(Well, drat! I wrote this last week and didn’t publish it! Here it is… )
After living most of my life as a “Yankee,” I’m still not adjusted to the rhythm of the year in the South. Up north, summer ends early and school starts late. Down here, it’s the other way around. School starts early and fall comes months later. The kids are in school before the beach water gets warm in Maryland, where I grew up.
But, still, there are signs beyond the yellow school buses that Autumn is on it’s way. The grass grows slower and there’s nothing but the amazing yellow daisies left to bloom in my garden. THEY still haven’t reached their full growth and they’re in their glory in mid-October. Along the river, there’s an occasional tree that’s starting to turn. The mornings are cooler and the temperature drops more quickly in the evening.
It’s almost running season! Almost daily, an email arrives notifying me of another 5k race. It’s a good time to start running. My first class for the fall starts tonight. We’ll still have some warm days, but since we start slow, it won’t be punitive, like running 3 miles would be. This group will be well on their way when the time changes and we have to run mostly in the dark, so this timing is almost perfect.
If you haven’t thought of running before, now’s the time to think about it! Now’s the time to start, if you live in the South! Our 3 running seasons are fall, winter and spring… runners try to survive the summer here, but this is the season that we love, when we can truly embrace the sport that we love!