Thursday, July 30, 2009

Bad week = good run.

Some observations I had while going on a jog/walk around Midvale Middle School this evening:

  • If I hadn't eaten dinner only an hour before leaving, it would have been more of a jog and less of a walk.
  • I'm going to have to find a new place to run on Thursday nights. It's apparently little-league football season, which means my running route was lined with trucks and SUVs with NFL team logo stickers plastered on the rear windows. Most of them with team moms and dads waiting with the car running for their child to finish practice, and eying me suspiciously as I was jogging a little too close to their cars for their comfort. Next time maybe I'll just put a helmet and shoulder pads on, and they'll just think I'm one of their players being punished for mouthing off. Just as long as they don't throw a football at me, because my complete inability to catch one smoothly would tip them off.
  • Midvale, in addition to being known for having more Arctic Circles per square mile than any other place on earth, is apparently a natural breeding habitat for some kind of little quail. Mom and dad quails that run around with little quail babies, and teenage quails that pester each other are all over this place. I'm pretty sure I ran (jog/walked) past the quail-equivalent of a game of tag tonight.
  • As I watched little kids running around the neighborhood with no sign of any kind of adult around to watch them, I worried for their safety in our borderline-shady neighborhood. And then I wondered if people thought the same of me growing up as I ran around the streets of Rose Park by myself and darted across Redwood Road regularly to play on the Jordan River Parkway.
  • A young man was walking a bassett hound down the street. I didn't think that anyone could have less energy and spunk than their pet bassett hound, but this young man managed it. I wondered if he was yet another victim of World of Warcraft or other video games that cause people to go weeks without seeing the light of day.
  • Sometimes, if you decide to go just one more lap, you're rewarded with a brilliant sunset.

4 comments:

Jentry said...

I am always impressed with people who run outside. I always feel so athletic. Then I lie like a big lump on the floor when I get home.

Maryann said...

I enjoyed your observations. Oh, and if you need a new place to run, I'm putting together a list.

Robin said...

Quail are the cutest birds ever!!

Nicole said...

Did you know that at Midvale Middle they have free lap swimming for residents M-F from 8:30 to 9:00? There usually aren't very many people there either and it's pretty fun. Don't worry I'm not one of those people here who let my kids be outside alone, it worries me.