Saturday, May 30, 2020

Eleven Hundred Twenty-One


May 28, 2020
8.74 Miles in 1:28:01
Mood: What the what?!?
Soundtrack: Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps "Backyard Tent Set"

Who is the person that has an old toilet they want to get rid of and is comfortable enough with irresponsibility that they decide to just leave it here? I couldn't live with myself if I did something like that. Now somebody has to deal with your toilet, or else this whole neighborhood becomes just a little worse because there is a toilet right over there and no one has dealt with it. This is not okay. Please dispose of your toilets properly. Geez.



Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Eleven Hundred Twenty


May 26, 2020
8.22 Miles in 1:22:49
Mood: I'm trying
Soundtrack: Matt Nathanson "Modern Love"

I can get behind the idea of this sign. We don't all think the same way, and we have different ways of dealing with stress and anger and feelings of helplessness. However, if we endeavor to always be kind, even with people we disagree with vehemently, the world would be a better place. I'm not very good at this, but I'm endeavoring to try. Also, how cool does that purple sign look with the shades of green behind it??!?



Eleven Hundred Nineteen


May 24, 2020
8.05 Miles in 1:18:23
Mood: Beautiful neighborhoods and sad bears
Soundtrack: Matt Nathanson "Last Of The Great Pretenders"

This may be the saddest of all inanimate objects wearing a mask. The giant stuffed bear at Bonnie Brae Ice Cream was standing inside the door of the place with a mask on, and what I interpret to be a sad look on his face. This was an awesome run that included one lap around Wash Park, and then a trip through some of the nicest neighborhoods in Denver, along with a brief stop at a building I worked at 15 years ago, and also a jaunt through Infinity Park...the home of rugby in Denver.



Friday, May 22, 2020

Eleven Hundred Eighteen


May 22, 2020
7.96 Miles in 1:19:07
Mood: Enjoying the little things along the way.
Soundtrack: Waxahatchee "Saint Cloud"

Almost a year ago on post 968 I posted a picture of a little gnome someone had left in the mouth of the wizard tree. Well...there is something new in that space, and I find it much cuter. Ladybugs! I love these little guys. They made my morning, and it was a good morning because there were pretty orange flowers and also a painted rock someone hid in a tree that told me to look up. (I did look up and saw a pretty tree, which I'm not sure if that was the point or not, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.) If fact I had a legitimately difficult time figuring out which picture to post because I got some good ones this trip. It's been awhile since I had to really ponder which picture to post, and it felt good.



Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Eleven Hundred Seventeen


May 19, 2020
8.22 Miles in 1:20:57
Mood: Spreading the joy of my running to security guards, I guess.
Soundtrack: U2 "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb"

It's May, so it shouldn't be surprising that flowers are in bloom, but here we are with me being surprise by these pink beauties this morning! I saw them right at the beginning of my outing, and didn't even bother taking another picture, because it felt like a pretty flower kind of day.

Yesterday I was out on a walk at Southglenn, and a security guard asked me why I wasn't running. He said he had missed seeing me over the past few weeks. It's true that I hadn't been running at Southglenn all that much recently, but I would never have believed ANYONE would notice. I decided to run half my run this morning at Southglenn this morning, and sure enough...I saw him and waved and he smiled. So I guess I made him happy? It made me feel good. Then I finished up on the Highline for a lovely Tuesday morning run.



Monday, May 18, 2020

Eleven Hundred Sixteen


May 17, 2020
8.40 Miles in 1:20:43
Mood: Are this statues contagious?
Soundtrack: TV On The Radio "Nine Types of Light"

Statues wearing masks is now a thing, apparently. It's not that these Gargoyles think the masks are going to prevent them from getting Coronavirus, they just want to make sure they don't give it to YOU. Gargoyles are good citizens.



Eleven Hundred Fifteen


May 15, 2020
7.80 Miles in 1:19:56
Mood: Good. Just good.
Soundtrack: The Killers "Wonderful Wonderful" and Everclear "Songs from an American Movie"

My wife says when I go on runs, I only ever go North and West, so I decided to go South and East. I prefer my normal direction (simply because of the Highline Canal), but this was a pretty nice run, and a day after my low blood sugar annoyance, I felt great the whole way through, which was nice.



Eleven Hundred Fourteen


May 14, 2020
5.18 Miles in 53:44
Mood: The Low Blood Sugar Blues.
Soundtrack: Gravel crunching underfoot

This run started out rough, and then got worse, and then turned into a walk. I listened to about half of the first song on the newest Vampire Weekend album, and then the batteries on my earbuds died. I was close enough to head back home to get a different pair, but I figured I'd just go music free on this one. I didn't feel at top form, but the first four miles or so were going okay, but then I felt a low blood sugar coming on. I ate my emergency peanut butter in hopes that it'd pull me through, but the damage was done, and the low blood sugar sapped my ability to sustain a running pace. I tried for about another mile, and then finally gave up and walked the rest of the way home. Diabetes doesn't cramp my style too often, but when it does, I get annoyed. At least I got five miles in first, but this was NOT the greatest run.

Right before I threw in the towel on the run, I saw this sign in a park. For some, the idea that we are all in this together must be comforting, but to me it just makes me think how everyone is having a rough time with the pandemic. That just bums me out, but then I focus on how fortunate I am even in the face of this pandemic, and then I feel a little better. Plus I remember that even this feels like it's going to last forever, it won't. Eventually things will return to some form of normal that feels a lot better than this.


Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Eleven Hundred Thirteen


May 12, 2020
9.55 Miles in 1:37:03
Mood: Knowing where I'm going, no matter what.
Soundtrack: Mumford & Sons "Delta" and "Wilder Mind"

Usually when I go running, I don't really know where I'm headed until I just start moving in a direction. Not this run. On this run, I began with a notion that I was going to Westlands Park, so I started out in that direction, and even when I realized that it was going to end up being a real long run because of that choice, I just kept moving that way. I felt like I had accomplished something when I arrived...at least until I realized I had to run all the way back, too. Then I felt a little foolish, but I knew I could make it back...even though I knew it was going to be a long trip. I ended up just shy of ten miles, and made this the second Tuesday in a row where I surpassed nine miles.

I'm pretty sure I've posted a picture of these playground hands before on the blog, but if I'm going to Westlands, I'm taking a picture of these things. It's just going to happen.



Eleven Hundred Twelve


May 10, 2020
8.00 Miles in 1:17:37
Mood: I needed to see new things.
Soundtrack: Nathaniel Rateliff "And It's Still Alright"

I ran one lap around Wash Park, and then decided I wanted to go somewhere else, so I just kept moving west instead of heading back north through the park, and suddenly I was running in a big rectangle that was very similar to the smaller rectangle I had just finished. It took me down Broadway and all sorts of interesting things to photograph, but nothing beat seeing Albert Einstein riding a velociraptor.



Friday, May 8, 2020

Eleven Hundred Eleven


May 8, 2020
8.06 Miles in 1:23:19
Mood: I'm not sure I've ever been happier to see a pink tree
Soundtrack: Jack White "Blunderbuss" and "Lazaretto"

BREAKING NEWS! WE HAVE A PINK TREE SIGHTING!!! To be fair, it was about the most anemic looking pink tree in history with hardly any blossoms, but since it is literally the only pink tree I have seen all spring, it still made me happy. First they took away our ability to interact in society and then they took away our pink trees...things have been in a downward spiral for the past couple of months, but I am choosing to see this pink tree as a harbinger of hope. (I think the word harbinger is usually used in a negative way, but I'm not here for that.) Pink trees and an end to Covid-19. That's all I'm asking for!

This particular run was pretty lame compared to my non-stop Tuesday, but since I had been hobbling about on Wednesday and Thursday with intense soreness, I was happy I felt good enough to get out and move!



Eleven Hundred Ten


May 5, 2020
9.10 Miles in 1:30:01
Mood: What if I just run forever?
Soundtrack: AJR "Neotheater"

I started out this run feeling really strong and just kept powering through without stopping. At about the 3 mile mark, I decided this was going to be one of those days where I just don't stop running ever. I ended up going 90 minutes without stopping once. I've never run that long without stopping in my life. It felt amazing, although I was sore for two solid days after with a soreness I have never before experienced. I'm still kind of in awe that I was able to do this.



Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Eleven Hundred Nine


May 3, 2020
8.27 Miles in 1:19:22
Mood: Appreciating cool stuff to take pictures of.
Soundtrack: The Decemberists "Castaways and Cutouts" and "The Crane Wife"

I love a lot of things about this photo. I love the cool tile on the house, I love the sun shining on the tree leaves, and I love the little dog wind catcher thing too! This house had what looked like a harp in the front yard too, but it was impossible to photograph in a cool way. The neighborhoods in between Wash Park and Cheesman Park have some pretty great houses.





Eleven Hundred Eight



May 1, 2020
7.66 Miles in 1:15:40
Mood: Spring is the thing!
Soundtrack: Frightened Rabbit "The Midnight Organ Fight"

We have entered shorts running weather time, and it is so glorious. As much as I bemoan Winter, Spring is amazing and I love it. The only downside to this spring (apart from the Covid elephant in the room) is that due to some unfortunately timed freezes, we didn't get any pink trees this April. However, the warm weather and lack of snow more than makes up for that. Perhaps next year we will get pink trees and maybe even be able to out in public without masks. Fingers crossed!