post the hundred-thirteenth, 2013

i didn't want to go.

it was late, i was hungry, and most of all i was geeking out over this report i was pulling together. nothing like pivot tables to glue my ass to the seat.

on the other hand, i DID want to go, but only to have it done. i didn't want to go for going but wanted only to be finished.

so, i went.

i decided the best way to keep my attention was to do something different so i jogged over to this set of steps i like and hadn't been to in a while. i ran them x10 and it was good, felt good, hard work, sweat dripping off my eyelashes. next i thought to run behind the park and pick up the bike trail -- another place i hadn't been in a while -- for the return to the office. so, headed that way, picked up the path. it was good. just as i remembered, except there were a ton more hobos napping on the benches. not sure what was up with that.

then i got to the turn and the turn was no longer a turn. it was a branch and had been made into a branch by the fact that they'd added a branch. i mean, before, it was a path. now, it was one of two. of course, i took the new one.

actually, it didn't seem new-new, but it was new to me. i was really curious to see where it would go. it went past a concrete yard or something, maybe a quarry. continued across a RR track, down past the backs of warehouses, past old train cars, it just kept going. it was an amazing spread of trail. i saw several men working - at the quarry, around the warehouses. there were a good number of cars at the cross streets. i saw one other pedestrian.

after probably 15 or so minutes, i saw a trail map sign, so i stopped to see where i was and was gobsmacked to see how big the greenway system is now. i was also somewhat concerned over how far i'd come so i decided to exit the greenway at the trailhead. (there was a map because it was a trailhead.)

when i left the greenway the scenery changed. mostly because i was now in front of stuff instead of behind it but in addition, there were these really neat -- like neat-and-tidy neat -- townhomes that backed up to the greenway access path i was on. they looked new -- the landscaping was young and raw. overmore, most of the roads around this area were pitch-black with new pitch. clearly, this was urban renewal.

around the corner was a really cool fountain. i stopped to read the sign and learned the fountain was part of a small community park built to commemorate the early use of the area. there was something about sulfur water, healing properties, like a spring was there or something. i was pretty worn out and didn't really read that closely. the fountain was, like i said, really cool. it started at the top of a small rise, where the road ran past the park. up there was a sort of trough with spigots, and from the trough was a stepped sluice worked down the middle of the sidewalk to the main pool fountain. it's hard to explain something so exquisitely visible with flat words.

overarchingly, it was as if i had stumbled into a whole nother world.

i jogged on up to the road and hung a left, back to town. after like 5 blocks i realized i had turned the wrong way. i circled the block, and another block, and up another block, and finally got going the right way. by now i was in nearly an hour and i was well away from my destination, so i was quite happy to be going the right way and didn't notice right away i had veered out of urban renewal and landed in the heart of the unrenewed. by the time i realized where i was, i was nearly on top of a drug deal taking place in the sidewalk. oops. nothing to see here folks, move along, move along. definitely not the place for a white girl in a pink top and skimpy running shorts. tired as i was, i picked up the pace.

when i reached the main highway and saw across the way the park i'd started in, as i was waiting there for the traffic signal to change, my very legs were literally shaking. was it the 10x step start? the distance farther than i'd been in weeks? the adrenaline borne of running up on a drug deal, finding myself in a neighborhood i needed to get out of quickly? the sheer force of heat and humidity?

probably it was all of the above. it was a difficult, trying, stressful run filled with discovery, joy, and learning. it was the most fun i have had in a long time. the only thing missing was someone to be there with - to experience the steps x10, see the amazing fountain, feel the hilarity inherent in running up on a drug deal.

i am glad i went. this post doesn't half do it justice.