Sore...

It was cold this morning when I got up: 29 degrees! Thankfully there wasn't any wind to contend with. I got out the door around 5:30 after running some errands for my wife that had to be done before she left for work.

I was really sore as I began running south on Howard. I played about 40 minutes of basketball last night against my daughter's high school team. All that sprinting and back and forth stuff...wow! I was thinking that I'd like to run the Lake Road loop, but as I was approaching Sixth Street I remembered that the Christmas lights were up in Lemon Park, so I turned right instead of left. I ran through Sixth Street Park humming The 12 Days of Christmas as I ran past the displays there. Somewhere between the five gold rings and the four calling birds, a couple of deer ran across the street just ahead of me.

As I was leaving the park, I met up with a guy out walking. He returned my cheery good morning with a good morning of his own. I ran on past him, turned onto Pine and ran into Lemon Park. I ran a whole lap without seeing anyone stirring, not even a mouse. I enjoyed the lights and especially enjoyed the reflections of the dragon in the pond.

After a second loop around the park, encountering a couple of walkers twice, I left the park and ran over to Main Street. I ran up Main to Second and then took Second over to the hospital. I ran across 54 and wound my way back home, stopping my Garmin just before 6:30. My fingers were cold enough to burn a bit, so I went straight inside to warm up. (Firestarter, 5.06 miles, 46:34, avg. 9:12, 29 degrees, garmin data)