I shall do my favorite Saturday thing of writing a post about this morning’s run. Perhaps I should warn my readers (if any) that after the play is over (Harvey at Ilion Little Theatre, etc.), my blog may be about All Boilermaker All The Time. I have to train! I’m getting nervous!
Actually, I say I am training for the Boilermaker, but it doesn’t really feel as if I’m training. For one thing, I have no real clear idea of how to train, other than the increase by 10 percent each week thing advised by the guys at the Sneaker Store. I just go running. I write down what I run in a little book. I try to do better as time goes on. Is that training? I suppose I ought to know these things, but heavens, I can’t know everything.
Be that as it may, I ran early, as I like to do. Actually, by 7:30 a.m. on a weekday I would have been at work, worked and had a break already. On a Saturday, I had coffee, read the paper and played solitaire. I set out before I got too hungry and ate, then would have to wait for my food to digest.
The thermometer in my house said 35 degrees, so I put on leggings and my long-sleeved ARMY t-shirt. Winter running socks, which have the advantage that they are long enough to cover the bottoms of the leggings. I hate that little strip of ankle that gets exposed when the two don’t meet. Headband to cover my ears. The sleeves of the t-shirt are long enough to pull down over my hands. I was set.
For the first few minutes I regretted that I had not worn a sweatshirt as well. For the entire run, I wished I had brought a handkerchief or tissue. I spent a good portion of the time pondering the wording of a Facebook post about how my nose ran more than my body. Never came up with anything good.
I ran up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the back way. My body told me don’t do it, but as usual I did not listen. The only downside, really, was that the road is so shaded. I was really appreciating the sun this morning. I thought ahead to July and August, when I will be loving the shade. No matter. My body soon heated itself by effort. Only my nose was still cold.
When I got up to the college, I continued on up Reservoir Road. That meant I was still going uphill, so I could feel virtuous about that. I saw a little beach ball in a ditch. It looked like one of those promotional giveaways. I like a little beach ball. I stopped to pick it up, wondering how awkward it would be to carry a little beach ball for the rest of my run. It was too awkwardly placed to get without major effort, so I gave it up and kept running.
I saw two girls getting out of vehicles in the gymnasium parking lot. One of them made a noisy yawn, or maybe it was an oh-my-back groan. I reflected that it was an unconscionably early hour for many people. Not for us factory workers. I felt virtuous again.
HCCC is a beautiful campus. I like to run around it. I think how I would like to work there, but they never hired me or even called me for an interview. I daresay I lack the right qualifications. Well, I like the job I have now anyways. So there.
I ran down the front way, very steep. A truck came up, and the driver nicely slowed down and moved over partway into the other lane. I waved a thank you, and he waved back. Then two cars zinged by and I don’t think the drivers were paying the slightest bit of attention. Luckily it is a wide shoulder.
I ran by the high school, which I usually save for Sunday. There are often things going on at a high school on a Saturday. Today there were no cars out front. A couple drove into the lot and around the back, but I didn’t get in their way so that was OK.
I ran over the footbridge spanning the stream, which brought me to the parking lot slash road where I often find coins. Dropped by careless people or left by the angels to encourage me? Could be both. I saw a guy playing basketball. Would I feel silly stooping to pick up dropped coins with a basketball player as witness? It did not arise, as there were no coins. Did the angels think I need no encouragement? Maybe the basketball guy picked up any coins. Maybe he needed the encouragement. I ran on.
I did reach the “I can rock this” stage on my run, although my legs warned me they would not be able to rock this all day. At least I rocked it for 44 minutes, the length of time I ran last Sunday. Not quite halfway to my last year’s Boilermaker time (about 109 minutes, if I recall)(too lazy to walk downstairs and look at where Steven wrote it down). I’ll get there. And I’ll write a bunch of blog posts along the way. Stay tuned!
Mohawk Valley Girl 