The last few years, it seems I get the running doldrums when the hot days of mid-summer arrive. This time I did something about it. I attended a running retreat at Lake Thomas in the sparsely populated northeast corner of Washington.

Several one-on-one sessions of wise running advice were provided by a top coaches with a long history of success. I found much inspiration in our discussions.

One day, the coaches took myself and a few other runners to a nearby golf course. I rarely play golf, so I borrowed my mother’s clubs that she bought in the 1960’s.

The course charges $2 a round on weekdays, and $3 on weekends. Though I hit lots of grounders, sometimes I was able to hit it into the air.

The course gets few players because of its remoteness. The greens are packed sand instead of grass. There’s a heavy metal pull-bar for smoothing the surface before you putt.

The coaches aren’t golfers, but they’re great at analyzing a situation and applying their knowledge and skills to something new. This coach got a hole-in-one on a 145-yard hole.

I took a few walks in the woods thinking how nice it’d be to live here and what great running routes I’d have. But it’s a long drive to the nearest grocery store, and it’d get pretty lonely, especially in winter.