Not to get all Meredith Grey on the four readers of this blog, but nearly every time I go for a run I find that I'm able to draw parallels between my life and my runs. Today was no exception.
My normal running route takes me from my house, through the South Side (my neighborhood), across the river and then downtown. Depending on my mileage for the day, I also add on extra loops near my house or I'll run to the baseball and football stadiums (across another river). I knew today would be interesting because Game 4 of the NHL Finals was taking place smack dab in the middle of my running path.
Allow me to rant bullet-style for a moment.
-Wearing a Pens jersey with jorts so short that I am left to question whether you are wearing pants: bad idea.
-Walking three or four deep across the sidewalk when you and your friends easily exceed the weight limit for a small bridge: rude.
-Allowing your child to run in a serpentine pattern across the sidewalk, attempting to trip me up: inappropriate.
Thank you.
This is where the title of this post comes in. Once I hit the first bridge (only 2 miles into my 6 mile run), I knew it was going to be a high-stepping kind of night. I first encountered a mother and two prepubescent boys, each carrying a lawn chair slung over their backs. [Note for out-of-towners: there is a giant screen that the Penguins set up outside of the arena so that people who don't have tix can still have the sense of community, etc. Thousands of people do this for every playoff game.] I was able to weave myself in between the lawnchair family without too much of a delay, after a well-timed "BEHIND YOU" and "excusemethankyou".
Not even half a mile later I encountered the four-across phenomenon. As someone who walks almost everywhere, I just don't understand consuming the entire sidewalk with your group of friends. You can't even have a conversation like that. 2x2 is far more efficient. But I digress. As this group of men waddled their way down the sidwalk, I was left running in place (yes, that's how slow they were moving. I could run in place for 10 seconds at a time before taking a step forward) until the sidewalk widened and I was able to escape.
Not even 30 seconds after I broke through the obesity brigade I encountered a SEGWAY. Now, I am here to tell you that Pittsburgh is not what I would call a pedestrian friendly city, and most people think nothing of driving if they're final destination is 4 blocks away. Segways really have no use here. This able-bodied young man had a different idea, and leaned forward in his helmet at a rocking 1.2 miles an hour while I weaved in and out of enormous potted plants in an effort to pass him along with the growing crowd of sports fans.
After I turned the corner I realized there was construction on the next block, and the normal sidewalk was closed, while a fenced-in sidewalk had been constructed in the street. I continued running through the fenced area, assuming that this would be a minor inconvenience. Then the fence ended. And blocked me in against a building. This turn came out of nowhere. There were wayyy too many people around to pivot and turn back the whole way down the block (and with my luck someone I know would see me and I would return to a text saying "did I just see you trapped in a fence downtown?"). So I did what any self-respecting runner would do. I created an opening. I jostled the fence away from the building for enough of a distance (roughly 16 inches) to smush my body through. Thank God I've been losing weight, eight months ago I would have gotten stuck and that would have been tragic.
Now to bring this long winded post to a close: I was able to overcome everyone of these obstacles. Given, they were all minor and more of inconveniences than anything else, but I created solutions. I've been finding myself so easily frustrated with day-to-day annoyances lately, but running has helped to provide some perspective. I sweat the small stuff way too often, and make mountains out of molehills. Just like the herds of sports fans, the issues in my day to day life will also pass. And it's good to know that if I'm backed up against the wall (or fence), I have it within me to find a way out.
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