Day 72 - Photo Safari, with a Happy Ending

Thanks to the help of some very understanding parents of friends, and a necessary but undesirable amount of driving, the boys were well entertained today while I watched my daughter swim at Senior State.

With all of the driving to and driving fro to make this happen, I couldn't afford to be picky about when and where I ran.

The when turned out to be during warm-ups for finals, in the rain. The where was IUPUI.

Finding myself on such a beautiful scenic convenient college campus, I figured it was time for a photo safari.

Just in case the students forget where they are, these sculptures (?) of letters outside of the student center can help, if they arrange the them correctly. ("I'm at PUUII? Cool!")

There are several other bits of art scattered around the campus. This is a big rock ball thing cradled in a curved rock thing. At night, the ball thing is lit from within. Kinda creepy...

There's one of these. It is very twisty.

[Does that picture look a little blurry to you? It's not you. It's the rain drop. One that happened to land on the tiny lens of my iPhone camera. I tried keeping the camera inside a ziplock bag. Those things sure seem transparent. But try taking a picture through one. And they get slippery when wet. The phone I mean. Dropped it. Landed in a puddle. Cracked the screen. But it kept working.]

They've got one of these, too. Looks to me like a targeting aid for hitting the buildings downtown with one of those water balloon sling shots.

Here's one of these buy that guy. You know... the guy who uses lots of geometric shapes and bright colors and 2D figures that suddenly reveal themselves as 3D. There's one at the airport. Come on... you know... what's that guy's name... Oh look! Worms!!!

Worms were everywhere. I'm afraid I may have squished a few.... hundred. Didn't mean too. Honest. You couldn't drop a lawn jart without hitting seven.  Please don't tell the Buddhist admission board.

Headed toward the city and hopped on the canal. This really is a hidden treasure and a great place to run.

Many of the underpasses have murals on the walls. Good distraction from the goth teenagers with braces making out.

Here's the canal-side view of the Eiteljorg Museum, and the incongruous new hotel apparently sprouting from it's loins.

Also on the canal is the Medal of Honor Memorial, a seriously cool and inspiring and appropriate work. I was lucky enough to see a majority of living Medal of Honor recipients that the Indianapolis 500 a few years ago. Hard not to be moved in the company of such heroic humans.

I ran out of canal, and found myself back on campus.

This used to be the RCA tennis center. It also used to have clay courts. I also saw Christopher Cross and Hall & Oats in concert here with my high school girlfriend. She didn't want to take me. Her sister invited me anyway. The girl sulked through the concert and broke up with me shortly thereafter. I don't like Christopher Cross or Hall or Oats.

The gate to the track was open. For real this time. Imagine that, Crawfordsville.

This is no ordinary track. This is the sight of my most glorious glory days... the state track and field meet.

The stands were fuller. And I was a lot younger. A LOT younger. Still, just putting a foot on the track and I'm back in time.

I took a stride, then another, and before I knew it, I was arcing around the turn in lane 8. Down the back stretch and my legs felt young and light and springy and quick. The other turn and the front stretch and...

Well, looky here...

Yes, I did.

The first attempt was, uhm, not good.

The second wasn't pretty, but I made it through.

The third... man... just like old times.

And it felt fantastic!

I'm not at all embarrassed to admit that I did an involuntary Bruce Jenner after clearing the last hurdle. My smile was so big the corners of my mouth nearly met at the back of my head. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life. Seriously.

I'm going to be sore as hell tomorrow.

[Note:  Before Bruce Jenner was an embarrassment to all men on reality TV, and before he was an embarrassment to all men with his horrible nose job, he was an Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist. I am not making that up. Look for yourself.]

Good running,
Doug

Numbers: 2.5 miles in the rain on streets, sidewalks, grassy hills, and track.