It’s that time of the year when the snow shovel has been replaced by the garden shovel and lawn mower. The buzz of mowers, trimmers, and edgers is a consistent sound as I meander through neighborhood streets while out on my daily run. In a way, it makes me yearn for the wooded single-track that much more, and not only because my allergies are beginning to flare up yet again!
Chasing42 Log: 20160510-20160516
Run: This past week was the final full week of classes at the University of Delaware, so there was quite a bit of energy as final assignments were turned in, studying for exams began, and students realized they should have been concerned about their grades a bit earlier in the semester. It also meant more work for me as I began to wrap up my classes and look ahead. I still managed to knock out my runs each day, and luckily do so in between the rain that seemed to be a constant fixture on the landscape. I dropped the epicurean off at the airport very early on Saturday morning, and still squeezed in a short final tune-up run before heading into work. Yesterday, I headed down to Philly to run the Dirty German 50-Mile Race, and it proved to be a beautiful day out on the trails! Did you race this weekend? I’d love to hear about your own #chasing42 experiences!
Thought: Have you ever found yourself thinking about yard work as cross-training? Lately, as the rain has continued to fall and the greening of everything has transpired, I’ve done my best to convince myself that my constant mowing is simply another way to get outside, move around, and get some sort of workout in the process. It doesn’t work. I truly and deeply hate mowing the grass. More than that, I simply don’t get the whole idea. Why do we go to the effort of tearing up native vegetation just so we can build a house and then plant grass in its place? We then create work for ourselves because we are expected to mow said grass or risk becoming a neighborhood pariah. I understand planting flowers and other native plants with an element of aesthetic beauty, or better yet, a garden that produces actual food, but grass baffles me. It’s as if someone invented the idea of the lawn just to create an industry around it. We spend millions (billions?) on lawn care products and services, and literally pour perfectly good water into the ground to keep it alive, even in habitats where it wouldn’t naturally grow. Think about how many hours you’ve spent over the course of your life worrying about the grass. You could have been exploring, hiking, or running! Just some food for thought
