Note to self: Do not take three days off running again. I have made this note to myself before. Come to think of it, sometimes the note says a greater number of days, so at least I kept it to three this time. Oh well, shit happens and we do not always do the right thing, fitness-wise or otherwise. Judge me if you are so inclined.
This by way of introduction to today’s Running Commentary post. I guess the Turkey Trot 5K is back off the table, for the main reason that I can’t readily find one nearby. However, I can easily find the Reindeer Run 5K in Little Falls, NY in December. I wanted to do that last year but did not have my act together (long story, not very interesting). That will give me a couple more weeks to build up. As Fredrick Frankenstein said in Young Frankenstein: IT! COULD! WORK!
So I felt determined to run today, even if it was raining, which it was when I left work. It stopped by the time I got home, so I had that going for me. After putting on my running clothes, I put a load of laundry in the washer, the other un-put-off-able chore of the day, and got going. It had started sprinkling again, but I’m not sugar; I won’t melt. My legs felt quite unhappy, but I ignored them.
I dodged around puddles and a few pedestrians, pondering how long I was going to run. On these mid-week runs, I only require 20 minutes of myself, although I usually run at least a little further. I ran along German Street and turned down Main, looking for houses that still had Halloween decorations. I saw a ghoul looking out the door of an enclosed front porch and felt comforted. A few Jack-o-Lanterns rotting from the inside out leered at me. I admired a couple extra large ones with smaller ones in their mouths.
I ran a large rectangle and ended up back on German Street. I heard sirens and saw flashing lights turn on my street. Yikes! I was certain I had not left anything on in my house to cause a fire. I ran by my street to go around another block, just to add a few steps to the run. I peeked down the street as I passed and saw the police and an ambulance outside the apartment building at the end of the street. That was another reason to go another block: so as not to run too close and bother the first responders.
My legs had been feeling better but by the end of the run, they were tired again. You’ll have that at the end of the day, especially at my age. My run ended up being 27 minutes, three minutes less than I did on Sunday, the same length I was doing last week. This is good. I can run 30 on Saturday, up it by 10 percent to 33 on Sunday and stay on track. I hope I can find my “Dashing” t-shirt for the Reindeer Run (get it? Dashing through the snow…).
Mohawk Valley Girl 