Saturday school sucks if you are a student. Saturday school rules if you are a parent looking to get in a nice long run before putting in 3 or 4 hours of work while your wife goes to Tae Kwon Do class. So I was more than happy to take Tallulah to the academy as the sun came up over Altamont. Walking her in to school, I saw Green Jack’s son and realized he might want to go run too. Alas, Green Jack was nowhere to be seen, just his boy.
Back to plan A, which was to run solo as long as I could before it was time to get ready for work. I don’t mind running alone, and in many ways prefer it. True, I’m a pretty social guy, but even I need some “me” time every now and then. Running is a good time to not be social without being a jerk. The only issue is that I have become fairly dependent on the iPod during the running. Maybe this isn’t an issue, but for some reason I keep thinking that a “real” runner would not use one.
When it is below freezing outside, with a wind chill in the single digits, maybe anyone who goes out for a run is a real runner. I put my stuff in a locker at the W and headed out along the south and east sides of Altamont. A steady headwind made things a little rough going in the first mile or two, but everything is a little rough in the first mile or two. My plan was to head up the “down” route for a popular race in town until it leveled off.
This I did with a minimum of u-turns. Getting a little bit lost on a day like today was fine. When I used to travel for work a lot, I’d get somewhat lost in a major city, find my way home, and then impress my colleagues with my detailed knowledge of the roads. One of the side benefits of running.
Once I reached the “level” part of the run — meaning not climbing at 6% or greater — I twisted and turned on the hills above the Grove Park Inn. Below were the stately homes that line the golf course and in the distance were the snow-capped peaks of the Unakas. Around me were a fair number of other runners. Enough, in fact, that one might have thought we were part of an organized run, except there was no dipshit in a tutu. (Kelts are different, and, having been passed by the guy in the tutu, I consider him a dipshit.)
Descending from Sunset, I veered off first right and then left through the neighborhood below the Inn. Now as I passed the stately homes, I continued to see other runners. We were all smiles, knowing that we were catching the best part of the day before so many people were even up. I crossed back into and then south of Downtown, taking a loop through Martin Luther King and W.E.B. DuBois Drives on the way. The majority of Altamontians have probably never seen the best views of their city’s distinctive architecture which are given from those streets.
The return to the W was assisted by the same wind that had hindered me on the way out until a right turn brought it back in my face. The same turn allowed me to tack on another five minutes or so, bringing the entire run to about an hour and forty minutes. Having not run that long in a while, I was pleased at how good it felt and have to credit those goddamn sit-ups with being good for something. Mapping it out just now, it would appear that the whole route was right at 12 miles. 8:20 pace over that distance with some not inconsiderable climbs thrown in makes me sort of a real runner, doesn’t it? Even if I am listening to Billie Holiday while I run?