First Run

The first day, less than a week ago, Deirdre, the girls and I ran to the little 1888 school house. Since then, we’ve talked endlessly about just how long it is from our house to the school house. 

We started around the garage, ran past the five humongous Newfoundlands at Shami’s.

And we ran uphill to get to that road. Deirdre said, “Going up hill, take small steps.” She said,  “Don’t worry about your upper body at all. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth.”

Second Run

On Saturday, we ran again, just me and the girls and Hayden. We ran to the schoolhouse, lay on the grass and stared at the Adirondack mountains. We watched the clouds. I was exhausted.

I love the school house. I love the grass, the broken fence, the tree, the yellow lyme schoolhouse. I love laying or sitting in the grass. Watching the kids do gymnastics. Every which way you look, there’s beauty.  A farmer’s field, a newly paved black road.

As we lay on the grass, Hayden said, “Hey there’s Jeff Kelly.” Jeff’s a writer, a jock, and my brother in law Jeff’s best friend. He is a natural athlete and flirt, told me I looked beguiling. I hit him in the chest with the back of my hand. He laughed.

He said he thought the run from our house to the school house was 3/4 of a mile. That made us feel good. He ran backwards as he talked to us, which made me feel lik he could run circles around me, which wasn’t a good feeling because he’s at least 15 years older than me.

Third Run

Yesterday, I said, “I’m gonna go for a run,” to Chris. 

“Okay, I’ll go with you,” he said. I made an ugh noise. Like, Please don’t. But then quickly said, “Okay, but you’ll have to keep up.” 

Chris was huffing and puffing. The previous day, he’d said the school house was 1/4 of a mile. “Now, do you think it’s farther?” I asked as he ran behind me. He couldn’t get the breath to answer. (But then when we reached the beach, we had Debbie drop us in the middle of the lake and we swam back to the beach, probably over a mile.)

Today

I found a good stride.  For the first time I ran farther than the schoolhouse. Hayden ran with me. We made it to the road, Lake Shore. 

Hayden had just bought a pair of red Asics running shoes. He calls them “sexy.” He told me to take longer steps. I liked running with him. I especially liked when we hit the fields of flowers at the Stable Inn. We each took a different path as we ran through the field.

We waved at each other across the black-eyed Susans and Queen Ann’s Lace. There was a smell of pine. I felt really good. I think I found the endorphins.