16 miles
lake nokomis — 2 loops / minnehaha park / ford bridge
60 degrees
16 miles! My longest run ever, I was slow, it was difficult, I walked a lot, but I did it. Ran over to Lake Nokomis and around it twice, then took minnehaha creek path to the falls park all the way to the fort snelling trail. Turned around, ran over to the Veterans home, through Waibun, over the ford bridge, up to the overlook, then back over ford.
For the first hour, I listened to the gorge, the creek, the lake, and people I encountered. For the rest of it, I listened to an audiobook — Anthony Horowitz’s Close to Death. One of the characters in it is named Andrew Pennington and it took me several miles to pay enough attention to process that and realize that it was a reference to “Uncle Andrew” — Andrew Pennington in Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile.
16 Things
- at one spot, the creek was bubbling, burbling, gurgling
- at another spot, it was rushing and gushing
- and at a third spot, it was glittering in the sunlight
- a small yippy dog across the creek — heard, not seen, so I guess it could have been big but it sounded small (and annoying) — losing its shit for a minute — yip yip yip yip yip
- a fishy smell at the lake that was surprisingly pleasant — smelled like summer or vacation
- the lake water was blue and flat and empty
- encountering another runner with her dog on the creek path — she called it, What are you training for? me: the marathon her: good luck!
- the pickle ball court was full — thwack! thwack! thwack!
- from the cedar bridge the water was smooth with just one bright spot from the sun
- one kayak gliding across
- a group with fishing poles, kindly waiting for me to pass before crossing the path
- crossing the parkway under the mustache bridge, avoiding where the asphalt had erupted — huge, ankle-twisting craters
- the flowers at Longfellow Gardens! Orange, pink, yellow, red, soft green! Wow
- Waibun park was full of Labor Day visitors — at picnic tables, the splash pad, on the playground
- heading down the short hill between ford and the locks and dam no. 1 — the few patches of light were glowing . . . pink — 14 miles into my run, was I hallucinating? No — the light must have been filtering through some reddening leaves
- 2 women with dogs, stopping and kindly waiting for me to pass before crossing the narrow duck bridge
It was crowded on the trails, but I only remember how kind people were. Waiting for me to pass, not hogging the path, calling out encouragement.
Like I mentioned above, my pace was slow — over 12 minutes/mile, but that’s fine with me. The marathon is not about time, but pushing through and proving I can keep going when it seems too tough.
Recently read:
I feel like poetry is going on all the time inside, an underground stream.
John Ashbery
I’d like to do something with this idea of the underground stream, especially in relation to daylighting — the process of bringing streams buried in concrete and under city infrastructure back into the light.
added, 3 sept 2024: I forgot until today something else I’d like to remember — seeing steam coming off of my face, looking like my breath, the combination of sun, humidity, a warm body, and cool air (I think)