Outdoors - the Real Stuff

Not sure that I always like the real outdoors for running.

You know, the real outdoors: not my usual urban chaos, not even a short oasis in the trees.

The real outdoors, where all there is around you is green. And biting insects.

I got to see my brother and my sister-in-law on Monday. My brother humored me with a run. My sister-in-law wisely declined and efficiently got work done.

Firstly, you usually have to drive to the real outdoors. In our case, we had to drive over to the B & O trail off of Ashland Road. (Ok: a rails-to-trails space might not qualify as the real outdoors but, in a state as small and as densly packed as Maryland, that's almost as close as we get.)

And the drive, during rushhour, took almost 40 minutes. For about three miles.

Me, in the car: We can just park at Mars. There's a parking lot. Then, we can just run up York Road and meet the trail.
My brother: Um, that would make us run up one of the most car-clogged roads in all of Baltimore county. We'd just see cars and breathe in smog. Oh, and don't forget the strip malls.
Me, swinging leg impatiently: but then we'd be running! Not sitting in the car.
Brother, speaking slowly as to a irrational child: Well, there's this thing called 'quality of run'. And we'd likely just run to the trail and have to turn back. And you're talking about parking my new car with boxes in the back in the middle of a parking lot in the Baltimore area.
Me: Thhhppt. You'll see!

Anyway, we got there. And the run itself was awesome because my brother humored me in going slowly. We had a lot to catch up on and running my mouth makes me not run as fast with my legs.

And it was great to run on loose gravel/dirt instead of concrete or asphalt.

But when you (or, at least, I) tend to think about the real outdoors, you think about cliffs showing a waterfall, or emerald lushness around a sparkling pond with a blue and white-wisped sky.

We had some greeny-brown stuff, a greeny-brown river that wasn't doing much of anything, a lot of bugs and murky skies. Bo-ring.

But, maybe that's part of the point. Why have so much eye stimulation, like I have in the city, or in one of those real outdoors areas I am always imagining?

The lack of eye stimulation certainly made me concentrate more on my brother's conversation. And on how my body felt, running.

Which was probably better, after all.

And that gravel/dirt was awefully nice on the old knees.

1 hour and 15 minutes so.....Hopefully, 8 miles.....