Running For My Life - Aug. 9, 2012

Aug. 9, 2012

Today I am 193 pounds of rolling thunder. Suppose you guessed by now I skipped the ice cream. In fact, I skipped all the good stuff. My major crime of the day was a handful of kettle chips.

Is it just me, or is there a little bit of scavenger in all of us runners, walkers, bikers and joggers? Come on admit it, find a penny pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck (as long as it's heads up, right?).

We all like coming home with some roadside loot in our pockets. Usually it's some change or a knickknack that fell off a car, or a disgusting ball cap.

So yesterday, while I was on my long run I found some real treasure. I was making my way up the long hill about mid run and there it was -- a perfectly good pack of Post It notes.

Now quicker than a dog can swallow a cicada, I broke stride and scooped up the almost new stack of yellow gold. It was a little dusty and worse for wear, but get it in the mix at the house and grocery lists will appear on it all the same.

I checked the front page to see if there were any clues as to who owned this $1.59 worth of booty. The only thing there was some math homework, probably from the school up the street. Ah, the law of finder’s keepers was in play. I felt on good certainty local law enforcement probably did not have a BOLO out for a pack of Post-Its.

The treasure hunt that is running is a game you play. How big is too big to carry something home and maintain a decent pace. I once sprinted (OK, it felt like a sprint) about a mile back to my house after I saw someone had left two Adirondack chairs on the curb for large item pickup day. Ultimately, my mission failed. I saw a truck with a trailer filled with junk hauling away my treasures just as I returned.

Now I've seen a lot of strange stuff out running and biking -- bobcats, shoes, armadillos, clothes. But nothing could match what I saw this summer. 

I was doing my usual snail run down the hill across from the local high school when I looked down and saw within three feet of each other an empty bottle of 5-Hour Energy and a used condom (insert punch line here).

Now logic told me that with just one condom, this was either the biggest waist of a bottle of 5-Hour Energy known to man or somebody was in one heck of a hurry. I laughed all the way home trying to think what inspired someone to toss those two items out of window of a car on the sidewalk across from a high school.

Anyway, what a difference a breeze makes. I went the full six miles yesterday and a mild southeast breeze kept the 100-degree temperature from feeling too bad. It was the first time in a couple of weeks I haven't cut the corner and lopped off the hilly extra mile. 

My legs were rubbery, and I walked a little more than usual but getting down the hill to the finish was rewarding.

OK, it's your turn. See you out on the streets.