Running Back Home!

 I’ve loved almost every minute of this semester, but the last few days before break I was itching to leave for Fall Break. During our final workout on Friday afternoon, the joy and excitement I was exuding was unmatched. I talked and sang with my workout buddy, Kennedy, through every repetition. We were “Sparkling” (a term we’ve coined to describe our attitudes during that particular workout). 

After the workout I rushed to pack everything that I needed. For some reason, I figured I needed to bring eight pairs of shorts for my three day visit back home. How many pairs of shorts did I end up wearing? Zero. It would have been nice if someone had informed me that Ohio was ready to turn to winter within the one hour it took me to drive from Ada to Tipp City. As excited as I am to wear sweaters and jeans and drink hot chai and cider, I wasn’t ready for the rude wakeup call of morning solo runs in forty degree weather. 

Speaking of solo runs, I had an absolute blast running on some of my favorite paths back home. I got to do my long run on the Great Miami River Recreational Trail (that’s the official name, I just call it the Kyle Park Bike Path). The leaves are just starting to change back home, so the path was a lot greener than anywhere up here in Ada at the moment. One of my favorite parts of running solo on the bike path is all the wildlife that lives along the trail. The best thing I’ve ever seen is a line for twelve turtles on a log diving into the water like synchronized swimmers. I didn’t see any turtles on this particular run, but I did watch a chipmunk scurry across the path and dive into his burrow.

I did my other run at the Taylorsville Metropark Dam. I used to do a trail run at least once a week, but I think running only country roads and flat grass trails at school has unconditioned me for any type of hills or terrain. Taylorsville has one of my favorite two mile loops to run, it passes the river, goes over a couple bridges, and there’s never a boring section. This is great when you’re conditioned for it, but between the rooted path and the constant rise and fall in elevation (this is honestly a dramatic description of it, but there definitely is a lot of change between uphills and downhills) my easy run ended up being not so easy. 

All in all, going home for the weekend was the perfect recovery and I’m so excited to be back at school.