So I waited as long as I could. I was shocked during the last race, that my legs didn't hurt. So I decided to go for a trial run. I put on my shoes, shorts, and running shirt, grabbed my phone where I use audible and a cardiotrainer app to motivate and distract myself, and headed to the levee.
I have been looking at the levee every day on my way to and from work and I really wanted to try running along it cause it looks like a nice run with some pretty scenery from the main road. When I got there, I had to park in a relatively unsavory area, just off the street. I reminded myself not to judge a spot by it's thoroughfare, and thought that by the time I got on the trail, it would clean right up and I would have a pleasant run. I was wrong.
I knew that the river is where a lot of the homeless from Yuba City make their homes. But I guess I didn't know what to expect a homeless persons home to look like, or maybe I thought there would be fewer of them. There were quite a few areas (no less than half a dozen in about a mile and a half) where there was a shopping cart pushed into a thicket of trees with a surprising amount of trash strewn about them. I am sure that to the person that resides next to the shopping cart, this stuff is not trash and I imagine I would run into trouble if I got to close to one of these. This was kind of disappointing, cause I wanted to run on the trails that I see winding along the river. But I guess in order for there to be little foot trails, there has to be foot traffic and the people who live down there surely have to walk to the...wherever they go to get their food and booze. Of course, living by the river has to have it's advantages. In the summer, the water would offer refreshment and slightly cooler air. There would always be plenty of drinking water. And there is plenty of vegetation for a person to hide there possessions in, or make a home out of. But the scene yesterday was also depressing because it is spring, which means a lot of rainfall in Northern California. And that rain has raised the river on no less than three occasions. Which soggifys the homeless home, and in some cases washes them away completely, or partially. I couldn't stop thinking about all of this as I ran along. And I passed quite a few people who were walking to or from their homes along the run.
Besides the unsavory characters, I noticed about a mile into the run that my low back was starting to cramp up with fatigue. I ran/walked the rest of the way and had to stop several times to stretch my back before continuing. I will run again, probably next week, but it is not likely to be along the same route. I will have to map out a trail in the neighborhood for my ambles.
