It’s All Boilermaker All The Time!
Not really. I mean, I’ve always done a lot of running posts, especially when I am short on Mohawk Valley adventures in a given week. However, I am thinking about the Boilermaker lately in a fairly obsessive fashion. It’s getting closer! Yikes!
So I’m up to running an hour as of Sunday. Then I took Monday and Tuesday off. In my defense, Monday my shoulder was still paining me quite considerably (I think I wrote a post about running Sunday with a terrible muscle spasm) and Tuesday it rained. So you see.
I ran on Wednesday. It wasn’t fun, and it wasn’t far. I had to meet Steven at 5:30 when he got off work, so we could go to Hummel’s and buy a flag for Flag Day (our flag was ripped; a veteran such as myself cannot fly a torn flag on Flag Day). I thought a half hour run would at least keep me in the game. I had an idea to run by a friend’s house and check her house number, so I could send her a post card.
It quickly became apparent that it was the wrong direction to run in. There was no shade. The sun beat on me mercilessly. I persevered, as I have been known to do. I had no reward, though, because I couldn’t see the house number as I ran by the house. I didn’t want to stop and run in place and stare. Somebody might call a cop.
Later, as I was walking with Tabby to meet Steven, we passed a lady running in the other direction.
“Hot day for it,” I remarked.
“It’s not too bad,” she answered as she loped by like an gazelle. So I felt like I’m the only plodder in Herkimer who is bothered by the late afternoon sun.
Today (Thursday), I thought I would be smarter and wait a bit before I ran. The sun could set a little, and the temperature could cool off. I got some work done around the house that way, which is good, because I knew I might be good for nothing after the run, even if it did cool off.
So I guess I should have waited longer than 45 minutes. Like maybe till October. At least I thought I would sensibly run up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the back way. There would be lots of shade. None of this running through residential areas searching for friendly trees.
There was not as much shade as I was hoping for. I don’t know much about plate tectonics, but I think that hill has gotten steeper. I plodded up it, telling myself that every step was one step easier on the Boilermaker. At one point, I thought the up slope was similar to the section of the Boilermaker right before you run through the country club. Of course I could be remembering wrong, but I thought, if I can just keep doing this, maybe the Boilermaker won’t suck too much.
Oh, it took a long time to get to the top, but at last I made it. To continue on up onto campus was to run in the sun. No shade seemed available until I had run all the way up to and around the athletic complex and down the other side. Well, I wanted to go for a long run. I told myself it did not matter how slowly I ran, I just had to keep going.
A car coming in the other direction beeped at me. I gave a vague wave, since I thought it might be a friendly beep. I looked and saw a girl in the passenger seat smiling at me and the driver giving me a thumb’s up. Very nice. I was encouraged.
As I rounded the athletic fields, I realized there was no shade, but a breeze blew over me and made me happy. I saw a motorcycle in the path I was on. Who in the world parked their bike there and where were they? Then I saw three people on one of the softball diamonds, practicing batting, I think. I wanted to holler at them that I was going to borrow their motorcycle, but they were too far away.
The fence by some tennis courts cast as shadow. If only it were a solid fence instead of chain link. This wasn’t going to do me any good! Now, now, I told myself. Maybe it will help a little. It did not. In fact, the sun reflected off the hard surface of the tennis courts and made me even hotter.
As I continued, I found some shade. Not a lot, but I savored what I found. Then I was on the hill back to town. A steep down slope is not my favorite. Too jouncy. But I did what I could with it. A stop at the spring for a refreshing drink. Aaah!
Coming round a corner on my way home, I almost ran into a young man running in the other direction. We saw each other in plenty of time. He even said, “Excuse me.” Nice young man, and running quite a bit faster than I was.
The phrase “All Boilermaker All The Time” came into my head as I walked my cool down with Tabby. The Boilermaker certainly motivated me to run today, at least to run as far as I did. Now that I’m drinking Gator Ade and typing this into the computer, I don’t feel too bad. I didn’t feel it during the run, but maybe I can rock this after all.
Mohawk Valley Girl 