Yeah, my favorite food is finally in season! Nothing like a handful of ice cold grapes after a warm summer run. Grapes are available almost year round but I am picky about my grapes. They must be smallish, firm and $1.99/pound or less.
Beautiful! Freshly washed grapes (with a few missing sorry about that 🙂
We have been home for 5 days now. For some reason, after international travel, John and I come home with some type of respiratory infection. In 2004, after spending the hours before our flight home in the musty, stuffy catacombs in Lima, Peru, we returned to 10 days of congestion and stuffy noses. In 2006, after spending 10 days gazing at the brown, polluted China skies, we returned home to a week of congestion and stuffy noses. Now, in 2008 after avoiding the catacombs and staying out of the polluted cities, we are again suffering from congestion and stuffy noses. Maybe we are having a bad reaction to returning home 🙂
When I woke up this morning, I felt like I had been slammed by the train from Cusco to Puno but decided to run anyway. I would have preferred to leave from my front door, but opted to drive to Neyland Drive along the Tennessee River because the route is mostly flat and more appealing than facing my neighborhood hills again.
I started off slowly. At 9:15 AM, the sun was warm but with the temp somewhere in the 60’s and a breeze drifting off the river, I was quite comfortable. I enjoyed feeling my feet hit the pavement and listening to my breathing. My thoughts drifted aimlessly and occasionally tuned into my iPod, which was plugged into one ear.
At the turn around point, I had the breeze to my back and started to get really warm. I set small goals of running to the bits of shade that dotted the route. I reminded my self that I was 2 days away from my latest summer run. The date was June 21 in 1998. I was running a lot at the time but couldn’t gut out the summer heat and humidity. After that, I mostly quit running, picking it up occasionally but sticking with it for only a month or two at the time. This year I have a goal to stick it out, to get beyond my dislike of summer running and come into the fall with a solid base. I am determined….
The run covered 4.2-miles out and back. I took away from the run the sights and sounds of the river, the sweet smell of the mimosa blossoms and a sense of accomplishment. I am one day closer to my goal.
