Curb Enthusiasm
Got an urge to blog again this morning. Got the urge despite (or perhaps because of) having two deadlines weighing heavy on my mind and the kids at home. Its a beautiful summer morning, and my desire to write likely reflects my feeling good about my running.
Its easy to wax positive about all the running I want to do on a day when I don't run, as I did yesterday. Its well known among writers about how much easier it is to get to the point of being "ready" to write than it is to actually write. It was a different story at 5:45 this morning when I got up. It still did not feel at all upbeat and enthusiastic heading out the door 35 minutes later. And once I was out I was into the moment more than I was filled with the self-consciousness of this morning's run being part of anything much grander. I leave that to writings such as I did last night.
I met up Deirdre at where Race Street meets the Schuylkill bike path. We headed past Lloyd Hall over Lemon Hill and into Fairmount Park. We talked about our weekends and the chatter got on to other topics including one of our pet peeves - those who fear that running in Philadelphia is unsafe. We both have our takes on this - Deirdre responding that it is less safe for a woman to be at home than running the Philadelphia streets, as violence against women is far more pervasive at home than in public places; and I maintain that it is far safer to run in the city than in the suburbs when you factor traffic fatalities into the equation - something that is more prevalent in the suburbs.
We are clearly both biased and admittedly are likely to twist things to align with our points of view, so I did a quick google to see what there was on the web on this. The answer is, of course, that it depends on how you twist things around. One article says that when you just look at fatalities (traffic or homicide) at the hands of strangers - which speaks to the concerns voiced by people bringing this up - urban areas are indeed safer. Another article I found muddles the case a bit more but asserts that there will always be an irrational fear of the spectacular (albeit rare) event over the more mundane. And thus it is fated that people will continue to post to the Philly Runner message board inquiring about their safety when they ponder running the streets of this fair city.
And to show my enthusiasm this morning I tacked on ten extra minutes to make this route which got my mileage up over 8. In 70:03. Life is good. My run is over, and I can again be enthusiastic about all the running I can do in the future. Be careful out there.
Its easy to wax positive about all the running I want to do on a day when I don't run, as I did yesterday. Its well known among writers about how much easier it is to get to the point of being "ready" to write than it is to actually write. It was a different story at 5:45 this morning when I got up. It still did not feel at all upbeat and enthusiastic heading out the door 35 minutes later. And once I was out I was into the moment more than I was filled with the self-consciousness of this morning's run being part of anything much grander. I leave that to writings such as I did last night.
I met up Deirdre at where Race Street meets the Schuylkill bike path. We headed past Lloyd Hall over Lemon Hill and into Fairmount Park. We talked about our weekends and the chatter got on to other topics including one of our pet peeves - those who fear that running in Philadelphia is unsafe. We both have our takes on this - Deirdre responding that it is less safe for a woman to be at home than running the Philadelphia streets, as violence against women is far more pervasive at home than in public places; and I maintain that it is far safer to run in the city than in the suburbs when you factor traffic fatalities into the equation - something that is more prevalent in the suburbs.
We are clearly both biased and admittedly are likely to twist things to align with our points of view, so I did a quick google to see what there was on the web on this. The answer is, of course, that it depends on how you twist things around. One article says that when you just look at fatalities (traffic or homicide) at the hands of strangers - which speaks to the concerns voiced by people bringing this up - urban areas are indeed safer. Another article I found muddles the case a bit more but asserts that there will always be an irrational fear of the spectacular (albeit rare) event over the more mundane. And thus it is fated that people will continue to post to the Philly Runner message board inquiring about their safety when they ponder running the streets of this fair city.
And to show my enthusiasm this morning I tacked on ten extra minutes to make this route which got my mileage up over 8. In 70:03. Life is good. My run is over, and I can again be enthusiastic about all the running I can do in the future. Be careful out there.
posted by seebo | 9:10 AM
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