Observations from the trail

I did my long run today. I was tired and the air was like soup. And it was hot. So very hot. This was a taper week on the schedule so I turned off my watch, turned off my running app, and just made the best out of the morning. It was actually one of my nicer runs, to be honest. Without the pressure I usually put on myself to beat last week's time I just did my thing. I did a little over 8 miles today and that was just fine. This coming week is a higher mileage week so I enjoyed today's 8 for what it was worth.

I've been running on the Airline Trail for about 4 months now. I started doing it because it was flat (it's not, just the first mile is -- once I got past that I realized it's a mountain) and because it wasn't on a main road. I miss West Haven in that you could run almost anywhere because there were shoulders on the main roads and sidewalks on the rest. We don't have either here and the roads are hilly and windy. I'm not looking to get taken out by a car so I look for places that are more runner-friendly.

Now that I'm a regular on the trail I've made some observations that amuse me (if no one else) about the people I usually encounter:

• Mountain bikers will never give you the little hand motion of acknowledgement. It's a subtle move, the hand motion, I was introduced to it years ago when my friend had a motorcycle and we'd go riding and he would raise his left fingers in a half wave (without the actual wave) when a biker would pass us in the opposite direction. He had a racing bike so I learned quickly that only other guys on racing bikes got the wave of acknowledgement and only other guys on racing bikes gave them. Harley guys never gave them to racing bike guys although my friend would give one to everyone on a bike. It's the same with mountain bikers and runners. Not only do they never acknowledge you they would rather run up your back and do a jump off of you than move over on the trail. They are come in 2 varieties: the younger shirtless kind or the older Under Armor wearing kind. When I see mountain bikers coming toward me I just move way over and let them do their thing.
• Runners almost always give the hand motion ofacknowledgement. The ones training for something -- and can tell that you're training for something -- usually are the ones that give you a little recognition. It's a little nod to say "Hey, look at us, we're out here in this heat because we're serious runners." Guys almost always give me the hand motion of acknowledgement. Today a guy gave me a thumbs up today even before I could raise my 4 fingers (because you keep your hand clenched the whole time, you don't smile, you don't move your hand -- it's very subtle), that was a new one. Women are about 50/50. You know us girls, we're catty, even while we're pouring sweat and supposed to be focused on our training. I find that that super serious women runners -- the ones who are 90 lbs and are doing 7-minute miles -- can't be bothered. Recreational women runners usually give the acknowledgement after giving you a once over probably because they're happy to see someone else who isn't 90 lbs and doing 7-minute miles. Me, I give it to all runners, I don't discriminate.
• Walkers are generally good for a little wave. Older people, especially couples, always smile, they'll even say "Good Morning" as you pass them. I love seeing old people on the trail, they make me happy. And families love people like me. You can't be too careful these days, which is a shame, but when they see someone like me they smile and wave. Like me, they've probably just done an ocular patdown (TM Mac from Sunny) of my risk and have determined I'm not a threat. I've seen plenty of sketchy people on the trail and I'm sure they have too so families like when I run by. It reassures them that if a single female runner feels safe then they should too.
• I love dogs on the trail. I realized today that their owners probably hate me though because when I run by I say "Hi, cutie!" in the same voice I use for my own dogs and if their owner is trying to pull them in me riling them up doesn't help. I know what it's like to walk 2 unruly dogs (my fault, not theirs, I got the dogs I raised) and if someone was running by which would automatically get their attention started cooing at them, I'd be annoyed too. Still, I love seeing dogs on the trail. When they wag their tail it reminds me what I'm doing this for.

Starting next week my long runs won't dip below 10 miles so I'm going to have a LOT of time to think about nonsense stuff like this.

Since I wasn't running for pace today I took the time to take a few pictures of the beauty that I get to see every week. I lamented not being able to run along the water in West Haven for a long time but when I see these pictures I realize I have something very special up here too.