April Fool

I thought the weather widget on my dashboard had to be an April's Fool joke - I mean after the cold raw weather of the past few days to be 56* at 5:30 in the morning just didn't seem to parse for some reason. When I opened the door to check for the newspapers, I realized it wasn't a joke, so I munched a Pria bar, drank some water and headed out.

Near my house are some hills that have been known to make freshmen runners weep and varsity runners whine like spoiled children in a toy store. They are mean, steep and unrelenting. So of course I had to give it a go.

I made it about a block before I was walking to the top of the first rise. I started running again and made it a block before dropping back to a walk again. All the way up the road that was the pattern and when I got to the top, I turned around and ran back down to do it all over again.

But 3/4's of the way down I decided to go on an adventure and veered off on a side road. The road went up and down. It twisted and turned to another quiet road, which went up and down and twisted. I ran those roads more steadily - more of my run a song/walk a song interval before I took a turn and realized, "Hey, I live on this street!"

So that's where that road I drive past goes .... up down and all around before it opens out onto my street.

It was a nice way to start the month and for the first time since the calendar turned, it really felt like spring out there this morning. The early sunlight, mild temps and playful squirrels racing me on occasion. It felt good. It reminded me why I fell in love with running. I may not have my paths any more, but knowing there are these quiet roads in the morning is almost as good.