Ben Franklin Junior High School
Run time: 57:48.5 + 1-lap kick
You get to the hotel after a long day of driving and sales visits, and you have just enough time for half a run before darkness falls, so you pull out the phone and look for a running track, and you find one, and you change into your running gear, and you drive to the junior high school, and you get the headphones on and the song started, and you hit the track, and it’s… cement.
I am picturing the advent of this junior high when it was new. They put Jed in charge of installing the track. He laid it out and dug out the oval and measured everything twice and graded it perfectly flat. Then he poured the cement. When it dried, he painted the lane lines. And all done, he proudly called over the Principal to view his work. And the Principal looked at it and said, “Jed, is that cement?”
Either that, or they figure middle schoolers have young knees and hips and recover quickly from scrapes and bruises. If you think that running is a 100% vertical activity, I have a sidewalk in Vegas to show you. Yes, track surfaces probably wear out quicker than cement, and they are easier to vandalize, but really? Are there no track meets held at this school? And does the school district not have standards for the surface on which the meets are held? Could it be gravel? That’s even less expensive.
I dealt with it. It was 28 degrees, with a 15 mph wind, so comfort had already departed. The lane lines are the mostly important feature for me for my winter running, though a springy surface is a close second. I am just thinking of those poor Wisconsin kids. They deserve better.
Sometimes you just have to roll with it.
Don't Make It a Habit. Make It a Ritual. 