2.15 miles
2 trails (sort of)*
62 degrees / drizzly
*The “sort of” is because I started on the Winchell Trail, but when I heard a large school group up ahead, I turned around and went back up to the road.
Ugh. I caught a cold (I’ve tested twice and it was negative for covid) at the Twins game on Friday night and it’s been slowly moving through me: sore throat, then stuffed-up nose, now crud on my chest. I hate colds, and I hate not being able to breathe easily. I guess I’m a wimp about it. I thought about not including this sickness in my log, but I’m trying to document my actual life, not just the “running is wonderful” parts on this log, so I’m leaving my whining in.
Sometimes it was hard to breathe, sometimes it wasn’t, and there were stretches where it was wonderful to be moving my legs and admiring the orange and yellow and red leaves through the drizzly gloom.
Was it drizzling? Although I’m claiming that it was, I’m not sure. The water I was feeling could have been drips from last night’s steady rain, falling from the leaves as the wind passed through.
a moment: a few days ago, I was thinking about wind for the class I’m teaching. This morning, just after entering the Winchell Trail and before I encountered the kids, I felt and heard a gust of wind then a shimmering sound as water fell from the trees then a kerplunk as an acorn fell on the asphalt.
smells: I’m also thinking about smells for my class. I’m not very good with smells. Is it because of my sinuses and sensitivity to scents? Possibly. Anyway, I was trying to notice scents, but not having that much luck. I’m sure my cold wasn’t helping. Did I smell anything? Wet dirt. Wet leaves. Just remembered — my own sweat on the bill of my cap. Yuck!
sounds: water shimmering off of the trees, the sewer pipe almost gushing, kids calling out in delight, adults trying to wrangle them, my sharp cough as I tried to clear my throat, my shoes squeaking on the wet sidewalk, buzzing crickets.
As I wrote earlier in this entry, I’m not that good at noticing smells — bad sinuses, a lack of practice, a lack of language. I did a quick search online and found a list of descriptive words for smell. Here are some that I find useful:
- clean
- crisp
- earthy
- loamy
- billowy
- biting
- heady
- pungent
- rancid
- redolent
- acrid
- fetid
- doggy
- musty
- mildowy
- skunky
- stale
- aroma
- bouquet