It is called the Burning River because the Cuyahoga River was once so polluted it caught fire.
The river is restored so much that it is now the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The Burning River Trail 50 Mile Race finishes just a few miles from my boyhood home. I taught middle school students for four decades, so I figured that I had the endurance to complete the course. There is also a 100-mile race. I have a gut, but I donât have guts. I am more a wishbone than a backbone kind of guy.
I parked the car at the finish line and caught the 4:15 a.m. school bus shuttle to the starting line. I have been on many early morning bus rides packed with nervous runners. Only this time Steve Anstett wasnât driving, and I wasnât going to stand around offering bad race advice while eating the snacks donated by the parents intended for the Angola Hornets.