An Abandoned Running Track

My husband and I recently expanded our walking and running route to the length of our street, which equaled out to be the distance of a 5k. While this gives us the length we need without running laps or experiencing redundancy, we were constantly running up against obstacles.

Because we run after my husband, Daniel, gets off of work, there is a lot of traffic using our road as a cut through. You literally save two minutes taking this "short cut" down a country road filled with horses and cows. Two whole minutes of driving way to fast down a road known for it's 35 mph speed limit. This road is not exactly straight. It curves up and down, left and right, which I didn't realize until we began using it and tracking it on RunKeeper. Cars don't see any pedestrians, bike riders, strollers or horse back riders until it is nearly too late.

Daniel was talking about the disappointment, of using our road as a route, with some coworkers, when they suggested using a running track at the abandoned middle school in town. While we enjoy the ability to walk straight down our driveway to our "track", this football field is only about a 5 minute drive from the house. It is flat, there aren't any aggressive dogs, and we did not need to dodge any cars.

We wanted to take it for a simple trial run, because we have kind of been rained out for the last week and a half. RunKeeper tracked 1 1/2 miles at a 16:53 minute pace; our best time! It was an overall good experience, very quiet and amazingly no disruptions, besides a few other walkers. I found it rather pleasant to focus on my exercise without being startled by a mule whining for attention.

And, our upcoming weekend should be fun, too! Daniel will be having hand surgery on Monday, so some friends from our Scuba diving group have put together a refresher course for my husband and I to take. They organized another dive member to lend us gear, will be providing the filled air tanks, and even want to grill some burgers while they babysit our daughter. We are so thrilled at the opportunity and feel so blessed to have wonderful dive buddies.