” People runnin’ everywhere
Don’t know the way to go
Don’t know where I am
Can’t see past the next step
Don’t have to think past the last mile
Have no time to look around
Just run around, run around and think why”
This week’s run started with people runnin’ everywhere, overflowing from the sidewalks of East Foster and spilling into the streets. As we climbed towards Melrose Common I looked ahead and counted 14 runners, looked behind and counted 11 runners, and added me for a total of 26 of us. Turning onto 6th St and continuing on to Swains Pond Ave Paul Donahue lead the way with a pack of speedsters on his heels. As the road turns at Swains Pond and Turners pond, so did we… although Jen and Andy momentarily headed straight across, not knowing the way to go. The pond looked beautiful, reflecting the beginning of autumn colors, with a lone man fishing on the edge. As the pack went by he pulled a fish from the pond and offered it to the runners for breakfast. As a group we’re used to seeing road kill, this is the first animal we’ve seen just prior to its demise. After the ponds we head along Lebanon to Forest St to the first water stop, Ginny’s car.
The second stretch of the run took us through Malden to the Fellsway East hills. With a foggy mist in the air my glasses became fogged and wet, inhibiting my vision instead of aiding it. With the side of road covered with acorns I decided to remove my glasses, tucking them on the collar of my shirt. Being near-sighted I couldn’t see past the next step, but I could see far enough to avoid rolling an ankle on an acorn. The Fells hills brought us over to the Knoll at the Melrose Middle School and water stop 2 at Judi’s car.
From there we followed the Lynn Fells Parkway to Saugus. Every marathon training period I think a runner gets (at least) one run that makes them wonder “how am I ever going to run 26.2 miles”, it was becoming evident this would be mine. Running 9 minute miles took everything I had, slow heavy legs not wanting to go on. In the distance I could see a blurry Nick and Andy pulling me to Farm St and across Nahant to Water Stop 3, Julie’s car.
The last miles of the Fall of 2009 training were along Main St from Wakefield to Melrose. As we hit the Greenwood the sound of a car alarm broke the Sunday morning silence. An envious car across the street answered back sounding its alarm as we passed by. As we left the beeping behind us I pulled slightly ahead of Nick and Andy and focused on just getting back to Brueggers injury-free. No time to look around, just running around.
Back at Brueggers, runners gathered in the cool misty air for a cup of coffee outside. Carol and John were out running 22, Jen had put in an extra few miles, some people running Chicago had shortened their route for a nice easy taper, Baystaters looked happy to be mid-taper. The misty air filled with conversations of the upcoming marathons as the morning hours passed timelessly on the sidewalk outside of Brueggers.
If you don’t know what this week’s song lyrics are from, they are aptly quoted from Chicago (the band not the marathon) Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?