Running in Bexley

I put in 4.23 miles today.  My miles were 11:11, 10:45, 10:10, and 11:10.  I ran in Bexley, my favorite place to run in Columbus.  Bexley has lots of shade, not many cars on the side streets, and great houses.  It's also where I had my first job in Ohio (Capital University in 1988) and bought my first house (1994).  Ken and I lived there for a year or two after we got married and we used to ride our bikes throughout the neighborhood.  That's how I found my favorite street, Parkview.  My good friends, Jeff and Jen, still live in Bexley and I love to go visit them.  I often park at their house when I run in the area.

Today, I parked at Capital University and ran North past Jeffrey Mansion on Parkview.   I started by running 3 minutes and walking 1 minute, but that didn't last long.  I had to stop at the light at Broad Street and also lost track of time looking at houses and such.  Thus, my walk breaks weren't at even intervals, as is obvious by my splits.

I saw the Bexley High School boys' cross country team several times during my run.  During my third mile, they came up from behind me, engulfed me, and then left me behind - all in a matter of 10 seconds or so.  It was weird; like I was a rock and they were the river.  They were running easily and relaxed, but fast.  And they were talking and moving around to change who they were running and talking with.  I'm a solitary runner so it was foreign to me to see them running together like that.  Surely some of them are a lot faster than others, yet they were putting in lots of miles together as a group.  I got nervous as they approached and I worried that I was in their way.  But it didn't seem to bother them at all that I was on the sidewalk and going slowly.  They just ran around me and were nice and relaxed and comfortable with sharing the space.  Interesting.  I have read and heard about community aspects of running but I had never really seen a running community in action until today.