Category Archives: personal

Did I mention the most interesting thing I do these days is run?

I mentioned on Facebook that I thought I’d run up the hill to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC). That gave me a little motivation. Of course, that is one of my favorite Sunday runs. The road to the college is less traveled on a Sunday. Also, I haven’t been to work (usually) and don’t have much I have to do after the run, so an extra strenuous run is in order.

I had previously gone to breakfast and gone shopping. I was just picking up a few things but it annoyingly necessitated three stops. Still, that meant it was about an hour since I’d eaten by the time I got home. The clouds looked threatening, so I thought I’d get while the gettin’ was good, as the saying goes.

As I ran down German Street toward the college, I thought I saw a dog I know named Nicky. I should have known it wasn’t him, because he’s usually out walking much earlier. In my defense, my running glasses are a good three prescriptions ago (how well do you need to see while running? Stuff I might run into is usually pretty big). I ran across the street in hopes of petting a friend, quickly saw it was not the same dog or owner, thought I might pet a cute strange dog, but only succeeded in upsetting the pooch. He jumped, barked and growled; the owner pulled on the leash and told him to behave. I apologized and kept running. I felt really stupid as I re-crossed the street, because it must have looked as if I had crossed the street specifically to upset a dog. Oh dear.

Now I was running faster than I’m used to, as a result of crossing the street twice in rapid succession. I thought I ought to slow down to an easier pace, but I am really not that good at pace. My body tends to run at the speed it wants to run. Usually, I admit, not very fast. As soon as I started up the hill, the slow pace came naturally. I did the trick of looking at my feet, so I wouldn’t notice how big the hill was. That worked great; I barely noticed the gradient. Then, of course, being human, I had to look up to see where I was. Yikes! But I have run that hill many times now and made it to the top every time. I had confidence.

The problem with putting a major hill right in the middle of your run is, you get to the top of the hill and you’re tired, but you have to keep running. I looked at the view of Herkimer to distract myself. Gorgeous. Was it just Herkimer I was seeing, or could I see Ilion and/or Mohawk? I looked for landmarks I might recognize even at the distance, realized I was drifting out into the road and stopped looking. Once the gradient evened out, I didn’t even feel too tired. This running is all right.

I turned toward the back road to go back down into town and added a few steps by going down a little stretch past a Do Not Enter sign. I know, they are talking about cars, not middle aged ladies running slowly, but I like to pretend I’m a rebel. Soon I was going downhill and life was sweet.

The back road to HCCC is longer, twistier and a little less steep than the front way. I must run up that way next time. The back way is the way down on the DARE 5K. I saw the little path the DARE run takes, with the gate closed and locked as it usually is. That was a big motivation for me to run the DARE 5K, to see where that little path went. I saw where a runner could easily get around the gate and go down the path, but I refrained. It’s one thing to be a rebel, but running down a closed path is just dumb. Suppose something stupid happened like a sprained ankle or a heart attack (I am 48 years old)? Would I be likely to encounter a kind stranger to help me? I had another rebel opportunity a block later anyways, when I defied a No Left Turn sign.

So my run was pretty OK. I encountered a couple of other runners and told them, “Looking good!” I said “Good morning,” to a some pedestrians. My dog was very happy to see me when I got home and graciously walked my cool down with me. I hope to find other Mohawk Valley adventures sometime, but for now I highly recommend running in Herkimer, NY.

There are going to be a lot of running blogs between now and the Boilermaker. This is pretty much what I am doing right now: work, Harvey rehearsals, and run. Running makes the best posts.

I ran later than normal on a day off today, because I went to help work on the set for Harvey. Harvey, in case you had forgotten or never knew, is the play I’m in with Ilion Little Theatre. For the last play I was in, I barely made it to rehearsals and almost never to set construction, due to the retail hours I was then working. Now I work days with many weekends off, so I was happy to go try to help this morning. I don’t know that I helped much. I held a couple of things for others. It helped me, though, because I had some good laughs with some nice people. I love Ilion Little Theatre.

So I put on shorts and short-sleeves to run, because the thermostat in my house said the outdoor temperature was 44 degrees. Having been outside, I suspected it was colder, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. Right away my hands were cold. Oh dear, was this going to be an uncomfortable run? Never mind, keep running. At least the rest of me would probably warm up.

I ran a hill I know of out Main Street. I had to cross German Street, but that wasn’t too bad with Saturday afternoon traffic. Up I went. It’s a pretty good hill. When I went to turn right to get to the down slope, I ran across the middle of the road, to travel the shortest distance. That was the one time a car happened to be coming. Oops. Luckily, the car turned into a driveway before I was actually in its way.

Now I was going downhill. Aaahh! A great, effortful hill out of the way and I was not even a third of the way into my intended time. What a great feeling! I suppose somebody else may have sought out another hill, just to be that way. I merely kept running.

I ran by a couple of No Parking signs outside of a house. No worries there; I wasn’t about to park it just then. I saw a van parked near one of the signs, but perhaps the sign was not talking to him. I turned onto the little path over what used to be the hydraulic canal. That’s a nice place to run.

I crossed back over German Street at the four way stop at Main Street. I waited for one car, then ran across, waving “thank you” to the cars that waited for me. As I continued down German, a lady on Washington waved me across in front of her. I thought that was very nice of her, because it’s not always easy to get onto German where there’s not a four way stop. By waiting for me, she may have missed her chance. I think she got out OK, but by then I was down another section of the erstwhile hydraulic canal.

After that I went through the parking lot of the county office building, just for something different. No traffic there on a weekend. I turned down Green Street and sprinted to make the green light at Washington. Then I changed direction to go by a sign I saw on the church there for a Rummage Sale. May 3 and 4. Phew, not today! Will I remember it by May? I hope it will be in the paper in case I don’t.

Next I turned and went through the parking lot between the church and Fire Station, then through the parking lot of the Police Station and Village Offices. I saw a bench that said “Shop Local.” Well I do, then I blog about it, I thought. I continued through another parking lot by what used to be a bank and headed towards a “Do Not Enter” sign. I love to Enter where it tells me not to.

It turned out to be a good time to cross Main Street, then it was through Myers Park and home. By this time I was feeling terrific. Even my hands were not too cold. I realized I had spend most of the run feeling pretty damn good, and that made me feel really good. Maybe I’m going to make a success of this running thing after all!