We Bite

West Epps 6.3mi

For the first time ever, my speed session didn’t wreck my legs, so I decide to run a little further than usual. We’re going to a Halloween/birthday party this afternoon, and I figure I’ll prepare myself for any excesses of food and drink by having a few extra miles in the bank.
I start out following the same West Bank route, thinking that the early assessment of my legs may have been premature. Everything is tight, but I move along slowly, confidant that things will loosen up eventually. When I make it back to Sligh Avenue, I’m still not feeling great, and I briefly consider bailing out for the 3.6-mile route before crossing to the north. If things don’t get any better I’ll turn around.
The Sunday picnic crowd is out, and there seems to be an inordinate number of cars driving on the running paths. Everyone has pulled their SUV up to their own pavilion, and they sit with the rear hatches open, listening to their radios. The park vibrates with a cacophonous mix of heavy metal and meringue.
As I round the bend onto River Shore Drive, I’m struck by the view across the river. The yellow Spanish-style speakeasy house and the water tower behind it are both illuminated by the afternoon sun at my back, and their glowing reflections bounce off the black water of the river.
I follow the loop around, across the Florida Avenue Bridge, and back into the neighborhood where I dodge the smeared-out remains of the paw paw fruit that has fallen into the road. At Highland and Hiawatha, the Wahl house has been stripped to its concrete block skeleton.
Halloween decorations are out in full force, and Denis Wood’s theory seems to be holding up. It’s always the nicest houses in the neighborhood that have the most elaborate decorations. The fake-tombstone-with-witty-epitaph is a common theme, and I think about ways to update this idea by using the names of recently deceased political figures and other celebrities along with pithy remarks about the circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths.
On our block we may not be the most upwardly mobile occupants around, but our Halloween decorations are top-notch. The paint is peeling. There are vines growing up the west wall, and stray black cats roam the property peeing on everything in their path.