Keep off the Grass!

The cold I was fighting last week sapped my strength all weekend! Finally feeling some energy,I decided to run the Lake Harrison 5k route. Three of my boys agreed to run with me, two of them barefoot. It was cool today, around 40 degrees F. This was my first barefoot run away from home. Expecting smooth pavement around the whole course, I was surprised that the running surface was rough! I had run it shod before and that's what I remembered: an exceptionally smooth, even running surface. I was surprised that my feet responded to the roughness of the surface with tenderness. After the gravel roads at home, I really thought today's run would be a walk in the park! After about five minutes I decided to run the grass adjacent to the path. OWIE! Big mistake. My feet were sticker magnets and within the first few paces my soles were covered with little burrs! Hopping on one foot, I picked stickers and splinters out of the other; then reversed. A few minutes later I ran past one of the boys picking stickers out of his foot. “Been there done that!” I called. Shortly, I ran past another son tending his stickers, “Keep off the grass!” he called. It wasn't too long before they caught and passed me again, the shod son never left the path, never experienced the stickers.His run missed some of the richness of ours.It was windy today. For a while I was running directly into a headwind and felt like I was barely moving. I encountered three other runners on the course today. All of them were wearing jackets, hats, long pants, shoes. What did we look like to them, barefoot, hatless, and wearing long sleeved t's? How did they not overheat? The lake was beautiful. We saw the requisite ducks and geese and even startled a blue heron on the creek side of the weir. The grass might be greener at the park, but my home run is sufficiently sweet.