Thursday Night Spring Diversion: 4 Miles on the Spring Creek Greenway

Well, I'm going to revert back to my blog for awhile and stay off of most social media.  I think.

That's the plan.

I had a situation today that rattled me a little bit - which I won't go into, but I believe it is - once again - time to take some steps back from my involvement.

I won't stop running and working out.  Although a picture here and there will still bother me a little bit, I've done pretty good to keep the 30 pounds that I've lost in the last year off here in 2019.

I've been using Instagram recently as bit of a long form, but I'm just going to process life on the run here the best way I know how.  Besides, not too many people come here any way unless I explicitly post a link.

I'll just say this:  Life can be tough at times when you're an introvert and alone.

I admit that generally I like to be in control of my environment.  If I want to engage with somebody, I will.  And I don't like if somebody gets in my personal space without my permission.

I had that happen here recently at a running event and when I had my first chance to leave, I took it - because I was made to feel uncomfortable.

The first running club that I was ever a member of was the Houston Striders and in 2004, a year after I started to run, I wanted to get to meet people.  And the club was part of a gateway to the larger greater Houston area running community and beyond.

The Striders, first through John DiMarco and now via Chadwick Holmes, Hans Wong and Keith Willhelm, have re-embraced me as their finish line announcer for the Houston Half Marathon and 10K - presented, of course, by Koala Health and Wellness Centers.

They had a social run this evening at 11 Below Brewing Company that I wanted to go to near Willowbrook Mall, but I was feeling a little bit down, took a short nap at the end of the work day (I work at home) and it got to a point to where traffic getting there would have been a beast.  Ah, not for me.

Instead, I went to Dennis Johnston Park, which sits right off the Spring Creek Greenway, at about 6 p.m. this evening.

The last time I ran towards Interstate 45 to the west, I saw a copperhead in the middle of the trail after about two miles.  Therefore, I decided to head east.

I walked to the 13.0 mile marker and started to run.  While in the mid-nineties, the shade actually made it feel not that hot.

I went two miles in 21:11.68 - a comfortable 10:36 per mile pace.

I walked to the next tenth of a mile marker and back, taking 3:29.63.

And then started to run back.

On the way, I came up along a gentleman who told me that he had his 52nd birthday today.

Normally, I don't engage, but we were running about the same pace and it would have been hard to get too far ahead of him without saying something.

Earlier, a couple of bikes had gone by and only one had acknowledged that it was passing with a verbal "on the left".

I thanked the cyclist and told him that he was the first one today that had done that.

As I came up behind the man, I remarked about that and he was in hearty agreement that there were bikes that would come right up on him when he was running there on the trail.

We had a good conversation to the 13.0 mile marker.

His name was Michael and he shared that he was training for the Houston Half Marathon in late October.

He was doing 11 10K's and one half marathon this year and he already had six 10K's in the book and planned to do two in September and two in November, booked around the half.

I asked him which 10K he did in June - as he had related a story from that race - and he said the Run Houston Clear Lake.

I told him that I know or have worked with most of the race directors in town and acknowledged that Ron Stitt and company put on good races.

I finished the return in 21:06.41 - again, a nice 10:33 pace.

After being down in the dumps a little while earlier, I was encouraged and as I walked back to my car - being a believer, I realized that God put that man in my path to encourage me with conversation when I wasn't feeling so great.

When I made it to the parking lot, I was dismayed seeing a couple of cyclists - one who was riding a recumbent bike - that had blown by us earlier.  I wanted to engage, but I didn't.

While we were out there on the trail, there was a Harris County Constable riding in a cart and I saw him as he was walking back to his truck.

I thanked him for being out there, even though it's his job to patrol the park.

I asked him if there really were many issues out there and he said that there was often something always going on, but that it was primarily kids close to where homes backed up to the trail.  I asked him if they saw any activity coming up from the creek and he said that they hadn't.

We also had a good conversation and again I felt as if God put me in a place to be encouraged by the interaction of a complete stranger even.

I measure my running on a 25th to 24th basis (will explain another time) -- and I'm at 63.931 miles for the cycle with six days to go.  I'll probably get a little over 80, but we'll see.

If you happen to see this on Thursday, have a great Friday and weekend ahead.  I have an idea where I'm going to run a race at this weekend, but I'll know for sure tomorrow.