Three rivers flow into Milwaukee Harbor, and I already had paddled up each as far as I could, on separate occasions. The new goal was to do all three without ever leaving my boat.

The full Eisenbahn, 25 miles of rail trail in Fond du Lac and Washington counties, is not only a personal endurance test but also an opportunity to study and consume the unique, understated beauty of our great state

Dretzka Park is different things to different people. I had come here for none of those reasons. My interest was in what Dretzka didn’t offer — or rather what it no longer offered: a ski area.

Fewer than 100 snowy owls had been reported in all of Wisconsin so far this winter, and I had knowingly avoided the most obvious places to look. But I brought to this outing an unearned optimism.

The M is a topographical wonder and a geographical marker, sometimes a destination, more often a point of orientation seen from miles away, ever-present in the background of daily life in this college town.

The quad of events on my slap-dash itinerary were biking, climbing, running and kayaking, and I finished securing my kayak to the top of my minivan, I still wasn’t exactly sure how this would all work out.

You should know Bill. But if your paths have never crossed, leaving you oblivious to his so-called legendary persona, here is a desultory introduction to the legend and his 10-year streak.

Previous runnings of the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon had started at Grafton High School, nowhere near Milwaukee and not even in sight of the lakefront. On Oct. 1, with a new course, it finally began living up to its name.

I’ve always marveled at the contrast between how boring it seems like running sounds — when you think about what you might say about it if you had to say something about it — and how fun it is to actually talk about running, at least with fellow runners.

To be in nature requires simply to be. In nature. Embrace the simplicity of existence, and transcend the complexities of modern life. Failing that, I ran, I paddled, I biked and I hiked all over Rock and Washington islands, and I have these six Strava workouts to show for it.

I succeed. I reached my destination. But after most of a day and 100 miles spent on a bike from Madison to Milwaukee, I also felt the unexpected weight of doubt. Why did I just do that?

What starts on a nice paved pathway progresses through sidewalk, dirt path, parking lot, gravel, roadway, puddles, mud, more gravel and on in maddening variations of that sequence.

Wisconsin does not lack marathons. So what the hell was I doing in Illinois running a marathon that didn’t have Chicago in its name?