Saturday, April 26, 2008

My Saturday run: The good, the bad and the ... beautiful?

As I was running around Ogden today, I had few experiences that merit sharing.

1. I found 15 cents on the road, a dime and a nickel. I am one more dime away from that gum ball I've had my eye on.


2. As I trotted through one neighborhood, I ran past three kids, all about 12 years old. One had a bike and as I ran past, he rode toward me on the sidewalk, then turned and stopped in front of me, cutting me off. I shook my head and kept going, thinking how he certainly picked the wrong place to stop. I ran about 50 feet more and the kid on the bike came from behind me, hit his brakes and skidded to a stop in front of, turning to cut me off again.
"Are you trying to cut me off?" I asked. He kind of laughed at me and didn't say anything. He was a lanky, freckle-faced kid who reminded me of my brother, Tanner. His mischievous smile also reminded me of Tanner.
I stepped around him and started running again, but after about 100 more feet, the kid rode past me again and again turned and braked, skidding to a stop about 5 feet in front of me, cutting me off again. I was a little perturbed by now, but I decided to teach physics instead of using physical violence.
"Dude," I said, "I am a lot bigger than you. If you cut me off and I can't stop, I will run you over and hurt you. I don't want to do that. I don't care if you keep cutting me off, just make sure you give me room to stop."
I stepped around him for the third time and kept running.
About half a block later, he came riding past me again, but rode about 30 feet in front of me before skidding to a stop. I had to time to simply run around him without having to stop.
"There you go," I said, and kept running.
I hope the encounter amused him as much as it amused me, since I think he was probably dared to be a punk by his friends. He is however, lucky, that I didn't end up plowing him over, whether by accident or otherwise.

3. As I was running up the big hill on my 6-mile run, in the hardest part, I had an experience that helped me run with head a bit higher.
A jet-black Chevy Tahoe drove by and all of a sudden, I heard a bunch of shrieking coming from the vehicle. About six teenage girls were waving at me and cheering me on!
That made my day!
With all the people who keep telling me what a cute pregnant lady Crystal is (and she is beautiful!), it's nice to know I still have it, too. However, I know I never look better than when Crystal is beside me.

UPDATE: I found another dime at CostCo this afternoon! Gum ball, here I come!

3 comments:

Map Maker said...

You know the gumball machine will only take a quarter right? Not two dimes and a nickel. You are going to have to find someone with some serious coinage to make a trade with.

Ali said...

Good to know you still have it, huh? This was a fun post to read...you SO have me beat Jordan. But I'm still going to make it to the finish and then some. :) I am planning on soon posting a link to yours for this run! I am way exited!! PS...what do you want for dinner?

Andrea said...

That story is pretty funny. I would have been very frustrated with that kid.