Running Over the Same Old Ground

By Rick Hart

I recently completed a run in my neighborhood and was feeling like I’ve been a ball bouncing off a wall. After some contemplation I researched my running log and the numbers screamed out the answer to how this mental wall was built. I have run my neighborhood 76 times in the last 11 months. Since I only run 3 times per week that’s half my runs. Add in 22 runs from Wick Recreation Area and I’ve certainly have been running over the same old ground quite a bit. I’ve had to be very careful during this pandemic which has severely limited my running options.

Don’t get me wrong, I really do love running my neighborhood, it’s a good course with plenty of moderate hills and obviously very convenient. I also appreciate the group runs from Wick because it has been the only time I get to run with someone else. I think what I miss the most is the coffee and cookies at a park cabin after the group run along with the occasional breakfast following a Saturday or Sunday group run! Cabins, cookies, coffee and nice people are what attracted me to the club back in November 1996!

Today I attended our group run at Wick and it was a real soaker. During the run I was thinking about needing to write an article for the newsletter. I thought of the Pink Floyd song Wish You Were Here because of the lyrics. The song asks “Running over the same old ground, what have we found? The same old fears”. This could be my fear of my runs getting too stale. The song also asks “so you think you can tell Heaven from hell?” As we finished today’s run totally soaked and a little cold, many might say the run was hell but it felt like a little bit of Heaven to me. I can see some light at the end of the tunnel ahead and when I get there I’ll be wishing you are there too!