August 4, 2016
7.06 Miles in 1:07:05
Mood: Pondering the potential energy of trees mixed with gravity.
Soundtrack: 99% Invisible / Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip "Angles"
The night before this run, my wife and I were talking about how the parks department is cutting down trees all along the Highline Canal. I am very pro tree, and so my wife was wondering how I felt about wanton tree destruction. I think I surprised her by telling her I was fine with it. This photo is the reason why. As I was running along the trail this particular morning, I noticed this tree and a huge portion of it had fallen off and fallen into the canal. It left the stump looking haggard and more importantly, it violently fell to the ground and ruptured into several pieces.
The reason I'm cool with people cutting down some trees (not all, but some) is that they are looking for the ones that could potentially fall as I am running under them. I am greatly opposed to trees falling on me. This is, and always will be, my position on falling trees. If we have to sacrifice a few to make sure that I stay unflattened, that is a reasonable action on my behalf.
Honestly, I do run trails fairly regularly looking at trees and thinking how they could fall on me. I'm not usually very worried about unlikely horrific events, but a tree giving out whilst I'm under it is a thing I routinely give thought towards. I don't worry about it per se, but I do think about it.
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