Sunday, August 30, 2009

extreme gardening and running

It's the last night of August, and there are frost advisories out for the area. Considering this garden's history of being stricken by frost even when no advisories are present, I thought it would be prudent to cover up the tender stuff. I put so much work into growing tomatoes, I would like to see more than one ripe one yet this year. And my one watermelon is now softball size, can't give up now!

I had a strange but delightful run this morning. Usually in five miles or more, I will only see one or two vehicles at the most. And usually at least one of those is someone I know. But this morning when I turned east on the dead end road I know so well, I was passed by pickup truck after pickup truck, all late model and shiny, all towing trailers with dirt bikes or 4 wheelers. Great. Where on this little dead end road could they possibly be headed? I thought about turning around and taking a different route, but hey, this is MY road, my run, and I'm not going to let a bunch of city kids with their toys chase me off of it.

It turned out they were all headed to one property about two miles down the road. I don't know the details, but there were dozens of vehicles parked there, dirt bikes revving up, the smell of exhaust and cigarettes. I ran past the property, to the end of the road, when I realized something: I felt strong. Maybe it was my disgust at seeing all these gasoline powered playthings in my territory, or maybe it was the silent prayer I said at the beginning of my run, asking for strength. Whatever it was, I felt like I could go on and on. I ended up running down a little side dead end road a half mile and back, and going strong the rest of the way home for a total of seven miles.

I can't recall ever running seven miles, not even in my more youthful days. And I felt like I could have gone for at least ten.

4 comments:

cheryl said...

I dislike those 4 wheelers also , what a waste of time and money . We work and live in a remote are in Northern New Brunswick and they tear up our walking trails and dump their garbage where ever they please .

arcolaura said...

Way to go, Deb! I took part in a 10 km walk/run a couple of weeks ago and was surprised at how much of it I was able to run, and how I was able to pull out a reserve at the end and leave behind a couple of ladies that had been mostly ahead of me through most of the race. Quite the reverse of my high-school days when I would get passed by other runners at the end. Feels good!

R.Powers said...

That IS a long haul. You should be proud.

Deb said...

Cheryl- They seem to have taken over Minnesota. It doesn't help that Polaris, one of the major manufacturers, is also a big employer in this state.

Laura- Congrats on the 10k! I might try one if I don't have to travel too far to do so. You sound exactly like me in high school...I came in last in the regional cross country meet.

FC- Thanks, I am proud about it, considering when I started last summer a quarter mile was a stretch for me.