A conversation between Sun Runner and myself got me thinking about those miles that are close to “home.” For me, those miles are a 1.5M stretch shaped like a candy cane that lead from Buck and Bunny’s old house to a main road, where I could then proceed to run South, East, or West for any number of miles. But that first stretch out, and that turn back onto that stretch are significant to me. Those miles carry more of a sense of “home” to me than any other miles I can think of.
I could run those miles with my eyes closed. The trees create a perfect canopy, there is little traffic, and the hills are rolling. In fact, I used to name the hills. Heading out from my home: the first and biggest hill was called “the sledgehammer,” the next set of three quick hills were called “the dragon’s back,” and the final medium hill was called “the bounce.” (Disclaimer: I didn’t say the names were cool, or that I was cool for naming them. In fact, I’m positive I wasn’t cool.) Yet, I still name hills to this day.
And now, I am inspired to make a trip back to those old stomping grounds, and to run them once more before the Bayshore Marathon.
Do you have any miles that seem like “home” to you? Or, do you give nicknames to parts of your runs?
December / 2013 Recap and The End
10 years ago
2 comments:
I don't usually bestow actual (goofy) names on portions of my runs; rather, I associate landmarks, geographic or otherwise, with certain stretches. For example, there's a bit I call "the tunnel of trees" (it's my current blog banner) on a road in the Waterloo Rec Area near here. Then there's a certain corner on that's occupied by "Our Lady Of The Pond." There's also "The house of the dog that tried to bite me." There's a bit of road I call "Scenic Overlook" because it provides a nice panoramic view of my town in the distance. There's "Bird pond corner," an intersection with a small pond where I've seen several really cool birds (green herons! OMG!). I did name one of my in-town loops "Fire Station Loop" because it went past the fire station, and there's "Water Treatment Plant Loop," which goes by the, well, you know. And of course there's my favorite, "The Cemetery," which I try to include in almost every run I do around town.
I really love that you name the hills you run . . . I guess the string of profanity I use while running the hills in my favorite route could almost count as a name--but I like your names better! Maybe if I try to think of some nicer names for my hills, they'll treat me a little nicer in return! :)
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