Eight mile run
A few weeks ago, they finished repaving Guess Road from Umstead Road to the Orange County line and I was really happy to see the nice, wide shoulder they built. They added about 2-3 feet on either side of this fairly busy rural, 2-lane highway. I used to bike up Guess Road to Little River Park to go mountain biking, and it had a bit of a shoulder in some of the turns. Now it has a nice wide shoulder all the way out to the county line.
So this morning I was trying to decide where to go running. I had been running in our neighborhood and in the nighborhood across Guess road, all the way down to Latta Road. But I wanted to push my distance and so I went North instead, all along Guess road on that new, smooth, wide shoulder.
Nice, quiet Sunday morning. 70 Deg. F – a bit humid, but not bad. I ran four miles out, to Big Horn Road and four back. It was a great run. Eight miles – my longest run in 2 years. A little downhill in the neighborhood to warm up. Then a long gentle climb up to Russell Road. then down, past the convenience store at St Mary’s all the way down to Big Horn Road. Turn around and climb all the f@#$’n way back up to Russell. Miles 6 and 7 were just smooth and easy downhill, even though it was getting warmer and church traffic started picking up. Finally, the last mile in the neighborhood, I was pushing up the hill – my feet a bit numb and legs just a bit sore. My feet were fine, too. I stepped on a rock towards the end, distracted by the traffic. But no blisters or problems.
I got a few looks. The church ladies don’t usually see folks running along the highway on Sunday morning with no shoes on, so some of them had to slow down for a double-take. Well, I ain’t no Jesus, and I’m not walking on water. But I am running barefoot, Ma’am.