Five miles at the start of a sunny Saturday

I don’t usually run in the morning. This is because I like to ride my stationary bike right after I get up and read the newspaper at the same time, and also because usually I don’t want to leave the family at the beginning of the day. However, Holly asked for cottage cheese pancakes for breakfast, which I normally try not to indulge in, but today I really wanted some, so I had a plateful and then convinced myself that the high-protein breakfast was motivating me to head out for a run, and I surely wouldn’t feel nearly so energetic toward the end of a busy Saturday.

So I did my favorite 5-mile route, and what a great morning to be out. I left about 9:30; it was about 62 degrees, sunny, breezy. Lots of bicyclists passed me and a couple of runners, both of whom I recognized. On Russell Street there was a very merry outdoor neighborhood brunch under way, and then a little farther up the hill, Tim’s classmates Claire and Whitney were helping newborn snapping turtles to cross the street safely. This was no big surprise: Claire, at the age of 11, is acknowledged townwide as the patron saint of snapping turtles. Small-town life.

This afternoon, we took Holly and Samantha over to the Nowell Farme neighborhood for their first time biking on real streets. The roads there are quiet, wide, flat and nearly car-free, so they got lots of practice. I forgot to bring my bike but rode Tim’s instead, which was amusing; I felt like a circus clown, but it was still good exercise and a lot of fun. As we rode I told Nancy C. about my e-mail dialog with Judy Blume regarding use of updated anachronisms, a discussion I will replicate in this blog once I get permission from Judy Blume. And having spent an hour biking, even slowly, I’m even more glad my daily run happened early!

The right thing to do now would be take Tim sweatshirt shopping, but neither of us actually wants to go. Holly is away for a couple of hours, and I think I’ll maximize my Holly-free time by writing up the interview with the new children’s librarian instead. Then if I finish soon, read today’s paper, which normally I would have read by this hour but since I didn’t ride the exercycle, I haven’t yet touched.