Sunshine!

A good day in the park…the sun was shining and that was the best news of all.

I started off by going the “wrong” way around the park, the opposite direction from my normal mode. I had noted the rapid rise of water in the creek and I wanted to see what it looked like as it went over the dam by the footbridge, so off I went, heading west. And at first, I was going through all of my usual fumbling and tripping as I tried to come up with a pace that would serve me well.

Things were starting to smooth out when I spotted a couple of homeless or street people, sitting on the sidewalk at the end of the road. They were arguing loudly with each other and didn’t appear to be watching the large pit bull that sat nearby. The dog had his eye on me and when I turned to walk into the park, the dog rose and began to growl. The man snarled at the dog and he sat down again, but I was slightly unnerved now. I hadn’t seen a leash and I wasn’t sure that the man had control of the dog. So I kept turning around as I walked. Finally, after about 5 minutes I was pretty sure the danger was past and began walking with eyes forward.

I had to wonder though; why would anyone keep dogs like that? Then I remembered that if you’re homeless, or just an odd street person, you are likely to be the target of attacks by cowardly groups of neo-(insert name here) that take perverted delight in attacking anyone different than themselves. I guess a dog like that makes some odd sort of sense if you’re hoping to defend yourself.

There were few people in the park this morning, despite it being a great day for a walk. There were some of the familiar faces present and we exchanged waves while passing. And then there were some bicyclists…all rude. And one ruder than the rest, passing me with only inches to spare and never giving me a warning.

One of the many questions that came up while I was walking was “should I continue to racewalk, or should I invest in a training regimen that includes jogging or (Gasp!) running?” I have this debate with myself every few weeks and have never resolved it completely…more on this later.

Let’s see…6.25 miles in 84 minutes. 13.44 minute/miles

And I forgot to tell you about the water; it was within a foot of the top of the pool at One-Mile.