Saturday, August 23, 2008

Sunshiny Ice Cream Day

I’m glad I started going to Memorial Park on Saturdays to start my weekly long run mega-early. I still think it’s ridiculous to drive in order to run, but it’s the closest safe place I know for running in the dark and this way I get my long run done before temps get into the 90s.

I got to the park a little after 5:00 this morning and did three loops before heading out to do the Buffalo Bayou trails. It was one of those good runs where my body felt mostly-good and my brain was on board with the plan. As every runner knows, there are days when your brain spends most of the time trying to sabotage your run, thinking of all the reasons you should stop early, whining and being generally bratty about the whole thing. But not today. Brain kept itself occupied by pondering this and that, freeing my body to do the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.

It didn’t start getting warm out until I was heading back toward the park with about three miles to go. When I got there, I saw that today was HARRA’s annual Party in the Park. The event was free to all runners, with music, booths for many of the local running groups, cold water, cold sports drink, and best of all, free ice cream! There’s really no describing how it feels to be greeted with music and an ice cream cone at the end of a 20-mile run in a Houston August, but suddenly I didn’t care that I was wet and stinky, my socks were squishy, and my shoes had created a small blister. The sunny day turned sparkly and all was right with the world.

After I finished my ice cream and changed into dry clothes, I went to check out a drug store I sometimes run past on my Chimney Rock run. I had seen some stuff in the windows that I usually order online because it’s hard to find around here, and the store looked cool in general. So I went there and was very excited to find all kinds of things I needed. It’s so hard to find a store that stocks all the things you want, as if the buyer were your psychic twin. Now that I’ve discovered this place, it’ll probably close down. Seems to happen every time. But I’ll try not to be too cynical.

After all, today was an ice cream day!

12 comments:

Thomma Lyn said...

Oh, how wonderful -- free ice cream at the end of a long run. That must have been delightful! :-D

RG said...

Wow! And the whole running town there to greet you!!!

There was a local 5-K today ... ended with hot blueberry pancakes and etc!

Our area has a local race of usually 5K or 10K almsot every weekend this time of year. And Marathons and 1/2's interspersed. Trail runs too ....

Lots a runners!

Anonymous said...

That's sounds like a wonderful run. I am completely jealous.

Anonymous said...

sounds like you had a perfect day! good brain! good run! good ice cream! a new find! and no rain :-)

it's a beautiful day!

the Bag Lady said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
the Bag Lady said...

(Oops - sorry for the deleted comment - I was signed in under the wrong account and figured you wouldn't know who the heck it was!)

Your description of your day sounds terrific. Right down to the tiny blister to remind you that nothing is perfect!

d. moll, l.ac. said...

What flavor ice cream? Sounds like a lovely day.....

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful day!! And ice-cream to top it off, woot!!

Glenna said...

It will close down on the same day that your favorite running shoe goes out of production along with your favorite bra. Do you have fave running shoes?

Ann (bunnygirl) said...

Glenna, I've worn Brooks Addiction since I got into distance running. The only time I tried something different, I developed hip trouble. Unfortunately, switching back to my original shoes didn't help. I love my Brooks, though!

Glenna said...

Funny--I just got a pair of Addictions on sale at VA Runner--perhaps last season's model, or an unpopular color (white/gray/purple), and I love them. I also like my Reebok KFS but it frustrates me that as wonderful as they feel 99% of the time, I get a hot spot from them after a while. Hopefully the Addictions will be better. I'm starting out--desperately need to lose weight and get in shape, so it's more walking than running for me, but I'm determined! One of the many things I enjoy about your blog is the health/exercise component.

On bonding bunnies: I made every mistake in the book, and it's a huge surprise they finally did bond; I had given up and figured they'd each have their own room but all the stress of being moved after Pink destroyed the bathroom ($10K worth of damage thanks to his chewing through a pipe that feeds fresh water to the master bath toilet) created the situation where they were thrown together and became friends. People who do the bonding thing better than I did say the key is to let your rabbit choose his own companion and that he be neutered first (and let several months pass because the hormones don't go away immediately) and that the companion rabbit be opposite sex. I love that they're bonded, and part of the reason is that they entertain each other really well so that they're not each like a little kid constantly getting into mischief and demanding attention. My first bun was like Tid, in that he was well-behaved for the most part, so it came as a shock to get the two maniacs, who were into everything, but who now have mellowed so much. Well worth a second!

Deb Cushman said...

We love ice cream days! (At least Deb does -- Freckles, not so much!)