Full disclosure: I did not intend to do a running commentary today. I wrote a blog post while on breaks at work. Unfortunately, it is too long for me to type in tonight. Give me a break, it’s Tired Tuesday! Could it be I am tired because I ran? No! I was tired to begin with. I invite you to read on…
I spent the last couple of hours at work telling myself that it was a VERY GOOD IDEA that I go running. Actually, I was thinking things like, “I must, I positively must run” and “I have to run tonight, I HAVE to.” I re-phrased it to “very good idea” in order to short circuit my naturally rebellious nature. Still, when it poured rain for a short time, I had a moment of hope that I would be off the hook. Only a moment, though. In the first place, I figured it would stop raining. In the second place, I have a mini-tramp on which I can run in place during inclement weather.
The rain stopped after a very short time. It was sunny and breezy by the time I headed home. Steven was already there.
“A twenty minute run will be sufficient for my purposes today,” I said. I had hopes that I would run for longer once I got going, but it is difficult to predict these things.
To begin with the run was not much fun. The sun was hot, I knew that going in. The cooling breeze blew up into a strong wind that was dead against me. What was that all about? Never mind, I told myself. It will just take me longer to get from point A to point B. I wondered if it was going to rain again. It seemed there was not a cloud in the sky, except for a few fluffy, harmless-looking white puffs. No sudden storm was going to let me off the hook ten minutes in. That was all right too. Just keep going.
I had a vague thought to run up the hill to Herkimer College. I wondered if I would make it. I have previously stated that once I start up a hill it is almost a foregone conclusion that I will make it to the top. The question was, would I start? I turned at Lou Ambers Drive. I considered stopping at the spring for a quick sip, but it wasn’t that long into the run. Besides, I had been drinking water all day. Surely I was hydrated (I’ll call you Shirley if I feel like it).
The road has a bit of an upslope, then goes level, then goes steeply up, around a curve and up some more. I was still on the gentle upslope when the wind against me got even stronger. It cost a great effort to move even at my middle-aged shuffle. I decided I would NOT go all the way up the hill. After all, I did not intend to write a blog post about the run. I would not have to embarrassedly confess to my readers that I started up a hill and turned off. I would turn off into the residential area (which I like to call the suburbs) and perhaps run a hill or two there.
The wind got stronger yet. I was not all the way up the upslope when I said, “To Hell with this!” and turned around. The wind almost immediately died down rather than give me a nice push. I have to wonder about that. Was it all psychological? Or maybe a ghost? I ask these questions now as I write this. At the time I merely felt a grim satisfaction at having said, “To hell with it.”
I went through the parking lot of Salvatore’s, because there was some nice shade. I spent a good part of the rest of the run looking at my watch to make sure I at least ran twenty minutes. It looked as if I would just make it. My body was not feeling any happier with me. I knew I could keep going, but it was not going to get fun. I thought, “If I’m not into it by now, I am not going to be into it today.”
When I got back to my street, my run unexpectedly lengthened. I had crossed the street, which put me on the same side as a little dog. I did not want to disturb the dog, so I continued down the block and ran up the street parallel to mine. I felt vaguely pleased with myself over this. The run still wasn’t fun, but I knew I could keep going. Many of us, I reflected, can keep going for longer than we think we can.
I ended up running for 28 minutes. It would have been nice to make it at least a half hour, but I felt happy that I had gone over my self-mandated twenty. As I walked my cool-down, I complimented some neighbors on a beautiful new porch they are putting up. They said thank you. Perhaps now I can go sit on my own perfectly attractive old porch. Like I said, I’m tired.
