run the Corn Field Loop.  You’ll be flying!
   

1 comment:

Rich said...

Hey Charlie,

Great to read your reflection on the 1971 Bates/UMaine race. What we remember, eh? It's awesome. I did have a good run--easy and relaxing--and always feel better for having gotten out on the trails.

Keep running, but more: keep writing. Your family story is an important one for many reasons.

Cheers!
Rich