4.5 miles
minnehaha falls and back
25 degrees
50% snow and ice covered
Cold air! So wonderful to breathe in, to make me feel a little dazed and disconnected. More gloomy white sky. Flurries on my face. Listened to a few birds, the kids on the playground, and the rushing water at the falls on the way there, then Olivia Rodrigo on the way back.
10 Things
- the strong smell of weed from behind me — no one in sight, then an old white van with a ladder on the back drove by
- much of the walking path was covered in a thin layer of snow/ice — so thin that the dark pavement was still visible, making the snow look light gray
- a leaning split rail fence, bent in the middle — not quite broken but almost
- a walker with two dogs walking down the steepish trail just past the double bridge — was it icy?
- someone in a bright yellow puffer jacket walking with a dog on the winchell trail — they had just crested the short, steep hill right before folwell
- the tinny recording of the train bell echoing from across Hiawatha to the falls
- the heavy thud of my feet on the cold cobblestones in the park
- a walker with a dog emerging from the steps that lead down to the bottom of the falls. As I watched they crossed the bridge
- running up the hill at the edge of the park near the sledding hill, remembering my run here a month ago when I imagined it being covered in snow
- missing: a view of the river, turkeys, fat tires, orange, red
Stopped at my favorite falls viewing spot and recorded the bridge and the water falling:
At one point on my run back, I suddenly felt a beautiful ache of emotion and thought: tender. Yes, I need to include a few lines in my haunts poem about feeling tender as I run — maybe in contrast with tough and the callouses I mentioned last week (6 dec 2023)?