Poet Runner

Mr. Rense is the author four novels: The Last Byline ("One of the top 40 works of  L.A.fiction"---California Writer), a serio-comic fantasy about the decline of newspapers; The Oaks, the story of a boy growing up in a small town in the '60's with a dysfunctional family; and two mysteries about a hapa (mixed Japanese and Caucasian descent) detective in Los Angeles, The Death Sisters, and The Bronzeville Boogie. He has also written two collections of short stories, Strange Places of the Heart, and Cigars, two non-fiction works, Less Than Satisfying Encounters With Humanity, Less Than Satisfying Encounters With Humanity 2, and two collections of poems, Always Not There, and While Monsters. Mr. Rense is currently at work on a sequel to The Oaks, entitled Summers of Love, and a new volume of poems.
Mr. Rense originated and produced albums 

My name is Jackie Baynard. I am 54 years old. I have been married for almost 27 years and we have a 14 year old daughter. Both of whom hate to run. I’ve been running since I was in 8th grade living in humid South Texas along the Gulf Coast. I have run countless 5 and 10k’s, and since my MS diagnoses have run two marathons and completed a triathalon. 

Running is my coping mechanism, as a child, from a difficult home, and now as an adult, for stress relief In middle school, I was on the track team, but a sprinter. One of the distance runners told me I should give distance a shot. I never looked back. As I said before, I had a bit of an unsettled home, so running was my escape. I ran for miles a day, just so I wouldn’t have to be home. When I went away to college, I was introduced to 5 and 10ks. I was hooked. I ran a race every weekend I could. I had thought about marathon running, but thought that was for serious athletes. So it wasn’t really on my radar.