Coincidence?

This morning I awoke to a perfectly clear blue sky, just as the weather forecasters promised. Not a cloud in the sky! My first thought was that it was going to get toasty on our long run today, so we'd better get ready to get out there.

To my surprise it was relatively cool, maybe in the lower 60's when we got started. There was a pretty good breeze throughout the whole run which made the temperature about perfect. And not a rain cloud in the sky!

We tweaked the route a bit so that we could run about a mile before we hit the monster hill on 2600 South. We parked in a new location, by a business building (along the main street) that has a yoga studio and physical therapy office, and started running from that point. Of course one of the good things about this was if the crazy father from last week's long run was looking for our vehicle, at least it was in a different parking lot.

So we started running and I was aware right off the bat that I was a bit slow. After trying to figure this out (for a lot of miles), at the end it finally occurred to me that it's probably a result of being so diligent in my calorie counting as of late. Lower calories usually equate to less energy for running. It's a trade off but I think I've struck a balance I can live with. Anyway . . .

We got to the hill and started running up it. After we got about 3/4th the the way up it, a police officer passed us. Not unusual since they've commented how they see us running all over town all the time. I waved and he returned the wave. Once we got to the top of 2600, we went north on Mountain Road, to the end of the road. Then we turned about to head south to leave our little town and head into the main city of which we're a bedroom community. Officer Childs passes us again. We do the wave again. I started to wonder if this was intentional or just a coincidence.

So we continued on our way and leave our town. At about mile 6, we stop at the "ghetto" store that has everything a crack dealer needs to carry out his business (I'm assuming they sell it all but the crack but really I wouldn't be surprised if they sell the crack too). So we tank up on water and head north on Monroe. We run though an area where they have gang fights off and on. Last summer they had a huge gang war and a couple of people were shot. I always think about this as we run through here and wonder if we might be wearing rival colors. Anyway, the thing I'm thinking about today is that despite the fact that this is an undesirable area, we've never experienced a problem.

We continue north and eventually, around mile 9, we are at the river parkway, at Lorin Farr Park. Again, this area experiences problems and it isn't unusual for police presence. And again, we have never had a problem. At this point, we head back north to head towards home. It's about a 5 mile straight shot to where we're parked. We're running along Liberty, northbound, heading toward 7th street when we pass a group of rough looking males playing basketball in the street. They stop throwing the ball as we pass and one of them says "hello". We exchange greeting and I continue on.

As I finish out this run, it's really sinking in that we run through some really "undesirable" areas. During the winter months we run along Grant and Lincoln, (through the largest gang ground), and again have never had a problem. It's when we get to our own little town, full of middle and upper class people (mostly Caucasian by the way) that we have problems with people letting their dogs chase us, yelling at us, and teen aged boys harassing grandmas in the street. What's up with that?

Anyway, we finished the run without incident. After we got done running, we had a short cool down walk to get us to Great Harvest (where I get my usual tea scone). Then it was a short stroll to where we were parked. As we entered the parking lot, I noticed two things. First that there wasn't a lot of other vehicles in the parking lot (it usually is pretty empty) and secondly that officer Childs was sitting in his car a couple rows from us. I just had to wonder . . . coincidence?