Entertainment as I Run

Bright and early this morning I embarked on a 9 mile run. It's been pretty hot in Berkeley the last week or so (90s, even 100 sometimes WHOA!) so morning seemed the best time to go. Unfortunately I didn't actually want to go in the morning so we didn't get going as early as we were supposed to (we were supposed to get up at 7 and leave by 7:30 at the latest...well Jess was up at 7, but I didn't emerge until like 7:25. What can I say, I'm not a morning person), as such it was still kind of hot near the middle and end of the run.

The nice thing about running in the morning, however, even when it's hot is that there are plenty of other runners out on the trail. As I ran, sweating like a pig and fogging up my new hip runner sunglasses, I found solace and distraction in the oddities that were passing me on the Bay Shore trail.

First I saw a guy who was running fairly fast, but not sprinting or anything. And his form was just a little...odd. He swung his arms so voraciously that he was literally swinging them up past his face to the sky and back down. I wondered if perhaps he was trying out a new technique for human flight.

A little ways further I passed someone doing the other extreme. He kept his arms down by his side, and seemed to be trying to keep them as still as possible. He looked like a hardcore runner in every other sense - he was fairly muscular, had his little wrap-a-round fannypack/water holder thingie, and looked like he'd been running about 20 miles already. He just...didn't move his arms at all. Didn't even hold them bent at the elbow - just straight down and static. I figured he must have been running so long that he was simply incapable of moving his arms any longer.

And finally, as I ran I saw a woman coming the other way down the trail and I was immediately impressed. From what I could tell, this woman was such a hardcore runner that she didn't even let the recent birth of her infant stop her from running. It appeared that she had strapped the baby to her front in one of those baby carrier dohickeys and was running with it. As I got closer, though, I was disappointed to realize that she just was rather well-endowed (can you use that for a woman? Well I am.) and her shirt + her bust moved and looked like a baby strapped to her front from further away. I was immediately grateful that I don't have boobs.

Runners are weird people. But all these oddities kept me entertained and helped me ignore how thirsty I was and the fact that I couldn't breathe!

Later on in the run, I saw a beautiful monarch. As I watched it flutter around I noticed it had what appeared to be a spiderweb string trailing behind it. I though, "oh it must have escaped from a web or something" and as I thought this, I realized there was a little spider at the end of the string trailing along. There are clearly 2 possibilites for this: 1) the monarch got caught in the spider's web and escaped at just the last minute. The spider, however, grabbed on to the string in hopes of salvaging such a scrumtrulescent and large meal...he probably doesn't know that monarchs are poisonous... OR 2) This is the insect/arachnid world's form of parasailing into which we rarely grasp such a glimpse.

I truly appreciate being entertained on these long runs. I have begun to make it a point to try and look around as much as possible so as to distract myself. Besides the previously mentioned sights, today I saw pelicans dive bombing, and comorants fishing. Aaah, thank you world for your endless entertainment during my self-inflicted torture.




p.s. I finished the run in 1:41. I was aiming for 1:40 so I was pretty pleased...11 minute miles so not too fast, but that's the longest I've ever run and I was pleased I finished in a fairly reasonable time at all! :)