Greetings from Raynham, MA! I moved Saturday's long run to today, for the chance to run in a new environment. We took a short drive to Massasoit State Park to run on trails and not have to run on the side of the road. As I am in taper time, it's important to enjoy each moment of the end of this journey. Getting closer to nature and further from the day-to-day helped me to achieve this goal.
The run began near the park's information center and continued along its trails. I decided that we should just go straight to get the lay of the land. However, once we kept on going, we would arrive at forks in the road that would get increasingly more gravelly and filled with puddles. Since I did not feel like turning back, we forged on. After a couple of miles, though, we exited the park - and ended up in some neighborhood. Instead of turning around, like rational people might do, we decided to continue exploration. After enough left turns, we would eventually arrive at the start of the camp. If we didn't get there, we had a cell phone and could call family in Raynham.
Yes, we did eventually get back to the state park, but it took about 7 or 8 miles to do so. It did take a bunch of left turns - in fact, I do not remember turning right once - but it certainly took much longer than I had anticipated. The roads did provide quality entertainment for the run that we would not have seen while in the park alone.
After realizing that it would take a while to get back to the car, we passed a graveyard. I thought about the cow game and how I would have lost all my cows (if we had passed any cows). Then, we saw three people waiting near an open grave and noticed some more cars waiting on the side of the road. Since this was our first contact with civilization, Jason stopped to ask one of the people in the car waiting for the funeral if we were anywhere near the park (while I ran up and down in circles - I hate to stop!). The man in the car said it was a little while up, so Jason asked how far. He said, "About a mile", to which Jason said, "Well, we're running 8 more!" He instructed us to turn on Southworth Street, and that would bring us closer to the park entrance.
We passed some ponds along Southworth Street and also ran past a golf course. We heard a club make contact with a ball, and then we heard a man scream "Fore!" At this point, there was still no sign of the park, so Jason asked another gentleman pulled over to watch the golf. He said a mile up on the left. It seemed like the default distance in the Raynham area for "a long while away" was one mile. Unfortunately, it did not seem accurate.
As we continued along, we saw more beautiful Massachusetts houses. I commented how everyone we have seen with a baseball cap on had been wearing a Red Sox hat, and I wondered if all of the houses were painted red in honor of the Red Sox. I doubt it, but it's fun to think about. (Speaking of the Red Sox - thank goodness they are out of the playoffs, because I might have gotten stabbed with any mention of the Yankees. At least, that was my fear for the rest of my lifetime - hence, why this is my first trip to Boston.)
We were getting warmer and didn't even realize it. I was quite uptight about being lost, but I tried to take my mind off of it. As my eyes wandered, I saw a golden retriever farm! At least it looked like a golden retriever farm, and that is what it will remain in my mind. There were countless beautiful golden retrievers running in the backyard, and it did look like a farm. Also along the run I discovered a house with a display window on the side. This window showcased a yellow jacket that looked like it belonged on Paddington Bear. Interestingly enough, they had a large wood carving of a bear on their front porch.
We passed over a bridge built in 2000 (as stated in the bridge's carving) and realized that it had, indeed, been less than a mile. Perhaps the guy near the golf course was right. Then, a short while up, we found victory! The park entrance! Even though we still had a good chunk of the run to go, we already felt victorious in that we had gotten out of that pickle.
The run finished up along the trails. Some of the trails were intended for horses. Good thing for us that the horses had good manners and kept their droppings to the side of the road! We continued the run up some of the park's gentle hills and finished up for a relaxing 12 miles.
Only one more "long" run to go - an 8 miler - equivalent to one of my weekly runs during peak training! In two weeks, I'll be there. All of this hard work is soon to pay off. I can't wait!
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