amkean pronunciation

I ran 14 miles on Saturday after leaving the Senate District convention at the lunch break. I just couldn't stay there all day based on a cost-benefit analysis. I got to see what it was like in the morning and sat through 45 minutes of choosing alternates to the central committee (even though the primary delegates were chosen by acclamation).

So I left the democratic sausage making process to go running. Because I left in the afternoon, it was above 40 degrees out, and I was overdressed with long pants and a running jacket. I went along the greenway to the river where five guys dressed in fatigues were walking which was disconcerting and I might have called 911 if I had had a phone just to make a point, then went to the U of M campus, crossed the Washington Ave pedestrian bridge, and found a Big Ten track and field meet. I was passed by four Ohio State runners in their warmups, and had a TV camera right in my face, so if you thought you saw me on the Big Ten network, you did. The run went on to downtown Nordeast, then across the Hennepin bridge to downtown. I really like running down the Nicollet Mall. I crossed over through Loring Park, which had a bad reputation when I was a kid, and crossed the Sculpture garden bridge to Kenwood where there are a lot of really nice houses that are for sale. Lots of people were skating and playing hockey on Lake of the Isles, and I saw many cute dogs. I got back on the Greenway and started getting a stitch in my side during the final couple miles. Lived through the stitch, then watched curling.

It's so easy for me to be good about getting runs in, but not about other things. One lesson might be to clearly define tasks so that they are done when they're done. If I am doing a 14 mile run, that's clearly defined and chunked so that it can be completed in a short time period.

Labels: civic_participation, running