Today I decided to take the day off from running. It’s not a decision I came to easily, because I have fanciful thoughts about making Thursday speed training days. But I felt cruddy all day – sort of like the vaccine hangover, only without a vaccine shot – plus it was raining all day and work was being a drag. Gotta listen to your body.
I worked late, and made a big salad for dinner while I was finishing up. After the salad and closing up my computer, I was feeling better, and also feeling bad about basically being a slug all day. The night air was warm, and the rain had died down. I decided I could go out for a shortish run, 3.5 miles or so. I have a loop that goes through the Meadow, around the State House, then back on the bike path to Main Street. From there I head back to Elm Street and home. That would be enough to get the blood pumping.
Outside for my walking warmup, the air felt really good, and when I started running my body felt good, too. I decided I could cross Main Street and go up and over Hubbard to add just a little more distance. By the time I got to Bailey Avenue, I decided I wanted to poke down the bike path by the High School, and double back through the Department of Labor parking lot. That’s about 3/4 of a mile.
I was enjoying the quiet running. There were very few cars and only a couple of pedestrians. By the time I had gotten back to Main Street, I decided that instead of Hubbard I would keep going on the bike path, then hook back to College Street. There is a Strava segment called Sibley, Sabin, Kent – so named for the three streets (I call it SSK) – that is a nice little uphill jaunt and avoids the really steep part of College. There’s another side neighborhood further down College, starting with Arsenal Drive and a couple of other streets I can never remember the name to. Honestly though, it could just be one street because it’s just a loop. Call it Arsenal Circle. Maybe that’s what I will call it from now on.
Back onto College, then I took a right on Woodrow so I could run up the tastefully-named Merrill Terrace. This is a short but steepish street that takes me to the high point of the run. Maybe I will come back and do hill repeats here some day.
After Merrill, it’s left onto Main Street for a half-mile downhill. I got a little nervous on this, as the dark made it difficult to see potholes and the general ups-and-downs of the sidewalk, and the poor visibility was only exacerbated by the headlights of a couple of oncoming cars. I had a blinky light around my arm so others could see me, but I did not wear my headlamp, which would have been great for my own visibility. Because there were so few cars, I was able to run mostly on the street pavement, which was better than the sidewalk but not a lot.
Halfway down the hill my watch buzzed the five mile mark. I swung back through the Meadow on the way back, and reached six miles just as I reached home. 6K had become 6 miles. I missed the rain, but the humidity left me drenched regardless. But the evening air was fabulous, and I felt the best I had all day. Not bad for not running!
RUN STATISTICS:
Distance/Elevation/Time: 6.07 miles/298 Feet/59:49
Weather: 70 degrees. Very humid.
Vaguely threatening barking dogs in the distance behind me: One
Puddle splashes: three
Other runners seen: zero
Overall Rating: 9/10
Joe's Running Blog 