Loves Park, IL

Run Time: 57:08.5 + 2-minute kick

Wintertime is coming. Started the run in the daylight, finished it in the dark. I was a little late to the hotel, but the weather was clear, and it seems a little easier to start a run now that I alternate walking with running, especially when the first 10 minutes is walking. No trails nearby, so I just found a neighborhood and ran on the sidewalks.

Some of the streets had streetlights, some did not. Some of the streets had sidewalks, some did not. Some of the streets seemed sketchy, some did not. There have been times and places around the country when and where I wondered if I was in a safe space-time. I doubt that anyone would try anything, but I usually wear headphones, and a psychopath might take that as an opportunity because I might not hear them approaching from behind.

In this case, I was in Loves Park, Illinois, so what could be safer? Really, though, should any part of Loves Park be sketchy? Come on, municipal government. Clean it all up or change the name. Mostly, as I run down suburban streets, I wonder how many of the inhabitants lead rich, full lives, and how many lead quiet lives of desperation or worse, non-desperation. And then you see the occasional “Let’s Go, Brandon” flag and think to yourself, “Jesus.“

Running in the dark, in general, is a bad idea. I do not feel so unsure of myself now that I did the post-concussion brain-resetting work that Dr. Ziaks had me do at the beginning of the year. In that period last year after the Las Vegas incident, I had two more minor trips and stumbles that did not result in injury but were seemingly inexplicable when I examined the terrain where it felt like my toe hit a raised sidewalk lip or inconsistency and it appeared to be mostly flat or level.

Brain dysfunction is not for the faint of heart. Now that cylinders appear to be firing in the proper order, it is probably safe for me to run in the dark. I will not run on treadmills anymore. I have never fallen on a treadmill, but the prospect frightens me. Soon the time will change, and it will be dark before I get to the hotel. What then? A well-lit school track seems best.

When my daughter had swim team practice at Centennial High School 15 years ago, I would sometimes run on the track there as she swam. A few times I ran in the dark, no field lights, in the dead of winter. I would also run the bleacher stairs on that side of the track, up and down, in the dark. One time I did this, around the track, up and down the stairs, back onto the track – around and around for 45 minutes or so. At the end I would run a one-lap kick, and I would skip the stairs. What I did not know, since I had been skipping one section of track in favor of the bleacher stairs, was that a walking strip had been laid across the track for cleated football and soccer players to walk on to get to the field in the middle. Plus, it was folded up a little from wind and kids messing with it. I hit that strip going as fast as I could go at the end of a 45-minute run, in the dark, 25-degree weather, windy, and I bit it hard. It was a soft track, so there were no head injuries, but I lost a far amount of skin off my knees and calves, because I was running in shorts. It was like being taken out in the middle of the night by a silent cross-block.

Running is not necessarily a no-contact sport.