top of page
You are (we are) one light, / Myriad each one, / Reflecting among an infinity / Of lights from moment to moment.
You are (we are) one light, / Myriad each one, / Reflecting among an infinity / Of lights from moment to moment.
You are (we are) one light, / Myriad each one, / Reflecting among an infinity / Of lights from moment to moment.



















THE TIME WE HAVE, Meld 1 was #3
Jazz in North America, November 2020.
It came back into the Top-40 for the Week of January 21, 2023.
You are one / Light among / Many Lights / And we're all / Here to shine
Running:
The Road May Go Wherever


View from Mount Tamalpais, Marin County, California, thanks to Muir Press and featured in a section on poets and Mount Tam and my 'Running on the Mountain' July 2020.

Distance-running came into my life in January 1979. The following April I qualified for the 1980 Men's Olympic Marathon Trial. The
next 26 years let me sometimes train intently and sometimes achieve goals. I still hold the New York State records for running 50
kilometers and 50 miles. As a U.S. Master I won that Division in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Houston and 11 straight races. As a Senior, 10 straight. Wins are of course gratifying. Numbers matter, too. However, the deepest pleasures I gained through distance-running were through friendships and


Mark Winitz in California Track & Running News, March/April 2006.
'I can't remember the first time that I met Don Paul. It was, most likely, sometime in the early 1980s when he was running 130-mile weeks and tearing up distance from 5Ks to ultramarathons. I know it was after 1982, the year Paul ran a 50K in New York's Central Park in a sizzling 2:50:55. quite possibly the fastest 50K ever run by an American on the roads....
I roomed with Don at the 1992 Houston Marathon. I was there to cover the U.S. Women's Olympic Marathon Trails.
Don was there to compete. ln fact, he ran superbly, topping the men's masters race in 2:26:56. In Houston, my appreciation of Paul's immense multi-talents as a writer, musician and an advocate for change grew.'

'The story of Don Paul is as much about near misses as it is about spectacular successes. It is about crushing failures and phenomenal breakthroughs. It is about always pushing the edge of what was possible. His was a rare talent that brushed the ultra scene between 1980 and 1992.... The Metropolitan Athletic Club's 50-mile held in Central Park was on
the list [Autumn, 1980].... By the marathon he was still doing sub six-minute pace (2:35:56).... Considering that Paul had a 130-mile week going, it's amazing he had the bounce left to hammer out a most remarkable 5:09:58.... With the benefit of hindsight, it is interesting to note that he would go head to head with Barney Klecker [holder of the U.S. Record for 50 miles, 4:51:25, set in Chicago on October 1, 1980] on only a couple of occasions.... Klecker and Paul raced in February of 81 at the Mardi Gras Marathon into a horrendous wind of up to 40 miles an hour. Doug Kurtis won, while Paul finished second [actually 3rd] ahead of Klecker. At Boston that spring, the two great 50-mile runners were side by side again, Klecker squeezing out a one-second advantage over Paul's lifetime best, 2:16:04. Paul ran 50:23 one week later at the Trevira Twosome 10 Mile. But soon it would be time to move up in distance--way up.... It was a warm a humid day aty Flushing Meadow Park in June of 1981. Thirty-eight starters trundled off the line into the torrid conditions. Despite this, Paul jumped off to another commanding lead of 12 minutes at 25 miles [actually 2:42 for the Marathon's 26.2]. Behind him were Stu MIttleman and Bill DeVoe, a Long Island runner with very fast times to his credit. By 50 miles, Paul was still well ahead of the field, turning 5:28:49. One mile later, he staggered into an aid station, said he was fine, then wobbled away in the wrong direction and collapsed. The New York Times reporter [Ira Berkow] who witnessed the scene never had it so good! Away he went in an ambulance, the victim of severe dehydration, Mittleman would go on once more to a convincing 13:00.11 victory.... Paul exemplfied an "all-out" attitude in his brief career an an ultrarunner. While his races weren't always successful, he never gave less than a total effort, and in those events that he ran, he showed what the possibilities were. He remains the second all-time American performer and both 50 miles and 50 kilometers almost two decades later.'


Central Park, New York City, October 1980.


Mardi Gras Marathon, February 1981, Causeway Bridge
across Lake Pontchartrain, running into wind around mile 23. Left to right: Pat Devaney, Barney Klecker, Raul from Argentina (2nd), winner Doug Kurtis, me.

Houston Tenneco Marathon, January 1987, Geir Kvermo of Norway and I front pack around mile 5. Good friends Derrick May (1st. 2:11:51) and Ric Sayre (2:13:54, 7th and U.S. Champion in the race) sensibly draft toward tail of pack. I ran 2:18:27, 21st overall and 6th U.S.
Oakland, California, December 1, 1980.

Distance-running remains for me a huge boon. It let me travel the world and meet great people beyond number. It was and is the medium for spontaneous freedom ("Chase the Wild Szabo, Aaron--she's scooting round the bend!") and for satisfying tests and bonds. A race will teach you most and bond you most to rivals and teammates. Winning is always a goad and a goal
(11 straight races as a U.S. Master, 10 as a U.S. Senior), but the team and the whole grow in how much they matter. With
Excelsior in the S. F. Bay Area, 2000 to 2005, we won three USATF Team Championships, and that was very nice.


Humboldt Half-Marathon, 2000, around 2 miles into race. Excelsior won the Team 50-years-and-over (Senior) Championship and I was 1st over 50 and 3rd over 40 in what proved to be a race remindful of good Open competitions.
With Tom Bennett of Excelsior as Race-Director at our Club's Zippy 5-K (thank you forever, Bill Griffiths) in Golden Gate Park, May 2005. Photo by Denise Attewell.
Excelsior that year won the 55-to-59 National Road 10-K Championship and I was 1st individual 55=59 in my last "serious" race before moving to New Orleans.
FRIENDS
Because the friends I made through distance-running are so many, let me list them in rough chronology from 1966 onward.
Coach Robert Dorr
Dave Diehl
Greg Gustafson
Jimmy Nicholson
Maureen Nicholson
Kenny Moore
Hunt and Elaine
Mike Fanelli
Bill Sevald
Marcy Schwam
Jackie Stack
Don Choi
Leighton Couvillion
Randy Melancon
Marie Cordier
Kathy Naughton
Leo Nicholas
Frank Smith
Sal Vasquez
Eino Romppanen
José Inácio Werneck
Hortencia
Barbara Paddock
Brian Maxwell
Tom Agosta
Gerry Agosta
Joe Veale
Carmello Rios
John Moreno
Ric Sayre
Bill Donakowski
Rich Govi
Gidamis Shahanga
Zak Barie
Danny Gonzalez
Brad Hawthorne
Derrick May
Sydney
Lisa Moresco
Tim Muldoon
Jim Tracy
Coach James Rafferty Fred Lebow
Michael Cleary
James Shapiro
Tony Colon
Amby Burfoot
Bill Rodgers
Don Kardong
Domingo Tibaduiza
Roy Kissin
Jane Denton
Jim Van Dine
Barney Klecker
Pat Devaney
Laura Leather
Ed Cavazos
Garry Bjorklund
Bob Bright
Dick Bogdan
Steve Palladino
Brock Hinzman
Jennifer Maxwell
Eve Pell
Marion Irvine
John Campbell
Steve Spence
Maria Trujillo
Phyllis Nabhan
Debbie Smith
Shelly Steely
Aaron Ramirez
Sue Lee
Richard Lee
Steve Taylor
Budd Coates
Bill Reifsnyder
Peter and Breda Maher
Jerry Lawson
Aaron Pierson
Carey Pinkowski
Guy Benjamin
David Meggyesy
Coach Henrique Viana
Eder Moreno
Christoph Kopf
David Rubien
John Coffey
Mark Winitz
Rex Wilson
Sean Wade
Olga Markova
Sergey Krasniko
Andrey Kuznetsov
Kim, Dan, Eric Lilot
Jim Gorman
Les Ong
Tyler Abbott
Bob Darling
Charlie Thompson
Lloyd Stephenson
Denise Attewell
Chris Lundstrom
Evan Christopher
bottom of page