I have not done a blog post about one of my runs in a while. Actually, I probably should look and then I might see that I just did one and forgot, but this was kind of the way I talked myself into running this morning: run so you can blog about it.
I just started a new job with awesome hours: 7 am to 3:30 pm Monday through Friday. Not such great hours for finding time to run, but I’ll have to work that out. I started Thursday, so I had only missed two days when I ran Saturday. I ran up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the back way (I know I blogged about that once). Today I had determined to run up to HCCC the front way, which, incidentally is part of the Dare 5K run in August. I have declared my intention of participating in that run and even invited a nephew to join me. I thought I’d better get on the ball with my training.
I started running down German Street toward the college and passed a man walking. We exchanged greetings. Half a block later I stopped briefly to pet Nicky, one of the neighborhood dogs I often encounter. At first Nicky was more into sniffing than being petted.
“Don’t you like to be petted today?” I asked.
“He’s on a scent,” his owner told me. “He loves to be petted.”
Nicky graciously allowed me to pet him.
“You even stopped special for him,” his owner approved.
“I always do,” I said.
Meanwhile the man walking had passed us, so I ran by him again.
“I always stop to pet dogs,” I explained. He understood.
Up the hill I went. Near the bottom someone had spray painted the one mile mark. Good to know. At the Dare Run, I’ll have a mile warm up before tackling the hill. I looked at my watch. I’d been running about ten minutes. If I was doing a ten minute mile, I was right on schedule. Of course, I have no idea how fast I run. I set out to run for a specific length of time. Periodically I get in the car after my run and see how far I ran that time, but I have not done that in a while.
Love the view from the college. I looked down over the village and tried to pick out buildings. Was that my church? Was that 5S or the Thruway? No time to stop and ponder, though; I kept going, and ran down the back way. I passed two girls running up.
“Good job, you’re almost there!” I encouraged them.
One waved and one said, “Good morning!” I ran on.
Of course I stopped at the spring for a drink. That is almost always my reward for making it up the hill. As I turned onto German Street, I saw another runner.
“Are you going up the hill?” I asked. I didn’t catch what he said, but he was headed in that direction.
I made it back home with a little voice in my head saying, “I love, love, love to run!” Tabby walked my cool down with me. A great beginning to another beautiful day in the Mohawk Valley.
Mohawk Valley Girl 