How about a Sunday Running Commentary? For one reason, I can get it posted now and then get on with my Sunday, during which I should be getting a LOT of things done. Oh dear, I’m feeling wrist-to-foreheady already. Never mind, just get on with the post.
I didn’t run yesterday or Friday, so I really wanted to run today. Mostly, of course, I wanted to stay in bed, but Steven was getting up so I thought I might as well get out there. It was 49 degrees according to my thermostat, a perfectly good temperature for shorts and t-shirt. I wore an ARMY t-shirt with a reflective doo-dah on the back, because the sun was not all the way up. Safety first for Mohawk Valley Girl. I mostly stay on the sidewalk anyways.
As I set out I thought briefly about running up the hill to Herkimer College (which I prefer to call HCCC) (pronounced H Triple C). It is a big, impressive hill I like to run up at least once a week when I am in shape for it. I do not believe I am currently in shape for it, but maybe I could get into shape for it by doing it. It would be nice to post on Facebook that I ran up the hill to HCCC.
I thought that I would like to do it before the end of 2015. That gave me a little leeway, didn’t it? I didn’t have to do it today, did I? My problem was how long I’ve been running lately. My longest time since I’ve been running again is 31 minutes. I try to increase by a mere 10 percent each week. That only put me to 34 minutes this week. Could I get up that hill and back down in 34 minutes? Perhaps, but only if I turned around and came back the way I came. I like to run back down the back way.
Having talked myself out of that route, I decided to do my other Sunday run, up the hill by Valley Health, then to the high school, over a little bridge, then down and up streets till I got home. I had done this run last week one day but not gone up and down the streets, because it would take too long. Now I was running for a longer time. I could rock this.
The first street you come to after crossing the little bridge by the high school really seems more like a parking lot next to some athletic fields. However, it is a real street called Frederick Street. I took special note of the street sign this time. Now I could run up Graham, down… oh crap, what was the name of that street?
How dumb of a brain fart was this? I run these streets ALL THE TIME! I walk them, I drive them, for heaven’s sake, I live in this town! The street begins with an M. I knew it began with an M. I thought it was Marion. Why did “Marion” all of a sudden not sound right? I knew it wasn’t Mary, that was somewhere else. Of course it wasn’t Margaret, Margaret was between Caroline and Henry.
So I had to go all the way down Frederick and up Graham before I could confirm that it was indeed Marion Street. At the rate I run, that is a long time to feel stupid for not remembering the name of a street you’ve been running and walking on for over ten years. On the other hand, I thought, I could put it in my blog post. That would even give me a title.
Another good thing, pondering about the name of the street took my mind off how tired I felt while running. Full disclosure: I drank red wine and stayed up late watching Christmas movies Saturday night. In my defense, I was having a lovely evening with my husband. And I did not let it keep me from running on Sunday. Oh dear, I just remembered that last Sunday I was lamenting drinking wine and staying up late watching Christmas movies. Is this what I’m going to do on the weekends now?
Well, what if it is? I daresay many people drink wine, watch Christmas movies and go running the next morning. I don’t suppose many of them forget the names of streets they are perfectly familiar with, but you know me, I just have to be different.
In any case, I ended up running 36 minutes, increasing my time more than the recommended 10 percent, but I don’t imagine it did me any harm. I’ll go for the hill up to HCCC next Sunday, maybe even sooner if I get ambitious.
Mohawk Valley Girl 