We’ll already be at the hospital. How convenient.

This summer, I’ll get my craziest idea out of the way early. The Amy Hafer Race for Awareness will happen June 26 outside Wallowa Memorial Hospital. My participation in another rodeo is “forbidden” (the Chieftain really used that word), so I decided to give long-distance running a try. My ambitious goal is to run the whole course, finish … and then I’ll have about two months to recover before getting back to work on another year of high school sports.

I’ve always dreaded running. The thought reminds me of wrestling practice in high school. It was like another boot camp, every day, right after classes. Our team captain, Skylar, barked the orders. He was a star who trained vigorously, won all of his matches and was bound to wrestle in college. He eventually came back five or six years ago to coach the team. He was already doing that while I was a freshman scrub. Every practice started with a marathon. We’d chase him for miles. Most of the time, he’d lead us about two miles but if he was in a bad mood, he’d go five or six. The next year, after Skylar graduated, Justin became captain. He was Skylar’s clone. I quit.

Ever since that introduction to long-distance running, I avoided it with all my heart. Retiring from athletics at the age of 15, I found a home sitting down at a computer or on front of a TV. I loved that movie Back to the Future, Part III, when Christopher Lloyd, playing the part of the mad scientist, travels back 100 years to the wild west, has a nervous breakdown, goes to a saloon and tells the drunks how life will change. He informs them that running will become a form of recreation. At that point, a cowboy, totally perplexed, howls, “Run … for fun?!” That was pretty much my reaction.

But Doc was right. Nowadays, I keep bumping into people who actually enjoy running. My little sis ran four years on a cross-country team and lived to talk about it. Over here, Laura Stauffer became one of the most accomplished athletes in Wallowa County history by running the Boston Marathon. She works a couple of blocks away from the Chieftain office. She loves running. She said a marathon was like a 26-mile party. Huh? She wants to go 100 miles. That spurred my curiosity. Slowly, I began to catch on. Maybe there’s something to running.

With just a couple of weeks to go before the Hafer Race, it’s time to dig my sneakers out of my closet and dust them off. A girl I was once dating convinced me to get them so I could join her on some of her daily runs around Alder Slope and Wallowa Lake. One look at my ancient shoes, from way back in my high school days with the wrestling team, made her gag. Athletic tape held them together, but my toes still poked through big holes. Sorry, babe, but sometimes my loyalty goes too far. After I bought a new pair, we were going to destroy the old ones in a ceremonial burning but the EPA shot us a convincing frown.

At least these new shoes won’t go to waste. Skimming through a poster promoting the Hafer Race, I picked up the word “downhill” somewhere in the description. There were other terms, like “5K” and “10K,” which I assume come from overseas. I don’t speak that language.

The flier also said “breath taking,” but that’s ok. The finish line is right outside the hospital.

Hector del Castillo is the Chieftain’s sportswriter. E-mail comments and questions to hdelcastillo@wallowa.com.