It's Saturday morning, and I woke up, much earlier than desired, at 5:30am with a bit of a stomach ache. As I try to get back to sleep, I periodically hear voices of people passing in the street. Between dog walkers and cyclists that seems pretty normal for Blossom Street, even if it is still dark and early on a Saturday morning.
Sometime after 6am, the periodic voices rose to a constant roar. Wondering if maybe a large crowd of cyclists was gathering at the bike shop for an early morning ride (in the dark? really?), I got out of bed to have a look out the window. For whatever reasons, the view through the window was very foggy so I stepped out onto the balcony. (How nice is it that my bedroom has a balcony?)
As far as I could see up and down Blossom Street, there were runners; hundreds of runners. It felt as if at night, with the cars safely parked in garages, the runners took back the streets. For an hour, runners streamed past in trickles and packs. Was this some kind of a road race? Maybe I should pay more attention to local news. Most of the runners didn't have numbers on their shirts and the pace seemed generally quite relaxed and the runners were chatting with each other. Maybe a fundraiser run? Except there was no common theme like a T-shirt or a hat. Thinking I might never see the end of the stream of runners, I went back to bed.
I still couldn't sleep so I decided that I too would take advantage of the early morning freedom on the street. I would very much like to have put on some shoes and joined the runners, but I need to get my foot fixed first. Having run out of milk on Friday morning, I decided to take my scooter to the pharmacy to get enough to tide me over until the next flight.
My neighbour, Jane, was outside eating breakfast and watching the runners. She was waiting for a friend to pick her up to go for a bike ride in Katy. What's going on? Does this happen every Saturday? They are training for the Houston marathon. Jane looked it up on her phone - the marathon is January 15th. A great event even for spectators. The route doesn't include Blossom, but passes a few blocks to the south along Memorial. We are close to a place were there will be a band during the race. Fingers crossed I will be in town that morning!
My first scooter ride in Houston was lovely. The streets were quiet except for a few more runners. The roads are flat and the asphalt smooth. The morning twilight welcomed me, and the sun stayed just below the horizon as if to keep the cars asleep just a little while longer.
Sometime after 6am, the periodic voices rose to a constant roar. Wondering if maybe a large crowd of cyclists was gathering at the bike shop for an early morning ride (in the dark? really?), I got out of bed to have a look out the window. For whatever reasons, the view through the window was very foggy so I stepped out onto the balcony. (How nice is it that my bedroom has a balcony?)
As far as I could see up and down Blossom Street, there were runners; hundreds of runners. It felt as if at night, with the cars safely parked in garages, the runners took back the streets. For an hour, runners streamed past in trickles and packs. Was this some kind of a road race? Maybe I should pay more attention to local news. Most of the runners didn't have numbers on their shirts and the pace seemed generally quite relaxed and the runners were chatting with each other. Maybe a fundraiser run? Except there was no common theme like a T-shirt or a hat. Thinking I might never see the end of the stream of runners, I went back to bed.
I still couldn't sleep so I decided that I too would take advantage of the early morning freedom on the street. I would very much like to have put on some shoes and joined the runners, but I need to get my foot fixed first. Having run out of milk on Friday morning, I decided to take my scooter to the pharmacy to get enough to tide me over until the next flight.
My neighbour, Jane, was outside eating breakfast and watching the runners. She was waiting for a friend to pick her up to go for a bike ride in Katy. What's going on? Does this happen every Saturday? They are training for the Houston marathon. Jane looked it up on her phone - the marathon is January 15th. A great event even for spectators. The route doesn't include Blossom, but passes a few blocks to the south along Memorial. We are close to a place were there will be a band during the race. Fingers crossed I will be in town that morning!
My first scooter ride in Houston was lovely. The streets were quiet except for a few more runners. The roads are flat and the asphalt smooth. The morning twilight welcomed me, and the sun stayed just below the horizon as if to keep the cars asleep just a little while longer.
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