Figure 8 Tinicum was on the menu again today - but I added a teensy little bit at the beginning and end, just so I could say to myself, "Well, you ran further than last week." Progress, however minor, is still progress.
I headed out right around 7am and in my neighborhood travels, saw a yard sale. If you are looking for an upright punching bag or a bean bag chair, Prospect Park is the place. Not too many people out and about in Tinicum... mostly vermin and birds. At the south end of Darby Lake, congregated about a dozen Great Egrets. I've never seen that many in one place before.
And, of course, the obligatory vermin.... mice, moles, rabbits, groundhogs, etc... abounded. The bunnies were especially plentiful - not surprisingly... living up to the stereotype. I found myself marveling that on one run, not too long ago, the turtles were giving the rabbits a good run for the money (in terms of number cited, that is).
Today it was wabbit season, most definitely. There were scores of them... little ones too. It seemed that the smaller ones, the babies, or perhaps adolescents, were more brazen. They'd see me coming, hold their position on the trail, and stare me down. Rest assured, in this game of chicken, I always won. I figured if they didn't budge and I trampled one of them... well.... rabbit stew!!! Okay, probably not. The reality is, were that to actually happen, I'd surely cry for several days and wonder if there truly was a blood thirsty carnivore lurking inside me.
Guess I should probably write a little about the run itself. I don't really understand why it is, after seven years (give or take) of running, that I still feel like I'm not going to make it through my long run. I give myself permission to stop if I need to, knowing full well that I will berate myself for doing so. And I don't stop and I make it through despite myself and think in hindsight, "It really wasn't too bad", which is why, I suppose, I continue to do it week after week.
They're putting down more and more of the large rock gravel along the Tinicum trails. I am less than pleased about this. I find that surface hard to run on. I saw a few big piles of gravel along the stretch that links the two loops, knowing that it was destined to soon be spread upon the trail. I actually had thoughts of somehow stealing these piles of gravel in the dark of night to prevent this from happening. Ludicrous, I know, but I couldn't stop my criminal mind from hatching a plan.
Reading Seebo's blog from yesterday, I feel a bit jealous that he is able to sort things through in his mind while running. I've never been able to do that. Most of my mental energy is focused on the run, making sure I don't trip over anything (especially on the Interesting Part of the initial loop), and figuring out where I could get a bulldozer to move unwanted gravel. What's so amazing about really deep running thoughts anyway? It's actually a nice break for me - running - when I don't have a bunch of thoughts bouncing around in my head. Maybe it's the respite I need to keep from driving myself too crazy sometimes.
Another run on the books. No hassenpfeffer for dinner, but that's fine by me. 9.8 in 90 minutes.
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