8 Mile Run
Monday, November 6, 2006
After 7 years of living in Albany, I finally did something I had never done before - I went for a run in Albany. Right out of my front door.
That used to be a regular occurence, back when I lived down in Hillsdale... I had a number of great loops I could run right from my house. (Of course, I also had the wonderful Berkshires right next door too, and lots of hills to make my legs strong - but those are other stories!) One of the many things I've missed about moving away from the country has been the necessity of driving to anywhere decent to run.
Last night I really didn't feel like driving 40-60 minutes (round trip) so that I could go run on the bike path or in the Pine Bush, so I geared up and headed out on the Albany sidewalks, over toward the Academies and along some of the streets nearby (residential areas, which I knew would be a little nicer than "downtown".)
A few observations -
- Albany is noisy. Even running at night there's never a quiet moment.
- Cars are a pain, even when you're running on the sidewalk. The headlights make it tough to see, and when you come to an intersection you have to have your head on a swivel to make sure you're not going to end up plastered on someone's grill. (On the plus side, having cursed out many a runner for just blazing through intersections without a glance - I know to slow down and look all ways before continuining.) But at least in chillier weather the exhaust fumes aren't as bad...
- Whoever designed sidewalks to go up and down and up and down definitely didn't have runners in mind. On the other hand, my trail experience was a major plus running over cracked, buckled, pot-holed sidewalks.
- Other pedestrians can be very single-minded in their pursuit of sidewalk dominance. Fortunately, running at night reduces the number of those encounters.
Overall, it was a decent run, but definitely not one I was doing to enjoy where I was running... the enjoyment had to come from the act of running itself. Still, I can see the convenience of being able to step out the door and get in a run, and I suspect I'll do more running in Albany in the future... but not on a regular basis. Getting away from so-called civilization is just too much a part of why I run for me to ever make running in the city a regular part of my training.
JMH
