Close Encounters

Today’s Numbers: Nancy's Days Run: 13 Nancy's 2013 Mileage: 36.3 Elly's 2013 Mileage: 26.5 Money Found For Food Bank: $7.00

I was very motivated to get up early to run. I know a few days ago I said I was going to take the weekend easy, but I guess I didn't really mean it. After having run one mile Friday and doing weights yesterday morning, it made my brain a bit batty to intentionally plan to go a mile today and, likely, tomorrow. I needed to pack some punch into this morning. And, so we did!

Elly not only had her breakfast but plenty of time to digest when we headed out. It was still a bit dark. See?

Hello, moon ...

It took no time to see some color in the sky, though ...

Fuzzy. Because I'm wicked fast I was taking it on the run and
didn't work too hard for it to be in focus.

So, while the sky battled it out between the East and the West, Elly and I got ourselves warmed up, and we fell into a really good groove. There wasn't much to see in the beginning (um, it was even darker at the ground than it was in the sky ...), but we didn't miss this little oddity in the road:

Ohmygosh! Justin Bieber's been around!!

There was a whole dozen in the yard in a pile. This just happens to be the one that got away. Odd. Nothing to figure out, though, so we moved on.

There were two big notables for today. The first came about when we approached an intersection with a stop light. A dude emerged into sight just ahead of us, and he made it to the intersection before we did. Now, more often than not, when people are hanging out for a light to change and I/we approach, there's some kind of movement from that person: A glance toward us; a nod; talking on their phone totally ignoring us; a shift of weight from one foot to the other; something. Not this guy. He was standing straight up with his arms, well, out but to their side. I can only describe that he looked much like this ...

(source here) By the way, it wasn't really too cool that the only image I could come
up with in my head was that of a Stephen King novel. Stephen King novels are
spooky. Not that I would know from reading one. But, I was somewhat interested in
watching this miniseries on TV ... because Rob Lowe was in it ... I digress ...

... only, just standing. Not a movement. Not to mention, there was no traffic coming from any distance, and I do mean zero. This is usually when people scoot across the street, signal or not. But, not this guy. He just stood. Very still. It was a little creepy, I have to say. SO, Elly and I made sure there was plenty of room between us, and with only enough hesitation to triple check that there was really no traffic, we jumped ahead and took off. I won't say it was a full-on sprint, but it was similar effort I give when I'm in an official race and decide I'm going to work harder than I train. In other words: Get the rear in gear. As luck would have it, I had a used poo bag to dispose (when is that ever fortunate?), and I came upon a trash can that allowed me to look back and see if Mr. Stand was still there and/or coming my direction without being totally obvious about checking on his whereabouts.*

* Author's note: There have been a handful of times that I run by someone that gives me a little bit of the willies where I come up with all sorts of escape routes only to glance back and find out they're not even in sight because they went a whole different direction. Always good to check, though, amiright?

Okay, anyway, I glanced back while depositing the bag (oh my gosh, this is sounding very suspect, isn't it?!) and saw he was, indeed, still walking our direction. He wasn't in any hurry, but I still told myself to keep. on. cruising. Oh, and I thought if I get really creeped out, I can take a picture or two over my shoulder. That's about all I had going for me besides Elly who had given absolutely zero indication that she sensed anything threatening. Perhaps that's because my ultimate conclusion was that this dude was drunk or high (I'm thinking high as he seemed to steady to be high. Not that I would know.). No matter his condition, we were all safe, and I have to admit hindsight brought me to the conclusion that both Elly and I totally rock for being physically ready enough to turn up the volume on our run without issue. It never hurts to keep spinning a scenario until it's all kinds of positive, does it?!

Alrighty, that was human encounter number one. I'm not sure it counted as an encounter, but I don't care. Anyway, numbers two and three happened in drive-thrus -- you just had to know this was going to happen at some point! The first is one I never go through because they're always open. But, opportunity knocked with no one in line, and I answered to the tune of 8 or so cents. As I was collecting, I heard someone above me who seemed to question why someone was there until she realized I was picking up change. "OH, SHE'S FINDING CHANGE!" she announced with a laugh to whomever was with her, so, I stood up and flashed a smile while showing her what I found. She acknowledged my efforts with a return smile and continued affirming laugh while Elly and I went on our way. I flashed another huge-probably-creepy smile at another employee in a later drive thru (one that wasn't yet open). When the man realized I was not there to do harm nor cause trouble, he returned a most pleasant smile. When he smiled, he looked like a grandpa who was enjoying a little visit. It was unexpectedly comforting to have such an encounter (and quite the contrary to the dude at the intersection ...).

Our run was a good, strong one, and we hit the seven dollar mark of change found for the Food Bank! Already seven dollars!!! Running is totally worthwhile ...

Tomorrow's run is already determined to be a morning mile with my man, so no more thinking about it for the rest of the day. May all of your encounters today be as pleasant as my last two, and I'll see you after the morning run!