Training day: Long run no. 4

Not being able to resist the lure of the burbs, we stuck around Orange for the week so I had one more long run down the town's winding streets.

Long run no. 4 was a bit (teeny tiny) of a break: 8 miles. I knew where seven miles was so I guessed at the last mile or so and may have run closer to nine - sometimes you can really get yourself lost.

I was up nice and early again since we had to head into the city for a wedding. The weather was a slightly chilled 75 by 7:30 but the humidity made it down right nasty.

I had a shiny new This American Life cued up in my ipod (episode: #411) and 15 minutes into it I found myself laughing out loud while running on a public street. I could not resist. The show featured Mike Birbiglia, a self deprecating comedian who concentrates on embarrassing stories. Yes and yes. There's a bit about the amusement park ride the Scrambler and, for any of you Burbians out there who may have frequented your local summer fair, this story will just kills.

The run was a repeat so it was a bit on the boring side and the heat made my legs feel like exercising in wet denim but it was fine all in all.

What I like most about running in the burbs is the kindness of strangers. Every fitness folk I passed waved or said "Hi" "Howzit goin" and even "Have a good one." I'm not one to make a bestie while I'm sweating gallons in decades-old t-shirts, but I got into it a little. I gave a "morning" to a fellow jogger only to see her again two miles later (awkward). I threw a nod to a sprinting teen and a half-wave to a biker.

Toward the end I passed a young guy out for a casual walk in sweltering heat. The pass requires no greeting since a turn-around-hello would be ranked among the desperate. But ours was a destined salutation since my finish line was only a couple hundred yards up the road. As a turned around for my cool down walk back to the house I could see the kid rising in the distance like a villain in an old western.

The from-afar wave has to to be the most awkward of the suburban morning greetings. From what distance do you begin the wave? Do you wave a long way off and then say hello up close? Or do you choose the ignore-until-the-last-moment-and-then-casually-acknowledge-their-presence route? As I mulled over my options the great distance that stretched over the straight, flat portion of my road shortened slowly. I made the mistake of going for an early wave to find that new friend chose the ignore option so that I was waving weirdly to the air in front of me. Rejected, I fought back with an ignore/finding-something-terribly-interesting-on-my-palm-option until we were close enough to ask one another to take this dance at which point I gave a "hey" and he nodded.

Pleasantries are exhausting.

I look forward to returning to the full-on-ignore of my urban pedestrian life.

Thus,
Distance: 8.5-9 miles
Time: 1:21
Overall rating: 7 (Pros: This American Life, pomegranate sports drink, neighborly support. Cons: repeat route, sticky early morning heat, neighborly chastise)

xoL