Eleven Hundred Seventy-Seven

 

September 29, 2020

7.00 Miles in 1:12:59

Mood: A little frightened

Soundtrack: Too Beautiful To Live

This is a pretty impressive Halloween decoration, especially for September. Honestly people who get this into Halloween freak me out a little, because this is some dark stuff to be a huge fan of, but I won't lie that This guy hanging out with his giant claws on their front lawn was pretty impressive.

Eleven Hundred Seventy-Six

 

September 27, 2020

7.58 Miles in 1:15:40

Mood: Back to the best!

Soundtrack: Built To Spill "There Is No Enemy"

I finally returned to Wash Park on a Sunday morning for the first time in over a month. Sunday and Wash Park are still my favorite running combo, and although I've mixed in a few Saturdays, it's good to get back to the real best. I don't know what it is about Sundays that feel different there, but they definitely do. There were some dramatic clouds and some rather chilly temps (for September), but it was a solid seven miles of greatness.

Eleven Hundred Seventy-Five

September 25, 2020

5.04 Miles in 51:02

Mood: Low blood sugar custodian.
Soundtrack: Passenger "All The Little Lights"

I left the house with a plan in my head and a plastic bag in my pocket. I am so tired of the proliferation of cheap crappy toys on the wizard tree. It started with just a few, but slowly it has grown to the point that there were about 50 pieces of plastic crap on my favorite tree on the Highline Canal, and I have had enough. This was the day that they were all coming down.

Then about a mile and a quarter into the run, a low blood sugar hit. I briefly entertained thoughts of giving up and returning home, but my mission kept me moving, although at a walk instead of a run. I ate my emergency peanut butter, and then kept moving forward. When I arrived at the tree, I spent a couple of minutes filling my grocery bag with cheap toys and when I was done it was full and the tree was back to it's bare glory. I deposited the bag into the first trash can I saw, and then continued walking towards the nearest convenience store where I purchased a sugary drink that I very quickly consumed. About 15 minutes later, I finally felt okay, and managed to get this nearly aborted walk up to five miles which when combined with the cleaning of the tree, felt like a glorious accomplishment.

Today's photo comes from my first ever photographic proof of Pickletown. I have read that there is a very old part of Littleton, basically the oldest part of Littleton, named Pickletown. This is an area that I learned about via internet surfing. Allegedly it earned it's name for the homemade pickles that were sold there. It's an area that I run through a lot, but I have never been able to really see any proof of it's existence until this outing when I saw this sign. I was very excited to see anything that referenced Pickletown, and knew what my photo for the day would be.

Eleven Hundred Seventy-Four

 

September 23, 2020

7.52 Miles in 1:18:36

Mood: Thinking about big picture stuff and the part running plays in my life.
Soundtrack: Fleet Foxes "Shore"

The world is a mess right now. Angst is flowing hard everywhere you go between the upcoming election, police violence, pestilence across the world, half the western United States burning and political upheaval it seems that pretty much all news is bad news of late. It's easy to succumb to the dull dread of it all, which is one of the best things about running. I can just get on a trail, listen to music, and things are fine for awhile. Plus it's good for me physically too! I sometimes think back to where I was 8 years ago before I started running and wonder how my life would be different if I hadn't, and I honestly wonder if I'd even still be alive. I was overweight and unhealthy, and running may have actually saved my life. I'd probably still be here, but the pandemic and all these uncertain times would have been so much harder on me, so thank you running...without this activity that is so important to me now, my life would certainly be worse than it is now. 

Eleven Hundred Seventy-Three

 

September 21, 2020

7.91 Miles in 1:20:27

Mood: Time to reload
Soundtrack: Hey Marseilles "Hey Marseilles"

There was a Pokemon Go Community Day on Sunday, so my Poke supplies were wiped out, so I decided to make my run a supply run at Southglenn. As you can see by the map, I was running in circles for a good long time, and built back up a solid supply of pokeballs and got in almost 8 miles in the process, so it was a truly productive outing.

Eleven Hundred Seventy-Two

 

September 19, 2020

7.18 Miles in 1:09:43

Mood: Saturday in the park, not much to say.

Soundtrack: The Avett Brothers "Emotionalism"

I don't think I've run on a Sunday for about a month, but I still managed to get my Wash Park fix in with a Saturday run that worked out better for my schedule. It was a pretty uneventful run, but I felt good and it was a beautiful morning, so sometimes no news is good news. 

Eleven Hundred Seventy-One

 

September 17, 2020

7.07 Miles in 1:14:15

Mood: Hootie? and sadness that the pandemic decimated the chalk art festival.
Soundtrack: Hootie & The Blowfish "Imperfect Circe" and TBTL and The Bill Simmons Podcast

I saw that Hootie and the Blowfish had an new album released in 2020, and I was intrigued because Hootie is something I thought we left in the 90's, and yet, here it was...new music. I listened to the whole album to be polite, but I think Hootie is something that we don't need in 2020. Didn't quite feel right, and the music was just not that good. I usually listen to the album I'm listening to on a run a couple of times, but once the first spin ended, I called it good and audibled to some podcasts that I wanted to get caught up on.

Today's photo comes from a very small chalk art festival that was held the previous weekend at the Streets at Southglenn. This was easily my favorite piece because it's very cool how they made it look 3D. There were only about 10 works that were done, which is sad, as there usually around a hundred or more all around Southglenn, but with the Covid-19 pandemic, they had to cut way back. It was still cool to see, but it also served as a bit of a reminder of how subpar to terrible 2020 is compared with non-pandemic times.

Eleven Hundred Seventy

 

September 14, 2020

7.00 Miles in 1:13:00

Mood: Arts and crafts are fun.
Soundtrack: Middle Brother "Middle Brother"

There are a bunch of these painted rock formations right next to a home on the Highline Canal trail. Someone has clearly been going ham painting rocks during quarantine, and it actually looks really cool! 

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Nine

 

September 12, 2020

7.58 Miles in 1:19:36

Mood: Do you ever feel like you're being watched? By like, trees?
Soundtrack: Leaving those earbuds at home again.

Spent most of this run going in circles at Southglenn to load up on Pokemon supplies at the plethora of Pokestops available there, and then finished up the final mile and a half at DeKoevend Park, which was definitely the best part of this run. I was able to watch several kids soccer games as I ran through the park, but even better, I found a part of the park where the trees literally have eyes. I very much approve of eyes being placed in trees, by the way.

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Eight

 

September 10, 2020

7.56 Miles in 1:19:34

Mood: When you gotta go!
Soundtrack: Band of Horses "Everything All The Time"

Does a Craig poop in the woods? He will if he has to go badly enough, and this was one of those days. I tried to hold out, because I would MUCH rather use a toilet, but sometimes your body makes these decisions for you. I found a secluded-ish spot in a grove of trees and took care of business because time was literally running out. Hell hath no laxative like being three miles into a run. I walked another mile to a grocery store and then found a bathroom to finish up and clean up, and then four more glorious miles on a cold and cloudy day. It was a cold run, and only a few days after nearly melting in Wash Park, I had to bundle up in long pants and a fleece to stay warm. I had skipped running for a few days because, although it is only early September, it snowed on Tuesday. I'm not a fan of snow to begin with, but when it starts snowing early on in my favorite month, that is a bridge too far. DO NOT LIKE!

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Seven

 

September 7, 2020

10.11 Miles in 1:43:18

Mood: If you're going to post a joke on your fence, I WILL take a picture.
Soundtrack: Modest Mouse "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank"

The joke posted on this fence is middling humor at best and has a grammatical error (it should have used "Do" not "Does"), but the fact that someone was willing to nail a giant joke to their fence was worth commemorating. 

It was Labor Day, and that meant no work for me, and it also meant I could pretty much take as long a run as I wanted to take, so I decided to go into double digit miles. It felt good to not worry about having to ever get back, and I went a ways with that freedom...all the way to Writer's Vista Park, which is not something I would normally do if I also had to work. Felt good!

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Six

 

September 5, 2020

7.19 Miles in 1:10:32

Mood: Basically melting, so hot
Soundtrack: Lupe Fiasco "Lasers"

I skipped out on running on Friday because I needed sleep, so I decided to head up to Wash Park for a rare Saturday run. I had slept in because it was Saturday and why not? So by the time I arrived the temps were in the 90's and rising. By the time I started my second lap, I was sweating profusely and seriously questioning my decision to run during lunchtime instead of my usual early in the morning. I entertained thoughts of quitting early, but I was very proud to be able to get it out to a full 7 mile run before heading home with the blessed relief of air conditioning. It was close to unbearably hot, but I made it through.

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Five

 

September 3, 2020

8.33 Miles in 1:26:02

Mood: Pretty in Pink, and Happy Birthday Jen!
Soundtrack: No Music, left the earbuds at home

It was Jen's birthday, and it was a nice day. The pink color of this car was pretty great, so I decided to post it for my run picture, even though the driver and passenger seats were both covered in Raiders seat covers, which is a pretty shoddy way to treat a pretty car like this. I have to imagine that someday my daughter will have a car similar in color to this one, because I'm pretty sure she'd love it.

Eleven Hundred Sixty-Four

 

September 1, 2020

8.00 Miles in 1:20:52

Mood: Misty and nostalgic
Soundtrack: Oasis "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?"

It was super misty as I left the house this morning, which gave the world a mysterious feel. It also made the sunrise quite pretty. I heard a podcast talking about Oasis, so I figured I fire up their most famous album and go full 90's retro as I ran. The music combined with the cool weather just kinda worked, and the vibe of the run was set. I enjoyed it immensely, especially after skipping my Sunday run, I just wanted to get in some miles, and it was a spectacular way to begin the month.