The weekend came and left too fast. We started Saturday morning with a neighborhood run. John took off in a dash. It was warm and humid and I just wasn’t feeling it so I dragged my feet. We hit the usual spots, the South Knoxville “strip,” Suttree Park and a lap or two around our neighborhood boulevard. I clinched my teeth through most of the run and stopped the second my Garmin hit 3.0 miles. As a result, I had to walk my tired self home another mile. John was home before me with an additional mile run on his Garmin. Sigh…
New South Knoxville Riverwalk, just outside our neighborhood
After lunch John convinced me that I wanted get on my bicycle. I really don’t why I agreed as the run had been so painful. We loaded the bikes on the car and drove to the downtown waterfront (about 2 miles from our house) to avoid bicycling the worst of the hills. As it turned out, the ride was great! We rode a 12 mile out and back route on a branch of our local greenway system. The minor aggravations that occur when not regularly on the bike (aching neck, torso and tush) did not happen for me. I contribute that to 8 weeks of daily planking and push ups. YES!
Looks like we are in jail but this is the view as we bicycled on the Alcoa Highway cantilevered greenway across the Tennessee River toward the UT Ag Campus and Cherokee Farm. The fence protects all of us bicyclers and runners.
Fence along the border between the University of Tennessee agricultural farms and the greenway.
We had dinner al fresco, our first of the season. I was one tired girl barely mustering up a smile.
We finished the day with a stroll downtown. The Big Ears Festival was in progress and while we had no plans to stop in a music venue, we knew the crowd on the streets would be interesting. We were not disappointed. We parked on the outer edge of town and walked. We headed first to Market Square to watch the stilt walkers, street musicians and drifters. The restaurants were full and diners poured out onto the outdoor patios to eat, drink and enjoy the warm spring evening.
Downtown revelers
Stilt walkers and musicians
We walked to the end of Gay Street and watched the sunset from the rail yard bridge. We then circled around to the Old City and back to Gay Street. We stopped at The Phoenix Pharmacy and Fountain for hand dipped ice cream smothered in gooey toppings and whipped cream and finally returned to the car, just a few minutes short of our two-hour free parking limit. Sometime before turning in for the night, I checked my Garmin, 20,451 steps for the day. Whew!
Saturday night sunset
Sunset reflected in the windows of renovated warehouses along the rail yard.
The Pheonix was busy!
Rain was forecast for Sunday and it was a surprise to wake up and find that the area had experienced only light showers overnight. My legs were having nothing to do with running so we set out for a long walk, again on our local greenway system. This time we headed in the opposite direction as Saturday, toward (and beyond) Ijams Nature Center.
The stretch of greenway, known as the Will Skelton Greenway is one of the prettier walks in the Knoxville system of walking/running/biking paths. We walked at a determined pace, a pace that was faster than my feet felt comfortable. The steps and miles clicked by as we passed through the Nature Center and into the Wildlife Management Area. Finally we were striding alongside the river. Somewhere around the 3.5 mile point we decided to turn around. Both of us were feeling the two days of effort. We hit out front porch with 7.0 miles of walking, far further than planned but there is something about chasing steps with our Garmins.
Bits of leaf green are visible on the trees along the greenway. Spring is almost fully here.
Beaver dam along the Will Skelton Greenway.
A manged wildlife area lies on one side the this section of the Will Skelton Greenway, the Tennessee Rive is on the other.
Tenneesee River from the greenway. Will Skelton had this bench placed at this bend of the river in memory of his parents.
We ended the day a few hundred steps short of 20,000. We had fun being so active but I paid for the weekend warrior attitude with foot pain, top of the foot pain that is just now subsiding, a full 2 days later. What is that about??!!
