Tag Archives: Herkimer

Saturday I ran earlier than I have in a long time, because Steven had to be to work at 6 a.m. As soon as he left, I was heading out myself, much to Tabby’s disappointment (I’d take her with, but she doesn’t like to run with me).

I decided to take advantage of the early morning lack of traffic and cross Route 5. This has the added advantage of not having a lot of hills. I can take it easy once in a while (don’t worry; I intend to run my favorite front way to Herkimer County Community College tomorrow). I intended to run down the canal path which I can pick up near MOVAC, the ambulance place.

As I reached Mohawk Street, I saw a runner some distance up ahead of me, not running very fast (I know, I should talk). I wondered if I would catch up with him but doubted it. Then I decided to explore a side street and lost him. It seemed to be taking me a long time to get anywhere, but I figured that was OK. I intended to run for 55 minutes. How far I actually got was immaterial.

At last I reached MOVAC. A guy in some uniform (an EMT?) was putting stuff in his car. We exchanged greetings. I did not expect to meet any walkers or runners on the path. I didn’t even see that much traffic. I knew I could reach the Washington Street bridge, because I had reached it before on, I think, a 50 minute run.

I enjoyed looking at the canal and the foliage that surrounds it. I saw some irises. I didn’t think they grew wild. Maybe somebody had put the bulbs in at some point. It was too far from the road to have fallen off the back of a truck, or so I thought. Anyways, the speculation occupied me for a few feet. I saw a Caution sign on a natural gas pipe, so I was cautious. Where was that damn bridge anyways? Ah yes.

Soon I was running on South Washington Street, where there was no sidewalk. Some weeds had totally overgrown and leaned onto the road. I was glad there was no traffic as I detoured around them. Somebody ought to clean this up, I thought. Then again, plants are plants. I suppose even overgrown weeds help clean the atmosphere by converting CO2 to oxygen (I probably don’t have that right).

I ran up and down a few streets, since I had some time to kill. There are some houses around there that have seen better days. I looked for the ones that showed some effort at making an improvement, of which there are always a few. I noticed a couple of porches completely filled with junk. What a waste of a good porch! Wouldn’t you like to sit on your porch and enjoy the moment, I mentally asked those people (not that I would actually ask somebody that, because people can pile junk on their porches if they have mind to).

I was headed back toward Route 5 when I saw one more street I had never run down and thought I’d check it out. A house on that street still had a Merry Christmas decoration up. Then again, it was on a high outside wall. I have no idea how they got it up there in the first place, and I do not blame them for leaving it the hell up there once it was in place. Then too, don’t some people say we should make the Christmas spirit last all year? There you go.

It was no problem crossing Route 5 again and I was on my way home. I looked at my watch. Oh dear, was this going to take me more than 55 minutes? I told myself it was OK if it did. I intend to up my run time to an hour tomorrow anyways. Why not a minute or two longer today? I should mention that I had been firmly in the “I can rock this” stage of my run since somewhere on the canal path. I had consumed coffee and a banana with peanut butter earlier that morning. I think it helped.

After crossing a couple of streets on a diagonal (once again, let’s hear it for no traffic!) and cutting through a couple of parking lots, I actually had to run past my house and backtrack to keep going for 55 minutes. It was a very enjoyable run. I am going to be so ready for the Boilermaker! (Oh, I hope those aren’t some of those “famous last words” you hear about!)

Since I did not run Monday I thought it would be a good idea to run Tuesday. Then when I heard that thunderstorms were predicted for Wednesday and Thursday, I knew it would be a good idea. (Please note, and I believe I’ve noted before, I did not say “I ought to” or “I should.” I almost never do what I ought to.)

It had been a sticky, stinky day. That is, the weather was sticky and I was stinky. I wanted to wash my work pants (I only have one pair; don’t judge me). I could multi-task by putting in the wash before I ran. My washing machine takes about 40 minutes: a 30 minute run with 10 minute cooldown would be just right. Did I feel like a woman with her act together or what?

Oh, it was muggy (I was originally going to call this post “Muggy Run” but I think I’ve used that title before). I thought at first to run neighborhood streets; no hills. Cut myself a little break. Then I saw that I could immediately cross German Street. I had to go for it.

Now I was headed toward Herkimer County Community College (HCCC). Could I manage the hill to HCCC, front or back? Then I remembered the unknown park. All those trees, all that shade. Would it be cooler or merely more muggy? I would find out. It was soon clear that this was going to be a perseverance run. Well, you’ll have those (that is my stock reply to myself when I don’t like something).

As I turned into the park and started up the small hill, I noticed two signs that said, “No Dumping.” I pictured people coming by later and saying, “Will you look at that? Right next to a sign that says No Dumping somebody has dumped a middle-aged lady wearing running clothes!”

Up ahead of me I saw three college-age boys walking. One of them appeared to be texting (aren’t the young folks always texting?). I thought he could text for a taxi for me. Or an ambulance. They were really strolling at their leisure, because it did not take me long to pass them. It can be discouraging sometimes, how long it takes me to pass a pedestrian.

Past the athletic fields (no sports games going on), into the picnic area, and soon I was on the path through the woods. An occasional breeze off the stream offered a little relief, but for the most part the air was hot and heavy. I noticed a number of large rocks I would like to put in my garden. The little devil on one shoulder said, “Go ahead! They won’t miss one or two rocks!” The angel on my other shoulder said, “If everybody just took rocks out of the park, there wouldn’t be any left for the park.” While they continued to argue, I thought about how much harder it would be to run carrying a large rock, and that settled that.

A couple more upslopes and I was on the back road to HCCC. I turned away from the college and ran downhill. Ah! I considered running to the spring. I not only wanted to drink some, I wanted to splash it all over my face. The sweat was running down it. I had on a sweatband, but that only caught some of the overflow from the top of my head. Every other sweat gland in my body was pumping industriously.

I thought of the bottle of ice water waiting for me on my (scrubbed, unstained) deck. I thought of the Gator Ade in my refrigerator. I thought of a long, cool shower. I stopped thinking about those things before they made me cry. I paused briefly to pet a nice dog. Her owner told me she was a year old puggle. Sweet puppy. I noted several rhododendrons with as many blooms as mine. I must get more flowers planted.

By virtue of running past my house twice I managed to keep running for thirty minutes. The sweat continued to drip as Tabby walked my cooldown with me. I tried to encourage her to stop and sniff only in shady spots. When we were almost all the way around the block, the most wonderful cool breeze blew over us. Heavenly!

I looked at the weeds on my front lawn and decided they could wait another day. These runs do take it out of me. But the Boilermaker is coming! I must persevere!

Sunday when I set out to run, I had a vague notion of running straight out somewhere where I could later drive in my car and see how many miles I did. I always run for a certain length of time and only occasionally wonder how far it gets me.

I thought I would run out Steuben Street. I know it goes on for a ways, and there is a pretty good hill. I like to run hills. I know there are hills on the Boilermaker and I want to laugh at them. My usual Sunday run, up to Herkimer County Community College (HCCC) the front way, is a pretty steep hill, but I deemed it not so good to drive that way later. In point of fact, I have not run my usual Sunday run in a while. Maybe next week.

It was perfect running weather. Sunny, not too hot, no humidity that I could feel and even a little bit of a breeze. I crossed German Street with no problem (love Sunday morning traffic!) and headed toward Steuben.

And realized how far down German Street Steuben is. What’s that all about? This was taking forever! A glance at my watch informed me that in fact it was not. I distracted myself by looking at houses and other people’s flowers. Two nice hanging baskets there. I must get started on my container garden. I figure I’ll make a tasteful arrangement in the yard until the deck is stained and dried.

At last I was on Steuben. Ooh, that hill looked steep. Don’t think of the difficulty, think of how I’m building my muscles. Once I got closer it didn’t seem as bad. My problem now was the lack of a good shoulder. That’s one thing about the road to HCCC, it has a good wide shoulder. Luckily there was very little traffic.

There is a little sort of a soft shoulder. In the army if a soft surface offered itself, I usually chose instead to run on pavement. Running was difficult; I wanted each step to count for the maximum amount possible. That centimeter or so your foot slips back on a soft surface was just too much for me to deal with. An army friend of mine usually chose the soft surface as being easier on her feet. Today I ran in the soft surface. For one thing, my feet are bothering me since I need to replace my running shoes. For another thing, as I reflected this morning, no stern NCO awaited me at the end of the run demanding to know why I took so long (in point of fact, most NCOs I encountered in the army did not sternly await me at the end of runs; they knew I was trying my darnedest).

I knew there was a place to turn off somewhere along Steuben, and I intended to turn off, not merely turn around. I knew the place was there, because on previous runs I have run the other way and come out on Steuben. Naturally these things take longer going up than going down. Soon I was firmly in the “what the hell was I thinking?” stage of my run. I knew I could just turn around and go downhill at any time, but I wanted it to be a long run.

Where was that turn off? Was that it up ahead? No, just a driveway. Around the curve? Perhaps. I looked to my left through some back yards and saw the road I would soon be running down. The turn off must be close! Another driveway. A speed limit sign. Well, no chance I was going over 35 m.p.h. At last, I turned left and went downhill. Lovely, lovely downhill.

This was a quieter road. Still no shoulder, but no traffic either. I looked at some houses and envied a couple of porches. Another uphill stretch and soon I was going downhill at a rather steep gradient. I would almost rather go uphill than downhill when it’s that steep. I told myself to enjoy it, all I had to do was shuffle my feet a little and gravity would do all the work. Then my back started feeling every step. Oh dear. I know running is bad for your back, but so is being overweight, and running helps me keep mine down. Well, hills don’t last forever, up or down (and there’s a metaphor for life).

After a while my back stopped hurting. Then my right knee started in. Oh for heavens’ sake. Well, it wasn’t too bad. I got back to German Street and started toward my house. I had not run as long as I intended. The sun was feeling pretty hot by now, and I considered running to the spring on Lou Ambers Drive to have a drink. That was the way up to HCCC. I did not consider going there.

I soon decided to cross at Caroline Street, run down Caroline a ways then back home, for a total of 45 minutes. My previous longest time was 44, which I had thought to duplicate today. Then I thought, if I add 10 percent to 45 next week, that gets me up to 50. I could be over an hour in two weeks’ time at the 10 percent a week rule! Yes, I do the math while I run. It helps.

Lovely shade on Caroline Street. My knee had stopped hurting and my back was at it again. What was this, tag team? No matter, I was almost home and I was making my time. I had spent the latter half of my run in the “I can rock this” stage. I never reached the “I LOVE running” stage, but you don’t always. I consider that it was a good run. I enjoyed it.

These running posts tend to get a little long, don’t they? I didn’t even tell you all the silly things I was thinking of at the time. Perhaps for a future post.