I'll run in the rain 'til I'm breathless

"When I'm breathless I'll run 'til I drop, hey!"

You can see that's pretty much what I did today. I was exhausted by this run in the rain. I've done 6-milers plenty of times now, but not with so much booty in haul. I must be the only runner who gains weight during a run. I don't know how much today's treasure tipped the scales, but it was a few pounds. And I learned a little something about carrying bags of crap while you run.

I knew it was gonna be a big day when I'd picked up half a dozen cans in the first couple blocks. But I had no idea. Eighty-seven cans, folks--87! That means 87 stops, bending over to pick up, soaked gloves from puddles, stomping the ones that weren't already flattened... Plus the other goodies I gathered today. Lots of good stuff. I picked up so much I had to stop at Hy-Vee on Henderson Street and swipe a plastic grocery sack out of the recycling barrel.

Heading up North Seminary Street, across from the Seminary Village et al, I spied with my little eye a clean-cut piece of wood with a number 2 affixed to it. It appeared to be a piece of a door or something, a laminate of two pieces of thin wood over a Styrofoam core. I had to have it, but I wasn't about to cart it for four or five miles. So I leaned it against a nearby fire hydrant and resolved to alter my commercial route to be able to return to the location to pick it up on the way home. That I did.

The unseasonably warm weather and rain combined to destroy nearly all the snow we've received, revealing loads of cans and some other stuff as well. Like those black socks I spotted along Carl Sandburg Drive months ago, across from Lowe's. Yeah, I picked 'em up. They'll get a thorough washing and I'll donate them or something. I WILL NOT wear them. Near the No. 2 door I also ran across another ID tag, this one for a nurse at the Western Illinois Kidney Center. It's in pretty bad shape now, having lain in a puddle for who knows how long, but I'll return it to the Kidney Center so it's not floating around out there for some unscrupulous soul.

The lesson learned today about running with armloads of trash is that the extra few pounds really takes a toll. My shoulders ache and my arms are sore and I nearly collapsed when I got home. Also, strangely it feels better to run with all the weight on one arm, leaving the other free to pump, than to try to balance it out with a bag on each arm; that was just annoying and slow. Maybe I need to wear a daypack.

Today's Stats

Temp: 52 degrees F (steady rain)

Distance: 6.09 miles

Weekly Total: 15.03 miles

Treasure: 87! cans; 3.5 pairs of black socks; 1 nurse's ID badge; 2 gloves (white fleece, Wells Lamont work glove); 1 child's Toy Story shoe; 1 Remy Martin bottle (fine champagne cognac); 1 gold towel; 1 automobile gas cap; 1 fairy princess wand (no magic left in it).

iPod Playlist (shuffle)

All About Soul - Billy Joel

Reno - Bruce Springsteen

Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot

Covered in Rain (Live) - John Mayer

Ticket to Ride - The Beatles

We'll Be Together - Sting

Allentown - Billy Joel

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor

Has Anybody Here Seen Hank? - The Waterboys

Tin Man - The Avett Brothers

You Shook Me - Led Zeppelin

One of These Things First - Nick Drake

History Will Teach Us Nothing - Sting

Cradlesong - Rob Thomas