- North Carolina is still trying (and failing) to figure out the benefits of having sidewalks that are:
- located on both sides of the road
- continue for more than 1000 feet at a stretch
- People drive way too damned fast in a rush to get nowhere.
- Around mile 7 out of 10.5, my stomach decided it was time to walk the rest of the way home.
- Feeling somewhat defeated, I decided to test the theory which claims that smiling makes you feel better.
- That lasted approximately 400 meters before I felt like a total idiot.
- Cell phone wanderers, People with strollers, dogs, and those with small children are obnoxious and almost always hog the entire sidewalk, thus naturally leading me to contemplate my own horrific death as I am then forced to run on the roads with the other folks from #2.
- The same used diaper has been laying in the same spot on the road for at least the last month or so. Every time I run by it, I wonder about its existence. The order is sometimes different, but the scenarios are always the same:
- a) Passing motorist with baby gingerly tosses used diaper out of vehicle window due to stank.
- b) Parent from #6 decides that the grass seems like a nice place for a poopy diaper…plus, it’s biodegradable, right?
- c) Garbage truck accidentally “dumps” odious diaper by the side of the road where it will live out its final days being circumnavigated by lawn maintenance crews who aren’t being paid enough to pick up diapers; sniffed at by pets and other forms of wildlife; and habitually annoying the crap out of one fastidious runner who, with each passing day, is tempted to properly dispose of the damn thing if only she had a hazmat suit handy.
- Perhaps it’s time to find a different running route.
If we were faultless, we should not be so much annoyed by the defects of those with whom we associate. -Francois Fenelon