Lonesome Prairie Wind
We rolled into Arlington yesterday evening. Not only that, but Cindy scammed an introductory AOL hookup (that she will cancel as soon as we return to Philly) so that we have internet access here, albeit dialup access. So once again I can keep blogging.
I went out long this morning, heading south on Daniel St. in East Arlington (for those of you who know this town) and then New York Ave. down past I-20, Tarrant Co. College, Highway 360 and all the way down into Grand Prairie into Loyd Park and down to Joe Pool Lake and back along a somewhat different way. 1:12:30 going out and 1:17:30 coming back a somewhat different way. This hookup is too slow to measure the route online, so I'm conservatively estimating it to be 17 miles.
This was the opposite of a negative split run. I had a tailwind going down that led me to feel like I was running really strong, and I didn't know how hard the wind was blowing until I turned around and the wind hit me full force. SE Arlington is open and flat, and there is nothing to break this wind, so it was all I could do to just slog into it for what seemed like endless miles.
I used to live in Arlington, for about four years, in the early 90s. I still make it back here once or twice a year, mainly to visit Cindy's parents, and coming back is like time lapse photography. The pace of change around here is so fast and so etched into the built environment. The SE area of Arlington is like Sim City, every time I go there are new parcels of residential and commercial development popping up and pushing back the undeveloped land.
Tarrant County College, which has been there for a few years now, was once all alone, now it is increasingly surrounding by various stuff. The campus is interesting in how it is all contained in one building, high school style. From the outside it seems like post-high school instead of college.
Then there is a mega church, forgot the name, non-denominational of course, whose grounds I cut through on the way back to avoid having to backtrack on Ragland and Arlington-Webb Streets. The church was Texas sized, in a vague mall architecture only built upwards to bring forth the loftiness and grandeur of Jesus, I suppose. What struck me was not the architecture, however, but how the building was surrounded by parking lots, which were numbered, mall style, with placards on the light poles so that the faithful could remember where they parked their car. I thought the lots should have been named after bible characters, Disney style, instead of letters. My church doesn't have those kinds of parking lots. Then, as I headed out of the south exit, I passed a sign telling me I was now "reentering mission country." That got me thinking for awhile.
Lots of little things like that kept my mind busy on the run, but it was nonetheless a long run. My legs are weary but it was my brain, more than my legs, that seemed to get the workout. 2.5 hours is a long time to be out alone on the prairie. Gotta go, as I promised Tony we'd see Narnia in a half an hour.
I went out long this morning, heading south on Daniel St. in East Arlington (for those of you who know this town) and then New York Ave. down past I-20, Tarrant Co. College, Highway 360 and all the way down into Grand Prairie into Loyd Park and down to Joe Pool Lake and back along a somewhat different way. 1:12:30 going out and 1:17:30 coming back a somewhat different way. This hookup is too slow to measure the route online, so I'm conservatively estimating it to be 17 miles.
This was the opposite of a negative split run. I had a tailwind going down that led me to feel like I was running really strong, and I didn't know how hard the wind was blowing until I turned around and the wind hit me full force. SE Arlington is open and flat, and there is nothing to break this wind, so it was all I could do to just slog into it for what seemed like endless miles.
I used to live in Arlington, for about four years, in the early 90s. I still make it back here once or twice a year, mainly to visit Cindy's parents, and coming back is like time lapse photography. The pace of change around here is so fast and so etched into the built environment. The SE area of Arlington is like Sim City, every time I go there are new parcels of residential and commercial development popping up and pushing back the undeveloped land.
Tarrant County College, which has been there for a few years now, was once all alone, now it is increasingly surrounding by various stuff. The campus is interesting in how it is all contained in one building, high school style. From the outside it seems like post-high school instead of college.
Then there is a mega church, forgot the name, non-denominational of course, whose grounds I cut through on the way back to avoid having to backtrack on Ragland and Arlington-Webb Streets. The church was Texas sized, in a vague mall architecture only built upwards to bring forth the loftiness and grandeur of Jesus, I suppose. What struck me was not the architecture, however, but how the building was surrounded by parking lots, which were numbered, mall style, with placards on the light poles so that the faithful could remember where they parked their car. I thought the lots should have been named after bible characters, Disney style, instead of letters. My church doesn't have those kinds of parking lots. Then, as I headed out of the south exit, I passed a sign telling me I was now "reentering mission country." That got me thinking for awhile.
Lots of little things like that kept my mind busy on the run, but it was nonetheless a long run. My legs are weary but it was my brain, more than my legs, that seemed to get the workout. 2.5 hours is a long time to be out alone on the prairie. Gotta go, as I promised Tony we'd see Narnia in a half an hour.
posted by seebo | 2:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home