The run that didn't exist

Like most Wednesday mornings, I joined my friends out at Netherwood School in the Hyde Park/Pleasant Valley area for a jog on the rural and hilly roads out in the Salt Point area. I don’t run much anymore, at most three times per week; the Netherwood loops are my favorite runs, all of them are hilly and hard. But meeting up with my pals Schneider and Dave O, who push me to be better, is worth it – even in the dark like today! Dave O was feeling a little under the weather, so it was just me and Schneider today. In the dark. We did my favorite loop – Spooky Hollow, 7 miles. In daylight, the views around Edition Farm (horses, etc.) are incredible. In the dark, with just headlamps illuminating in front of us, there are no views. Because I’m an idiot, I don’t know how to sync up my runs to Strava, the social media app for runners, cyclists, etc. That’s OK. Usually, Schneider or someone else will “tag” me, I’ll put some odd title on the run, and the Strava universe can see what we did. But today, Schneider’s watch bugged out as we were leaving the dark elementary school parking lot. He tried to fix it, but no avail. So, today’s run was not on Strava. In modern parlance, this means it doesn’t really exist! Here’s the thing, though: Prior to Strava, I had done thousands of runs. Most of them have been long since forgotten. Some of them are memorable. Very old-fashioned, I know. I will admit to trying to sync up my Garmin to Strava. I think I figured it out for the future, but this run still was stubbornly not uploaded. So, it’s not on Strava. But it is in our memory banks – Schneider and me. We talked the whole way, in the dark. We knocked out some pretty solid middle miles. The hill up Marshall completely gassed me, but my boy powered up it strong as an ox as Schneider usually does. The overall pace was 8:38, not bad for a hilly 7, at this stage of my (non)-running career. Other than it not being tagged and linked up to Strava, the morning run was perfect. Actually, let me correct that: The run was perfect. No Strava needed today. Neat!