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July 3, 2006
Me and Most of Humanity
Normally when I'm running on the forest service roads nearby, I'm all alone. Well, me and the dog (Even though, I must honestly admit that my dog is beginning to slow down. I take her running only every other day now. This is a somewhat sad topic worth another blog entry, though.) and perhaps a mountain biker or a fly fisherman. Today, in the height of the July 4th holiday weekend on a forest service road following the course of the Yellowstone River, I was definitely not alone. There were river rafters and their associated shuttles, mountain bikers of all abilities, lone fly fishermen here and there, fly fishing groups in float boats with their shuttle vehicles, and people out picnicking and otherwise recreating on the banks of the Yellowstone River. And, there even was a runner, the first runner I have ever seen (aside from my cross country team when I take them out there) on this road. She probably thought I was nutso: I approached her as soon as I could, asking her about five questions. But I got the answers that I was looking for: she does not live here or run here normally, she's on vacation (Chalk that one up to another busted attempt at finding a running partner.).
The world was an extraordinary place to be today. When I went out running midafternoon, already a small thunderstorm had passed through, cooling the ground and air temperature. It was brightly sunny but not at all hot, and I ran beneath an unbelieveable turquoise sky. White puffs of clouds sitting atop mountains to the west were the only thing blocking that amazing turquoise color. The world was wet, and it smelled that way; the penetrating, permeating smell of damp sagebrush filled my nose as I ran.
In those 76 minutes of running, I watched the innocent-looking white puffs of clouds over the mountains climb taller above the mountains and grow grayer in color. A cold wind began to blow into the valley, the gray clouds started rolling and furling, and lightning and thunder occured in close company to each other. It all happened very quickly, and me and most of humanity began a short race to safe places to ride out the storm. I could see my truck in the distance, maybe a mile and a half away, atop the next rolling hill. It was a duel: me and the dog versus Mother Nature. It was moderately nervewracking, and we climbed into the truck just as hail pellets and huge drops of rain began to fall.
In all that rush, we were brought to a screeching halt a bit later when the road to my house was closed because of a landslide. This happened last week as well, and I couldn't get to my house for several hours. This time, the closure lasted for only an hour or so while they used graders and backhoes to remove mud and boulders from the road. I was a little late to work, but I think my coworkers understood!
10 miles easy, 76:xx minutes, except for the last 1.5 miles or so were unintentionally speedy.
Posted by Meghan at July 3, 2006 8:34 PM