an eventful run

The weather's been so great here that I've been running a lot lately. I actually need to lay off because I'm scared of having another nasty bout of runner's knee, but that's easier said than done. I'm told I have a bit of an addictive personality.

Tonight's run was an odd one. Before you all turn into my mother and berate me for running in the dark, I should say that I live in a very safe area of the core (although you may not believe that by the end of this post) where there are always tonnes of people around. I'm also a very alert runner (no MP3 player). Still, three notable things happened this evening:

First, another runner honked at me. He was trying to cut between me and some walkers and he actually gave me a spoken "beep beep." Is this some kind of new runner's etiquette of which I'm not yet aware or was he just a crazy person? Must research.

Second, I was also surprised by a sudden non-human-generated urgent beeping. Did some nutbar get a new ring tone? There was not a soul around me and the beeping continued. After a bit of time (the blood had long left my brain so thought processes were slow), I realized that it was actually my Polar heart monitor. It goes crazy when you surpass a pre-set maximum heart rate but I hadn't set a limit. Was it freaking out nonetheless because my heart rate was off the charts? Did I have the fastest heart rate in the world? I panicked a bit and stopped in my tracks to check. It was just telling me that my battery was low and dying. Dumb.

Finally, I ran by the teenaged-boy hooker street near my house. That street is like a train wreck for me; I hate knowing what's going on there, and yet I can't stop going by to find out. This evening the two usual kids were there but no john. Instead, there was a third kid who perhaps had invaded their territory. Tensions were high and one of the two original kids was pushing the third one away, yelling expletives. The new kid had his fists in the air and was looking to fight back. I didn't want to get in the middle of a teenaged boy fight but had only keys so couldn't call anyone else to help. I crossed the street and begged the first person I could see to call 911. I think he was a bit scared off by the sweat pouring out of every part of my body and my fast breathing; I hope he made the call nonetheless.

Now I'm sweaty and have eaten about 3,000 grapes, but man, am I glad to be home.

RainyBow

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SunnyShine note: Are you really running without your phone? Bad.
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RainyBow note: I have special wrist sweatbands (that cost a fortune, btw) that hold my key. They haven't made one yet that holds a phone.