Monday, August 27, 2012

All the way around...

Without the brief dog attack and the 90+% humidity, this would have been the perfect run. I left the house a little before 5:00 with the goal of running a complete circuit around town. I ran out to Highway 61 to begin, ran north to the cemetery road and then started making my way to the west.

A train was making a ton of noise as I ran along the cemetery road and the other outlying streets. Between blasts on its airhorns and the screeching of brakes it was quite the pleasant accompaniment to the swish, swish, swish of my footsteps on the asphalt and sand.

I crossed the tracks at Maple and Main and ran up to Cottingham, ran over a block and returned to Simpson which took me to the other side of town. As I ran along Garfield a few minutes later, I saw a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. I turned and there was a rather large and loose dog headed my way. I turned to face it and started talking as calmly as I could while my heart rate jumped. After a few anxious seconds, the dog decided I wasn't a threat to his property and he let me run away. I wanted to scream, "Tie your dogs up, people!" I resisted, opting for a less noticeable getaway.

I ran back down and crossed over the railroad tracks. A short time along the highway brought me to the far western edge of town. I turned around the hotel there and then started taking in the residential areas on the southwest edges.

After a long trek down Tenth, I ran a little south and then past Lemon Park. I decided not to run a loop through the park since that would add a mile to my journey and I wasn't sure I had the time to do that before I needed to get back home. I ran through Sixth Street Park instead and then took Sixth out past the mobile home park and Green Sports Complex before turning north on Fincham to run past Wal-Mart and Taco Bell.

Just before turning on to Highway 54, I ran wide to the opposite side of the road to avoid a large Pepsi truck pulling in. I didn't know if he'd see me coming in off the highway in the dark and I wasn't taking chances. That near death experience out of the way, I ran on along the highway back to 61 which I took north back to Maple. At that point it was a short trip of less than a mile back home along the streets I'd used to get out to the highway.

When I reached home, I stopped my Garmin and walked around the block to cool down before stepping inside. (garmin data)

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