I could feel my blood pressure rising as I hopped into the dewy grass. The whiz of the cars careening past me in the lane to my right. "I've got to get off this road." I hopped back onto the tiny strip of asphalt that hinted at being a shoulder. Making my way down the pavement a little further I rounded a long curve and noticed the aura of red light switch from red to green and a hoard of cars began to slowly drift forward in my direction. Fear crept into my throat and I contemplated hopping back into the slippery grass that I had recently vacated. I just wanted to get to the next sidewalk without getting hit. If only I could move a little faster, I could make my way to the next safe place, the sidewalk that would suddenly appear out of the black of the asphalt. I was traveling down this 6 lane highway with cars zooming past at 50-60 miles an hour but I rationalized that I needed to get in the distance and this is the road to help me obtain that distance. Occasionally a driver would angrily honk in my direction as if I was personally assaulting them. I could feel my face blush and my anger begin to rise again. Aren't we all supposed to share the road? I considered giving up, turning onto a nearby street and heading home. Had I ever let discouragement and the frustration of other people stop me, sometimes yes but I wasn't willing to do so today. So I kept on running. Finally the sidewalk appeared before me and all I had to do was cross this last intersection to safety. I slowly drifted toward the middle of the intersection as drivers made a left hand turn onto the road. And, finally, I was free. My feet began to pick up and my pace quickened. I was in a safe place again. And I was grateful.
Running can be a struggle at times. Getting up early in the morning to run in the dark in your neighborhood can be, if nothing else, a bit much. And taking the same route day after day can begin to become... well... monotonous. I always rationalized that I was doing the healthy thing and I enjoyed seeing the result of clocking up the miles. As I increased my mileage I also increased my feeling of being stuck. I had found the running rut. I ran the same routes day after day, morning after morning. And I soon began to realize that I wasn't having fun anymore.
So, I decided to change up my routes for safer and more scenic ones. I wanted to dedicate this post to two of my new favorite running routes.
This photo is in a park in Franklin Indiana. I join my running group (The Franklin Road Runners) in this park for our 3 mile run every Tuesday. On this day there was rain and sun at the same time. So, I was able to see a rainbow pierce through the grey sky as I ran down the park path :-).
(I apologize for the picture quality of my rainbow. Rainbows are actually hard to photograph when you're running through the park).
In my attempt to avoid risking my life and being honked at by impatient drivers I mapped a new route near my house that travels further out into the countryside. This route encompasses wild fields full of trees and plants as well as large expanses of farmland. Its become my favorite 10 mile run to take on a Saturday afternoon.
Those clouds make me want to take paint brush to canvas and get all Bob Ross by painting friendly and fluffy clouds on a clear blue sky.
I am grateful to be able to find safer and more scenic routes to run. It allows me to get out of the busyness of the world around me and just move my body. I'm looking forward to taking more photographs and sharing them with you.
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