Andy's LunchBucket Running Blog
Running is what wakes me up and makes me tired. I love being outside, in all weather, grinding it out. I am a lunchbucket runner and within this blog I will share with you what I mean.
November 24, 2007: Paper Route
Not that anyone has been waiting, but I am excited to create my first blog entry in quite some time. The time killer over the past month has been a paper route. That's right, a good old-fashioned paper route. Let me try to explain below.
I THOUGHT I would have the energy and stamina to: 1. run before the paper route. OR 2. run after the paper route. Week one and two consisted of option 1. I woke around 1:30am to run before the paper route. A bit scary outside at that hour (the bar closing time put some fear in me) and while in the bathroom one morning getting ready I thought to myself, "This is by far the most crazy running thing I have done yet."
Okay, so option 1 didn't go so well. Option 2 requires waking at 3am for the paper route which consists of getting out of the Ford Escort around 80 times and walking to between 90 and 135 houses. This option went okay for a few weeks before my times for my easy eight mile skyrocketed by about six to eight minutes. MY QUADS WERE THRASH, PERIOD!
So, after some classic Andy waffling, I have twenty days left on my thirty day notice countdown before I can hang-up the paper satchel. If you are a runner and have the desire to really shock those quads and risk overuse injuries to all parts of your body from the waist down, you may want to consider giving the paper route a try, although I wouldn't recommend it. But, if you are just looking for a way to stay fit without any other exercise involved, I think I would recommend it. Why you ask? Here are some reasons:
1. The carriers are really nice. Seriously, for a group that gets up at 2:45 am everday and earlier on Sunday, they were great as a group to work with. I met some very nice people!
2. You don't want to miss someone throwing-up while you hand him his paper. By the age of the person, I don't think it was related to last night's lasagna. A bit scary, but it only happened once. Nothing touched me :)
3. It is not often that you get to have a neighbor of a subsriber ask you about the wind and have him follow that up with a "s@!#" when he realized what that meant for the day's deer hunt. That one made my day.
4. One fellow greeted me at the door almost everyday for a brief chat. It brightended both of our days.
5. Only once did someone apologize for being underdressed when being handed that paper. It was still rated G. Don't worry!
So, there is the long version of my last forty days or so. Along with my regular workday, I have bitten off more than I can chew. My legs are looking forward to celebrating the end of the paper route with a Saturday long run that doesn't feel like mile 16 at mile 1.
Happy Holidays!