Running Around The Neighborhood, etc.

I’ve been missing running around my neighborhood. When I was still running a lot, I sometimes found the area already boring because I’ve run around it hundreds of times. My infrequent runs nowadays has given me new appreciation of being able to visit the streets of those neighborhoods again, albeit at a much slower pace. My slowness doesn’t take me very far anymore so just a few crisscrosses of the streets brings me to my target time. Most of my runs are by time regardless of distance.

It is in this same neighborhood that I do my errand runs. For example last week, I had to go to the ATM then to Walmart for some bait (I won’t tell you what I’m trying to catch) and a new band for my watch. It used to take me about 50 minutes round trip for that distance but now it takes me an hour. Nevertheless, I was about a minute and a half faster running back home. Hooray for negative splits!

It was a very cold morning by Southern California standards so I tried my best to run on the sunny side of the street avoiding the shade as much as possible. A cold errand run sure beats doing a workout on the treadmill and saves gas to boot. Have you seen these gasoline prices lately? $4.00 + a gallon in my area! If my ankles allow it, I hope to do another destination run this Friday when I see my doctor. it would be a 6 mile round trip.

You’ve seen George Clooney’s flat footed running in “The Descendants” movie? Well with my feet slapping the pavement, my stride looks worse than that and slower.

Every time I see runners in my friends list on Facebook post about their races with or without results, I get envious because I can’t do what they can anymore. All I have are memories of my running past. 

            A short update: Well, I was able to save some gasoline on Friday morning by walking 3 miles to see my doctor, plus 3 more miles of running and walking on the way back home. I was surprised at the big difference in the time it took me to walk to the doctor - 44 minutes, and how much quicker I made it back home - 31 minutes, even though there was more walking than running. Ok, that distance might be mildly inflated. It was probably closer to 5.5 miles than 6. I didn't wear my GPS watch that day. So that's my running achievement for the past week.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!