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Lake reflections: Take off your shoes and runBy Winifred Williams The summer before my sophomore year in high school, my parents bought a 60-acre horse farm several miles outside of Chewelah, Washington. Half of the road was paved, and the other half was gravel. The best part of the farm for me was that it was within running distance to Brown's Lake. I can't remember exactly how many miles, but it was do-able. Back then my options for getting to the lake were pretty slim. Rarely did I have a ride. I didn't own a bicycle. I loved and respected our horses too much to ride any of them to the lake, because I didn't want to leave them tethered too long in the parking lot. Therefore, I decided the only way for me to get to the lake would be to run as fast as I could on foot.
In the mid 60's no one heard of jogging, (in that neck of the woods it was just called running slow) let alone a woman's running shoe. Back then women wore sneakers; flimsy rubber-soled canvas shoes called Keds. Despite the manufacturer's advertisement claiming that you could run faster and jump higher while wearing Keds, it was generally understood that the goal for most girls at that time was to keep their shoes as clean as possible, which pretty much ruled out most activities for me, except for standing or sitting. The only other shoes I owned, besides my Keds and my dress shoes, were a pair of cowboy boots. I could and did run in my boots if I had to. But, when it came down to it, they were pretty clunky and I didn't want to wear them out. So, I decided to run barefoot to the lake. Even for country people 40 years ago this idea was considered rather extreme, if not downright hare-brained. It was believed I would probably end up crippling myself running barefoot on my first trip to the lake and it would probably serve me right. However, I thought that the prospect of going to the lake was worth the trouble of running a few miles barefoot on gravel. I actually kind of liked being considered a little crazy! I especially liked the idea of being able to do something that no one else could do or would even want to do. Fortunately, like everything else, there is a technique to running barefoot on gravel and I was lucky enough to figure it out really fast. Every morning that summer, I helped my two younger brothers exercise and train 40 head of horses. We also dug fence post holes, stacked bales of hay, hauled water, mucked out stalls, the whole nine yards. After lunch I'd run barefoot to Brown's Lake and swim for a couple hours. When I got home there was still plenty more to do, but going to the lake was always what the day was really about. When I remember the summer afternoons I spent at Brown's Lake, I realize how important it is to have something that is so good in life and beckons so strongly to a girl that she would gladly take off her shoes and run barefoot over miles of gravel to get to it. Winifred Williams is a poet, horse lover, gardner, and story teller extraordinaire. She lives in Spokane, Washington. If you have questions or comments about this story, please contact us.
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