Ain't Got No Money, Ain't Got No Gas........

No money in my pockets: early holiday shopping, Thanksgiving and a new tattoo took care of that. No gas in the tack: that's what I discovered yesterday when attempting to run with Ivy League again.

Notice I said 'attempting'. Like an overweight German Shepard with hip displasia running after a young rabbit, I kept trying to push my legs to meet his. But he stayed just ahead of me: every time I thought I'd caught him, he'd go just a little bit faster. Then he hopped out of sight altogether.

A weird feeling, too. I wasn't breathing that hard. My legs just wouldn't respond. One is still sore this morning and my back hurts. Hmmmmmmm.

Kindly meeting me at work, we raced to get changed and to fit in a run before my next appointment. Down to the West Side path then up and over to Riverside. The right side of Riverside is significantly hillier than the left side, which is already quite hillly. My legs, remembering the beauty of Baltimore hills in the recent past, put up a protest. After getting up to 120th, we cut by Columbia and went over to that amazing promenade on the other side of Columbia.

"These used to be a series of burned-out houses. The students in this dorm would often wake up to gunshots." I know that this was true, having witnessed some of this myself in trips to visit graduate school friends in the 90s. But it's very hard to reconcile the 'past' picture with the 'present' picture of redone facades, baby strollers and other yuppy paraphanalia. Then, down to the park. Decided to go down the West side because of time constraints. After getting water, an essential for the warm day and my overdressed self (thinking it was November, after all, I only have a pair of double-lined long pants at my office that are currently usable as running gear), off we went. And this is where I started running completely by myself.

With "Cherry Pie" stuck in my head. Not the best way to finish a run. Ivy League was running so fast that I quickly lost him to the horizon. I kept motoring along as best I could on my tired, lazy legs.

Either everyone in the park was running slowly, or we were running pretty fast. The only person I didn't pass going the same direction was Ivy League, himself.

Finally: in the middle of the refrain "taste so good, make a grown man cry", I saw Ivy League doubling back and Columbus Circle. I made us stop for some much-needed frozen yogurt. Having a small lunch at 10:45am is probably not the best idea when you are not running until 3:40pm!

Hoping I can run an easy run today. The Turkey Trot is Thursday, so I'll take tomorrow off and concentrate on teaching, research and cooking. Finished my tattoo last night, though, and my leg is quite swollen. We'll see......