10 miles
downtown and back
57 degrees
The last long run before the marathon next Sunday. Just one more week and then I’ve made it to the start line! Not easy, but not hard either. My first time running this far into downtown — past the Stone Arch Bridge — in years. Already crowded at 9 am on a Sunday morning. Sunny, warm. Lots of sweat.
Listened to an audio book, The Marlow Murder Club, so I was distracted. Can I remember 10 things I noticed?
10 Things
- near the seep/spring in the flats, the road was all wet
- rowers! heard: coxswain’s voice
- some more red leaves higher in the trees
- the St. Thomas bells chiming at least 2 different times
- roller skiers: a pair + a few individual skiers
- running straight into the sun — difficult to see anything
- the soft sand on the dirt path near the Hennepin Bridge
- a single, brown leaf fluttering to the ground in front of me
- thin foam on the surface of the river
- blue, cloud-free sky
No music blasting from bikes, no Doppler effect, no sirens, no stinky trash or sewer smells, no geese, no darting squirrels, no turkeys, no Dave the Daily Walker. No chafing (my old running bra was scratchy me up — lots of small cuts and little scars, but no bleeding), no unfinished business, no bathroom or water stops. No thoughts, no lines of poetry popping into my head, no epiphanies, no problems solved. No yelling, no getting irritated, no sliding kneecaps. No goldenrod, no swarming gnats, nobody calling out encouragement. Just me and legs and lungs and hips and river.