The G Running Diary

Why Did the Ducks Cross the Road?: 5/12/04

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I got out for one of those little neighborhood runs one day last week. I thought I'd just run to the end of the road. Well, the road here ends at the freeway, 101. That's not very far either. I took another road that would go over the freeway, but it was so busy with traffic I just didn't feel like it. So I looped around through one of the Silicon Valley wastelands: empty buildings of Loral 1-7 and 9-22. It was sort of depressing. I wondered how the people felt who were still working in the active building, right next door to one that had all the windows boarded up on the lower floor, and broken glass on the upper floors. I wouldn't want to work next to that.

My leg was bothering me when I started, but after a few minutes the pain went away entirely. This seems like an odd pattern. It's not compartment syndrome, because the pain pattern is reversed with that one. Same with stress fractures. It's not getting any worse either.

I came to another street that had a little more activity. I thought it was funny that I ran past a guy standing in a doorway, smoking, with workout equipment in the window right behind him. Then these two ducks flew down near me. They were making a lot of noise and stood there in the middle of the street. Well, it wasn't that busy, but I thought they really shouldn't stay there. So I went around behind them and herded them across. They were still quacking until they reached the grass where they calmed down. I had saved the ducks from being hit by a car. That was my good deed for the day. I finished the run and felt good.