4.77 miles in 45'02"

i've been toying with the idea of checking out some of the country roads around town for several days. i even mapped a few routes to see how far they were. today, i took the plunge and ran some country miles.

the run started out about the same as any other the begins at the school. run north. turn west. today i went west to the botkin elevator drive and then headed south along the western edge of argonia. i wended my way this way, then that until i found myself on 20th avenue headed east into unknown territory. now, when i say unknown, i only mean unknown as far as running is concerned. i've been down 20th dozens of times in a car or on my mountain bike, but never on foot.

my eastward journey ended about a mile out of town at eden road. i turned north there, keeping an eye on the house on the corner. from the deep recesses of my brain came a distant memory of a dog giving chase from that front porch. could've been my imagination, though. i sometimes remember dogs that aren't there. this pooch, real or conjured up, didn't show his fangs today. no barking or biting or chasing. i ran past the final drive headed north and breathed a sigh of relief. i will admit, however, that i looked over my should once or twice just to make sure. i had seen paw prints in the sand a few times on 20th.

eden took me over the railroad tracks and back to highway 160. from there, i headed west to pine street and then south to home. the trip had taken me a bit longer than it was supposed to, so i walked directly into the house and showered so i could get to work on time. unfortunately, my ADHD conspired against me on that one. i couldn't find my keys. i looked and looked. in the house. in the garage. in the car.

i finally grabbed my extra set of work keys and walked. then i remembered where they were. i'd dropped them in the console in the old van after i moved it to make it easier to mow last night. the girls had driven to school with them. i walked to the school, opened the door and there they were.

and so my day begins.