Sometimes

Two and half miles, as the crow flies, from the house I grew up in Montclair, NJ, on the crest of the third Watchung ridge, sits the Eagle Rock Reservation.  It is notable for the Essex County September 11th Memorial.  It was from this vantage point that citizens gathered to watch the events unfold 17 miles away on that fateful day twelve years ago.

Last Sunday I was in New Jersey and ran one final lap around my hometown.  I ran up Crest Dr. (aka Snake Hill Road) arriving at the ridge about 30 minutes past dawn.  It was a stunning sunrise and a photographer was there capturing the skyline.  The temperature was about 47 degrees with a still, cloudless sky.  

It was a run down memory lane for me.  I ran past landmarks that held importance to me including the Montclair Art Museum where I once worked checking coats.  I ran past houses I had painted and lawns I had mowed.  As I passed houses of old friends I wondered if the families still lived there. 

I ran past my old high school, stopping at the amphitheatre where my graduation was held.  I paused at the George Innes Annex, where freshman had their classes, with its segregated boys and girls gyms.  I ran past my old elementary and middle schools as well.

My spirits were sinking as I moved on.  Montclair is a beautiful town and I’m proud to have grown up there.  I’ve run along these streets many times, but this time the scene was tinged with sorrow.  I didn’t know when, or if, I would run this way again. 

It was at that low point when I spotted a figure running about 200 yards ahead of me.  There is no joy quite like gaining on, and passing, another runner.  I overtook that runner quickly and saw another runner, which I passed as well.  I was soon passing small groups of runners when I hear a voice call out “Hey, I know the Boulder Running Company!”  The shirt I was wearing had that store’s logo printed on my back.  The runner who spotted the logo had been to the location near South West Plaza Mall. 

I had stumbled into the tail end of the Fleet Feet Fall Marathon Training Run which was a supported 20 mile group run that crisscrossed Montclair.  The runners in this little pack were training for the New York City Marathon.  Entry into that race is about as hard to come by as a Rockies victory.  Meeting the runners broke my preoccupation and put me in a great mood.  

Friday night I cashed in the gift certificate to the Buckhorn Exchange that I won at this spring’s Platte River ½ Marathon.  Mary and I had dinner guests and I brought home three Dutch Lunches and three Dutch Apple Pie slices.  We savored the spoils of my victory.

An Active Insider email I received this week issued a 30-Day Lunge Challenge, so I printed out the 30-Day Lunge Tracker calendar started the program.  Today I was able to do 100 lunges (30 front, 20 right side, 20 left side, 30 reverse plus 10 scissor lunges) at one time, though I had to rest between sets.  This will give me something new to obsess about.