My dad has informed me that there is an annual 10K race in town at the end of October, so I’m going to signup. The race according to one Hal Higdon is “One of the most scenic 10K’s I’ve ever run”. It begins by our art museum, crosses our three rivers, through our historic neighborhoods, and ends at the actual fort that lends our small town its name. I’m pretty excited about it, but I think I’m more excited about a future time in my training when my legs aren’t sore every morning. To be frank, it was tough to run today (Wednesday). Abbey and I both felt it and we definitely went at a slower pace.
However, I’m beginning to enjoy running again. When I was in the middle school, I ran the 100 and 200 meter dash (even winning the 200 meter at the city meet) so I never had to run the long distances that a marathoner would. Even during soccer there is something about the distraction of the ball to keep your mind off of the mileage your knees are racking up. So, imagine my surprise when I started enjoying the little things during my run today. No, not the little aches of my knees, or the minor stiffness in my quads, or the slight fatigue of my legs challenging me up the hill, past the charcoal singed two-story or the abandoned turned crack house.
I notice that after living in Fort Wayne for most of my life, and always being scared of the south part of town - Pontiac and Creighton streets were and still are home to numerous murders each year - I live in and love the “scary” neighborhood now. It feels more comfortable now than my parents’ home in ex-urbia. It is the little things that a historic neighborhood offers that I discover and appreciate during my runs. The decorative iron fences instead of the Home Depot wood fence; the large front porches instead of patios; and the little ethnic restaurants instead of the large homogenous restaurants. And, as I get faster and build more endurance I will be able to explore more of my neighborhood at a pace not afforded to a car or even bicycle. It is a place untouched my gentrification because most of the homes are cared for – maybe not the way Neighborhood Association or Better Homes and Gardens would classify it – but cared for because they are lived in. “Lived in” in the most human definition of the term.
