PBC WPB. How's that for an acronym... Post Blood Clot Walking Personal Best. I drove to the Jordan River Parkway and walked the new segment that goes north from 100th South for 0.75 miles or 1.5 miles round trip. I felt fine during my walk. The temperature was in the high 40s (F). Birds were chirping and ducks were swimming. The sun was shining, and it was a nice day to be outside. I only passed one other person during my walk, an older gentleman who was running and was huffing and puffing as he went past. I thought to myself that it is interesting to be on the other side -- a walker seeing runners go by. I had a tinge of jealousy as the runner went past, but I assured myself that I would soon be running past the walkers.
My last day of running was Monday, January 12, exactly two months ago. During that run I ran and walked the north segment. I went home, took a two-hour nap, and found when I woke up that I could only walk 50 feet before I was tired. I ended up in the hospital with blood clots in my legs. During my two months of recovery, I've thought about the Parkway, and I have been anxious to get back to the Parkway to see what changes have occurred since that run. Today I fulfilled that goal.
The chain-link fence that was partly installed in January is finished. An old, rusty cooking grill that was near the path is gone, as is a garbage can full of cans and other junk that was near the grill. I was pleased to see that those items were gone, because they were a real eyesore and detracted from the beauty of the Parkway.
I pick up a lot of litter during my runs, and since I haven't run for two months I expected to see a lot of litter today. I did see some, and picked up most of it, but I saw less litter than I had expected. My experience in the past has been that runners and walkers are good at not dropping litter along the path. Much of the litter is blown in by the wind. The north segment of the Parkway won't get much litter from the wind, because there isn't any new construction along the Parkway, and there is about an eighth of a mile of fields separating nearby houses from the Parkway.
Congrats on the WPB! Indeed, you'll be running past the walkers soon!! I also find that most runners and walkers don't litter, except during huge marathons when the event staff picks it up.
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