Thoughts from the Road - #902

Since my long run ideally shouldn't exceed more than 1/3 my total weekly mileage, I find myself running some days back to back. I like days off to think and plan and on mornings when the cats have been demons the night before it is even more difficult to get moving. This was one of those mornings.

I was adding in another 4 miler today to help build my overall endurance. I thought I would mix it up a little by running to Branch Rd and cutting down to the new Café Lemont. I was trying to time it just right by getting started just after it was light enough but not get to the café before it opened. I added in one other little time table twist as to be able to grab a coffee and make it onto a bus to come home and shower as soon as possible.

I got off a little late so it was definitely light enough to enjoy watching the crows enjoy their morning in Sterns Crossing. No Coopers Hawk nor deer this morning however. The sprinklers were on in many lawns and on the soccer field near Houserville Elementary. More crows were enjoying the fields there.

As I approached Houserville Rd. I was extra vigilant looking for traffic, my iPod was a little too loud and this was one of the few places where I had to run with cars. All went well but I was surprised by an early morning biker emerging from the parking lot of Spring Creek Park. It was Jimmy-the-Eye!!

Get this, he was disappointed to see me! I popped out my earphone as I met up with him on the bike trail and he said he was trying to beat me. If you are a reader of this blog who really knows us, you may be as shocked as I was when I heard him say that. It was but a heartbeat of confusion for me because he finished the statement with, "... I wanted to surprise you by doing a chalk drawing on the trail up ahead of you."

What a treat to have my dear fellow with me even for a couple of minutes. We laughed and enjoyed the next 1/4 mile together before we kissed our hands and slapped them on each other's arms and nearly colliding. He went onward to work and I turned toward Lemont on the bike trail.

One reason I waited for the sun to come up was I wanted to take a couple of photos with our cell phone. It is of a cute little bandaid stencil I saw the day before on the same running route. It was painted on a crack in the bike trail on top of a hill. I added it to our Guerrilla Art blog and you can see the photos at this link.

Just one other person was on the trail and I passed this walker on the final approach to Branch Rd. My complete run was about 4.5 miles and I celebrated with some French Roast before jumping on the next bus home.

Walking the final bit on College Ave I got a close look at a new red hot air balloon that was enjoying the temperature of the morning. It had small flags dangling as decoration around it's lower third. The morning was filled with a lot of little treats and I was glad to have gotten my butt out the door.