HomeA lunchtime run
New shoes. Altra Vanish Tempos. As I head west out of the office carpark I focus on the new feel. Roomy in the toe-box, almost willing the balls of my feet to slide sideways on the slightly mounded cushioning. Gone is the incessant squelching of my Cloudsurfers. Replaced by a dull slapthudding as I experimentally adjust my foot strike.
Just before noon, it is warm, but not unpleasant. Traffic is light.
I have preloaded my route. The first few kilometers are easily memorized, so my phone remains comfortably ensconced in its Spibelt carrier.
Heading uphill towards Clifford Gardens I detour through a community garden. A varied array of vegetables growing happily a few short paces from James Street.
Who knew?
Just past The Glennie School I am jerked from my meditation by a joyful old duck calling out from her garden.
"Run an extra lap for me!"
Past before I register what was said, I can only manage a wave and a smile.
Would that I could have replied in kind with something witty to brighten her day.
I am now on the long, straight, back-streets of Newtown. Easy, comfortable running.
The left shoe has begun a metronomic clicking, like a slightly over-active electric fence. Perhaps I am cursed to always have noisy shoes.
Passing a tobacconist, I marvel at the number that still remain in Toowoomba.
Some vape. Some run. We all have vices. 🤷
Reliant now on my digital map. The screen-bound blue dot guides unerringly.
I pass several schools. Newtown State School. St Ursula's. St Mary's.
I can't see pupils though the reflecting windows, but I imagine a boyhood version of myself gazing distractedly out of them. Blocking the background drone of lessons with a wistful envy for the freedom of the lone jogger sliding silently by.
Newtown is an eclectic mix of the old and charming, and less-old and less-charming. A suburb on the upward swing?
I swing around Grand Central past a pair of security men photographing a flock of upended shopping trolleys. Some disruptive element has been active.
Too soon my 12.4km break from the office is finished. I am not sure where the time, or distance, went.
A very pleasant work-day interlude.
The new shoes? I need more mileage to pass definitive judgment, but I think we will be friends.
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