Sunday, September 28, 2014

The weird stuff I saw on today's run

The Dark Knight visits the suburbs
Today's run (street): 5.4 miles

One of the reasons that I love trail running is the ever changing scenery and the opportunity to be surprised by things I see on the route. I considered a trail run this morning, but for some reason, I chose to stay local. I'd just read in Running Times about the benefits of Long Slow Distance (not to be confused with involuntarily running slow as I often do) and decided to do a neighborhood run at a pace that would keep my heart rate between 70-75% of max.

I started out at a very easy pace - one that I felt I could hold for a long time. Running Times said that for proper LSD, you should run at a pace where you can easily carry on a conversation. I had no one to converse with, so I quietly recited the things on my to-do list and hoped no one thought I was deranged.

Even though my route was unremarkable, I did see some interesting things. About a third of the way through my distance I was coming up a road when I spotted a bright pink placard hanging from a pole that held a speed limit sign.

As I got closer, I saw that it had a graphic of a anime monkey and the word "Justice." It was odd to see what seemed like an edgy street culture message - the sort of thing that you might encounter tacked up on a light pole in the East Village. Later I looked up Justice, saw the graphic, and discovered it was actually referencing Victoria Justice, who isn't even edgy to 12 year olds.

Despite my easy pacing on this run, I began to feel fatigued. This was not the first time I'd had that experience after starting so slowly. I sped up the pace slightly and felt better. From that point I maintained a HR closer to 80% which carried me through the rest of my run.

The last part of my route took me to the westernmost part of the neighborhood. I turned a corner and did a double take when I saw what looked like the Batmobile parked on the street. I stopped the Garmin and pulled out my phone to take a picture. This car was enormous, the length of a stretch limo, which I'm guessing was its purpose. Weird.

A minute later I ran by another house that had put up early Halloween decorations in the form of malevolent-looking clowns standing in the yard. It was amusing, but I felt sorry for the people who live across the street and have to look at it for the next month.

I ended up running my last half mile at a decent pace, but overall my time was pretty slow. I did get my 5+ miles in as planned and saw some interesting things. I didn't even have to run in the woods to see something completely surprising.

2 comments:

  1. Nowadays people are constantly "talking to themselves" (on the phone) while out in public. If people thought you were deranged, it wouldn't be because of this.

    Your mention of Halloween decorations gave me a good idea for a future post. Our town is Halloween crazy, chock full of zombies and killer clowns.

    Great that you got your run in. I did not.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're right. Seeing me running along talking to myself would only confirm people's suspicions. I thought these scary-looking clowns were something unique, but it sounds like you already have a lot of fun stuff in your neighborhood.

    Sorry you didn't get your run in today. It looks like you have something big to train for next October.

    ReplyDelete

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