Running in the Unknown Park

Yes, it is another post about running, but this time I ran someplace different.

There is a park off German Street, a couple of streets before the turn to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC), heading west, I think (I don’t know from directions). There is no sign saying the name of the park, but there is a gate between stone pillars that is sometimes closed, bearing a sign reading “Park Closed for Season.” I don’t run into the park very often, because it is merely an out and back run, and I am more into turning here and there, or at least going around the block.

The reason I turned into the park Wednesday is that I was on that side of the street. Now, crossing German Street at four in the afternoon is no easy matter. I accomplished it, because I had some vague notion of running up to HCCC the back way. My legs were instantly trying to talk me out of that. Still, I had crossed the street. Then I saw the park and my legs said, “Look! That goes uphill, and we haven’t run that way in a long time!”

The incline into the park is not what you would call a real hill, especially compared to what I had thought to run, but a little more effortful that the fairly level sidewalk I was on. As I ran on, I realized a little more effort was entailed, because the road through the park is not smoothly paved, but comprises uneven stones and gravel. Not so uneven as to put one at risk of a turned ankle, but a little more effortful. Sometimes that is the best I can accomplish: just a little more effort.

I’ve run into this park a few times and rarely encounter anybody. Wednesday I saw a sports game in progress. I was too far away at first to see which sport it was. Soccer? Rugby? Lacrosse? I couldn’t tell if they were holding sticks or kicking a ball. Then I saw white on everybody’s head. Oh, helmets. Let’s see, what sport requires helmets? Oh, football. Silly me. This from a girl who listens to Sports Box on WVHC. I ought to be ashamed. Well, embarrassed anyways (but not too embarrassed to include this in the blog for a cheap laugh).

Unfortunately as I got closer the banks were such that I couldn’t see the game any more. I did see a man in the distance, tossing a toddler in the air the way most toddlers love to be tossed. There’s a sport I could get into: the Toddler Toss. Watching, not participating. I’ll confine myself to the Toddler Lift and Carry. Any toddlers handy? By the time I reached the man and tot they were sitting in the back of a pick up truck, watching the game.

After the sports field, things got more woodsy. I remembered the problems we had with mosquitoes on Saturday, but I wanted to keep running.

“Let ’em have at me,” I thought, “I’ve got witch hazel!”

I ran by an area with a pavilion, picnic tables and hibachis. I remembered that during the DARE run we went on a path that came out on this area. I thought briefly of exploring that, but I know the other end of the path is gated off, and I was not feeling sufficiently rebellious. I ran on to the end of the park.

A man made stream flows through the area. In fact, there is a cute little footbridge to the picnic area. I call it a man made stream. It may actually be a drainage ditch, but doesn’t man made stream sound better? As I got to the end of the path the man made stream started to look more like a nature made stream. I could have explored that, but there was a forbidding looking fence with no gate. One could perhaps go around the fence, but one might be asking for trouble to do such a thing. Also, as it got more wooded, it got more mosquito-y.

As I ran back out of the park, I got to pet a cute dog briefly. He was off his leash and much more into running around than being petted. I left the park and managed to cross German Street without mishap. Another cute dog that wanted to be petted, down a couple more streets, and back home.

A different setting with different thoughts to distract myself with. Not a great run, but a good run, and a fairly lengthy blog post.