"Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today." - Tony Judt, Ill Fares the Land
Last weekend, I visited my hometown in the upper Ohio Valley. On a balmy Sunday morning, I began my week with a 14-mile long run through Yorkville, Tiltonsville, and Rayland, Ohio - the YTR. The towns are situated on a floodplain beneath steep foothills that roll westward to Ohio's plain and eastward to the Appalachian Mountains. The run was an opportunity to explore familiar sites and reflect on the condition of the region, particularly the changes it has undergone in the decade since I last lived there.
In my log, I often describe the birds that I see on runs. My fondness for birds is a product of growing up in the Short Creek Watershed. The creek, which meets the Ohio River near my childhood home, is rich in biodiversity. At age five, I saw Great Blue Herons for the first time in the creek's backwaters. I distinctly recall the moment, and I've been a recreational birder since. While I rarely go "birding," running in parks and wetlands allows me to entwine two of my passions. Sunday's run was especially fruitful in the backwaters. Red-winged Blackbirds fluttered about the reeds; swallows swarmed from their colonies under bridges; and I disturbed a Green Heron, rousing it from its hunting grounds in the cattails. The highlight, however, was a Baltimore Oriole, my first sighting of one in many years.
When I tell new acquaintances where I am from, they invariable reply, "That's beautiful country." This weekend the foothills reaffirmed their reputation. The budding trees made the hills a kaleidoscope of green, reflecting every Crayola shade of the color. The flora and fauna enhanced the run, but their beauty masks the land's deep scars and terminal illnesses.
The towns' most prominent feature is a steel mill. Once a symbol of industrial might and a gateway to prosperity, the mill is now little more than a ruin and a painful reminder of what we've lost. For most of the last century, the mill employed many of YTR's inhabitants. My maternal grandfather and father retired there, and unknown numbers of acquaintances and relatives toiled within its walls. Steel mills formed the backbone of the Ohio Valley. The river and its tributaries were the spine, while the mills were the structural core. In the 1990s, I recall economic volatility and layoffs. But the mills endured, and the region retained its identity and offered some degree of opportunity.
Decades ago, we collectively leaped forward into a brave new economy. Cheap steel and cheaper labor in developing nations were too alluring for industrial magnates. Most of the mills are now shuttered. The fortunate workers embraced contract buyouts, while the rest, according to conventional thought, were victims of an inevitable globalizing economy that rendered American manufacturing as obsolete and undesirable as the streetcar.
During my run, I observed the social effects of these economic choices. Several houses in YTR are abandoned since the recent economic crisis. Some abandoned homes never had the chance to decay, thanks to arsonists. Oddly, I feel less safe running in sections of my hometown than I do in Baltimore. At least in Baltimore, I know the lay of the land. YTR, however, is in flux. Streets that were once home to working-class families with middle-class aspirations are now dotted with drug dens (such houses are easily recognizable). There are two truths in post-industrial America: people will dull the pain of reality, and as one economy suffers another thrives.
I completed my long run in 1:31, averaging 6:29 per mile. It was a great start to my 12-week marathon cycle. While the natural environment provided a distraction from these realities, it's best not to look too closely, lest the effects of industrial pollution become evident (Where have all the shad gone?). I began this blog with the intent of describing the social and environmental spaces that I inhabit as a runner. Many of these places are inspiring, motivating, and profoundly beautiful. Sadly, my hometown is no longer such a place.
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